Dorothy Tanner

Dorothy Tanner exhibits a lot of optical nerve. While experimenting with a vast array of media in her career as an artist, she has found acrylic to be the most rewarding. It is a material that she may sculpt, paint, sandblast, or bake and shape. Some are wall sculptures, some free-standing or hang from the ceiling, while others are water sculptures. Light is an intrinsic element of the art form. LEDs have been the primary source of lighting the works in recent years.

While each sculpture stands alone as an art expression, Dorothy's interest is to integrate the works into a total environment - installations that express a powerful visual and emotional sensibility.

Dorothy Tanner was born in The Bronx, NY. She studied woodcarving with Chaim Gross and sculpture with Milton Hebald and Aaron Goodleman. She also attended Brooklyn Museum Art School where she met Mel Tanner. They married two years later. They moved to Syracuse, NY where they opened the Syracuse Art Workshop, teaching painting and sculpture.

In 1963, they returned to New York City and founded an artists co-op, Granite Gallery, on East 57th Street. The Granite Art Association organized seminars, forums, and exhibitions. "The New Face in Art" Forum took place at the Loeb Center at New York University. Participants were Louise Nevelson, Red Grooms, and Norman Carton.

In 1965, after traveling extensively in Europe, they established a studio in Miami. Their interest in plexiglas and its unique light transmitting quality engaged both Dorothy and Mel in experimentation that led to the major element of the Lumonics art form...light.

The Lumonics Theatre opened to the public in Miami in 1969. It was a new art form that combined painting, sculpture, fountains, live projection, electronics, aroma, and music. This project became their main focus and dedication.

From 1969 to 1978, The Lumonics Theatre continued to be developed. There were ongoing performances for audiences ranging from student groups and planetarium directors to drug rehabilitation groups. Several art/technology installations were commissioned for the United States and South America as well as home and office environments.

The next major development was video. Through videotape, the multi-media projection could now be preserved. They were no longer limited to a real-time format.

In 1979, a federal grant was accepted to create a future ecology demonstration center in San Diego, CA and to produce videotapes for cable television.

In 1981, the Tanners were commissioned to create a Lumonics environment in Bangor, Maine. A reporter wrote, "Mel and Dorothy Tanner and their associates, a remarkable group, have turned the old Canal Bank on Broad Street from a stodgy place of business and high finance into a place of genuine magic."

In 1982, the Tanners and associates moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. WBZ-TV commissioned a world map; and Boston public television station WGBH commissioned sets for Frontline and Nova.

In 1985, the group returned to Florida. The Tanners mounted a successful exhibition at the Patricia Judith Gallery in Boca Raton. A new wing was added to house their light sculptures.

The Tanners opened their Fort Lauderdale studio to the public in 1988. It became home to the new Lumonics Theatre. Both the art and the performances were given much critical acclaim.

Mel Tanner passed away in 1993. Dorothy and associate Marc Billard have continued to expand and develop the Lumonics concept, also creating electronic music and video and continuing to build the Lumonics experience. The studio relocated to Denver in September, 2008.

Front projection wall of Lumonics Theatre
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Photo by Callie Zirkle, Eastsider
©2005 Forum Publishing Group