As a child growing up in a Quaker household, James Turrell attended silent worship meetings that would end up having an enormous impact on his approach to art. Over decades of work, he has often recalled his grandmother’s advice for these quiet, contemplative gatherings: “Go inside to greet the light.”
The phrase embodies a metaphysical philosophy, but it also works quite literally as an instruction for the pioneering artist’s “Skyspaces.”
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Built in various sizes, these permanent installations are essentially rounded rooms with a hole punched in the ceiling, giving visitors an unimpeded view of the sky. Lined all the way around with a simple bench, a Skyspace invites you to sit quietly and look upward through the open-air aperture. Soon after staring at the oval of blue (or cloudy white), your visual perspective shifts into another gear — aided by subtly changing colored lights around the edges of the space.
Now 83, Turrell has created Skyspaces all over the world; in June he opened his 100th and largest ever in Denmark. We’re lucky to have one here in Seattle, installed in 2003 at the Henry Art Gallery with a clever hydraulic lid to close during precipitation. Called Light Reign, it’s an elevated oval room with walls lined in teak slats, giving the sense that you’re stepping into a sauna (minus the heat). Having entered this meditative room many times over the past 20 years, I’m always surprised by how close the sky seems, as seen through the oculus — it feels like it’s right there. Sometimes the sky looks like a video projection, sometimes like an ovoid planet.
Having been closed since July for repairs, Light Reign is making a newly refurbished debut this weekend with a public event, A Brilliant Return (Nov. 14; tickets sold out; walk-ins welcome but bring patience). Longtime Light Reign fans will recall that the elliptical pavilion used to have a nifty optical effect outside as well: The outer walls would light up in different hues in the morning and evening. That element hasn’t worked for about 12 years — the result of outdated lighting technology. But after extensive restoration, more than 700 individual LEDs are ready to shine. Prepare to greet the light at dusk and dawn.
Just as the Big Dark blankets the region, we have more places to find illumination. That includes St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill, where the Big Blue Marble is back in the form of an inflated globe dubbed Terra, lit from within.
As I wrote upon Terra’s Seattle debut last year, the giant, suspended globe was designed by Orcas Island artist Eric Morris. Originally inspired by NASA’s Apollo mission photographs, which revealed the “whole earth” without national borders, Morris started making smaller “Earthballs” in 1985. His globes have become progressively bigger as digital photography has improved.
Fabricated by Rainier Industries in Tukwila, Terra is imprinted with NASA’s Blue Marble satellite imagery and boasts a 24-foot diameter. No matter your belief system, it’s quite astounding to see the planet hovering in the nave of St. Mark’s. Rotating slowly on a properly tilted axis, it offers another welcome perspective shift. The Terra exhibition will be up through Nov. 22 and is open to the public most afternoons, plus special programming from yoga under the globe to gospel concerts to regular church services.
And one more earthy light show to mention: Pilchuck Glass School is staging its annual Light the Forest event this weekend (Nov. 14-15; 4-7:30 p.m.; general admission sold out but special-experience tickets available). Held at the historic Stanwood campus, the self-guided evening features illuminated glass art installed among the trees. Bring a flashlight for the trails!
Check out these other options for illuminating art experiences of another sort.
Visual Art
Traver Gallery just opened a new show of work by longtime Northwest artist Lynn Di Nino, called Vanishing Act (through Dec. 23). Riffing on the tradition of taxidermied animal heads, Di Nino creates homages to animals that aren’t yet dead but are nearing extinction. She begins each piece — spotted owl, pangolin or polar bear — with a papier-mâché base, and meticulously crafts discarded plastic materials to create realistic feathers, scales and fur.
At AMcE Creative Arts, In Between: A Cross and a Hardgrave (through Nov. 15) is a punny title for an excellent dual show of works by established Seattle artists Tim Cross and Robert Hardgrave. Both use bold color and a collage of imagery in their abstract tableaus but retain their distinct language. As such, the works seem to chat and joke with each other across the room.
And it’s your last chance to catch a terrific array of regional artists at the Railspur Building in Pioneer Square. Northwest Designer Craftartists is a nonprofit founded in 1954 to showcase distinction in 3D art forms. NWDC at Railspur (Nov. 13, 3-6 p..m. and Nov. 14, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.) offers an exciting glimpse of what and who that entails — including Allyce Woods, Tip Toland, Dick Weiss — all people excelling in clay, wood, glass, metal, fiber and more.
Performance
< On the Boards presents Sad Boys in Harpy Land (Nov. 12-14), a solo show by “experimental clown artist” Alex Tatarsky, who blends anguish, art-making and humor into a “demented cabaret.”
< It’s the last weekend to see Ghost Stories (through Nov. 15 at Pacific Northwest Ballet), a mixed-bill with spooky allure including a silent ghost, a beautiful sleepwalker and a raven who quoth “never more.”
< Legendary Japanese butoh company Sankai Juku presents KOSA - Between Two Mirrors (Nov. 17 at The Moore Theatre), a highly theatrical dance about human connection.
< Need more butoh? (Yes.) Founded in 2010, the Seattle International Butoh Festival (Nov. 19-22 at YAW Theater in Georgetown) features a mixed bill of butoh and butoh-inspired dance from near and far.
< Taiwan-based Hung Dance is in town to present Birdy (Nov. 19-21 at Meany Center for the Arts), a contemporary piece with nods to tai chi and Chinese opera... plus some very cool feather headpieces.
All eight new episodes of Art by Northwest Season 3 are now out in the world! Have you seen each and every one? If not, catch up on Art by Northwest, nominated for two Northwest Regional Emmy Awards.
