THE BACK PAGE BUCKET LIST

#03 Laura Bayliss: Light Artist

Curated by

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” JM Barrie What: To experience the formidable Roden Crater. Where: The Painted Desert, Arizona. How: Purchased by the artist James Turrell in 1979, multiple underground interconnecting observatories have been excavated within the extinct volcano, each meticulously planned to receive light (and sounds) via the uninterrupted skyline of the desert from the sun, moon or stars. When: A select few have visited to help raise funds to finish the project but the rest of us will have to wait a little longer. “I always said I was gonna be done by 2000 and I’m sticking to it”, Turrell said in jest in 2013. “It’s a bit like not wanting to show this painting that you haven’t quite finished” but “it’s coming”, he added. Why: It’s been on my bucket list since 1999, when I first discovered Turrell’s work. I felt an affinity with it, as at that time I was making site-specific light art installations that also explored the process of the viewer’s perception of perceiving light as much as the light itself. Turrell says, “I want you to sense yourself sensing to see yourself seeing.” It seems unjust if we only ever get to see Roden Crater in photographs and miss out on ‘the joy of sensing’. It must be experienced, so experience it I shall…..if I live long enough!

Image courtesy of Brad Goldberg www.laurabaylisslight.com

194

www.arc-magazine.com