Dec 22

Keith Sonnier (July 31, 1941 – July 18, 2020)

Keith Sonnier in studio


Keith Sonnier was part of a group of artists who challenged preconceived notions of sculpture in the late 1960s by experimenting with industrial and ephemeral materials. In Sonnier’s case, materials ranged from latex and satin, to found objects, transmitters and video. In 1968, the artist began creating wall sculptures using incandescent light and sheer fabric. Frustrated by the standardized forms of incandescent light, he started experimenting with neon. Using copper tubing as a template, Sonnier began sketching lines, arches and curves ultimately realized in glass tubing enclosed neon. The linear quality of neon allowed Sonnier to draw in space with light and color while colored light interacted with the surrounding architecture.
https://www.keithsonnier.net/biography.html

November 23 2019 – January 11 2020
Kasmin, 509 West 27th Street, NYC

“I think everyone at some point comes up against a wall. Curiously, though, if you continue working, you might readdress that idea from another direction. If you didn’t try something, you’d never have anything; if you didn’t make an attempt to make the work, it wouldn’t exist. There have been times when I could not work, and I would just go and sit down in the studio and wait to see what might happen. You can’t always just go and take an exotic trip and come back and make something.”

“Sculpture, for me, provides that environmental discipline where you actually move in and around it”.

“This is New York. You gotta work from upstairs to downstairs! You gotta work both ends of the street to have a career. Because it’s not just fabricating an artwork. Your works have to go out into the world; they have to go to market. This art on the hoof has to be moved; it’s got to go to the slaughterhouse at some point.”

“A lot of artists are good cooks as I’m too, but coming from a culture that was very concerned with food, I was very interested in that from the start. If you’re interested in food, you’re interested in lots of different aspects of culture. And it’s like being interested in the music from a certain area, or writing, or whatever–food is part of that, too.”

Keith Sonnier

November 23 2019 – January 11 2020
Kasmin, 509 West 27th Street, NYC

Dis-Play II with Videos. 2018
DIA/Dan Flavin Art Institute
Bridgehampton, NY

Dec 21

Spires by Dorothy Tanner

Spires by Dorothy Tanner, on display at Lumonics.
You can see Spires and about 75 additional light sculptures on Saturdays at Lumonics Immersed. Each performance is orchestrated live and one-of-a-kind.

Dec 18

An Evening with Miguel and Dianne of Miguel Espinoza Fusion

Jan 21, 2023
8 pm

Miguel Espinoza and Dianne Betkowski

On Saturday, January 21, 2023, at 8 pm, we welcome you to attend An Evening with Miguel Espinoza and Dianne Betkowski of Miguel Espinoza Fusion. Accompanied by the ambiance of the Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery’s light sculptures and video art projection, this is a rare opportunity to see Miguel and Dianne perform as a duet in this intimate setting.

$25 advance
$30 door

Miguel Espinoza is hailed as one of the best flamenco guitarists in the world. Described by Guitar Player Magazine as “mesmerizing”, Miguel is much more than a virtuoso technician. Whether his lightening-fast fingers are skittering across the fretboard, fluttering over the sound hole like percussive hummingbird wings, or skillfully drawing achingly beautiful melodies out of the strings, Miguel’s award-winning compositions create an exotic, intoxicating musical elixir of flamenco fusion-one that is as sonically exciting as it is emotionally moving. Miguel has performed both nationally and internationally at notable venues (Red Rocks and Macky Gardens, among others) and has shared the stage with artists such as Kitaro, Tuck and Patti, Rita Moreno and Ben Vareen. He has also composed and recorded music for feature films and documentaries. In addition to performing, he offers private lessons, workshops and masterclasses.

Dianne Betkowski has performed, toured and recorded with the St. Louis, Utah, Honolulu and Colorado Symphony Orchestras. She is also a composer whose works have been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic, and the National, St. Louis, Houston, Honolulu and Colorado Symphonies, among many other groups. Her book, How to Get To Carnegie Hall: A Weekly Music Practice Schedule, is in its second printing. Dianne is the founder and former director of Denver Eclectic Concerts, now known as MAS-Eclectic. She and her Flamenco Fusion colleagues have recently started a unique music camp, Urban Arts Music. In addition to performing with MEFF, Dianne enjoys teaching cello, performing and coaching chamber music, and inspiring musicians of all levels.

Miguel and Dianne and their bandmates in Miguel Espinoza Fusion have won awards including:

Best Jazz Album – Indie Acoustic
Best of World Music – Denver Westword
Best Instrumental Album – Indie Acoustic

“Miguel Espinoza Fusion is world class global chamber music making that explodes the parameters of style, yet ever remains close to the heart.”
— David Balakrishnan, founding violinist/composer of the two time Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet

Dec 09

Sandcastle by Dorothy Tanner on Display at Lumonics

Sandcastle is currently on display at Lumonics and can be seen at our events.

The Sandcastle video was made by Lumonics’ Marc Billard at the Lumonics Mind Spa: Thornton exhibit at the Thornton Arts & Culture Center in 2020. This was the first exhibit at the art center since the pandemic had begun, and it had procedures in place for people entering such as having your temperature taken, hand sanitation, and mandatory mask wearing, and limited number of viewers at a time . It felt good to do this installation, and people found the exhibit quite meditative.

Sandcastle is lighted from within and has the quality of frosted glass.

Sandcastle (2009) by Dorothy Tanner
Sandblasted Acrylic Glass externally lighted with LEDs