2011

In the Painted Desert of Northern Arizona, Roden Crater is slated to open this year to the public. I came upon this vision of the artist James Turrell during the two years I spent at art school. More accurately, the most influential teacher I've ever had upon my methods as an artist or writer, Mr. Daniel Duford, shared this work with our Theory & Practice class one semester. Turrell began the construction of rooms and passageways within the crater in the 1970s with the goal in mind for human beings to be able to experience in a visceral way, various celestial phenomena. Of the many things Daniel exposed my intellect and imagination to, in my dreams and memories the Roden Crater remained a towering and nearly mystical presence. I recalled recently that it would be closed to the public and shown only to those invited privately, for example students, until a certain time in the near future when it was completed. Upon remembering the work and "researching" the whereabouts of this vast artistic feat of uniting sky and earth, a New York Times article on Turrell's work showed that this very year of another reel around our Sun will be the - well, I've said it above.

There aren't many artists who practice walking the borderline between science & art, and even fewer who rather than walk, dance with their whole being and blur this deceptive separation. The intensive work which this man has been engaged in will benefit his development firstly and all others secondarily; if the former is true though, the latter will be a wonder yet.