James Turrell

James Turrell
President Barack Obama presents the National Medal of Arts to James Turrell on July 28, 2014
Born	(1943-05-06) May 6, 1943 (age 81) Los Angeles
Nationality	American
Known for	Installation art
Notable work	Roden Crater, Acton

Satellite view of Roden Crater where James Turrell is building a large artwork outside Flagstaff, Arizona.

'Space That Sees' Israel Museum, Jerusalem

James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist. He uses light and space to create his artwork.

Background

James Turrell was born in Pasadena, California.^[1] His father was Archibald Milton Turrell.^[2] He was an aeronautical engineer and teacher. His mother was Margaret Hodges Turrell.^[2] She studied medicine and worked in the Peace Corps. Both of his parents were Quakers.

Turrell got a pilot's license when he was 16 years old. He carried supplies by plane to mines that were far away. He also made maps by flying over areas. He earned a BA degree from Pomona College in perceptual psychology in 1965. He studied the Ganzfeld effect and mathematics, geology and astronomy there. Turrell entered the graduate Studio Art program at the University of California, Irvine in 1966. Then he began making work using light projections.^[3] In 1966 he was arrested for teaching young men how to avoid getting drafted in the Vietnam War. He spent about a year in jail and left UC Irvine.^[4] In 1973, he earned an MA degree in art from Claremont Graduate University.^[5] In 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Haverford College.

Awards

Turrell has received many awards in the arts including The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1984 and the National Medal of Arts in 2013.^[6]

Books

• Eclipse. Documents The Elliptic Ecliptic and Arcus, two temporary installations accompanying the last total eclipse of the 20th century. (ISBN 3-7757-0898-7)
• The Other Horizon. An overview of Turrell's development from 1967 to 2001. (ISBN 3-7757-9062-4)
• James Turrell : the art of light and space by Craig Adcock. (ISBN 0-520-06728-2)
• James Turrell. Geometrie di luce. Roden Crater Project by Agostino De Rosa. (ISBN 0-520-06728-2)
• L'homme qui marchait dans la couleur (The Man Who Walked in Colour) by Georges Didi-Huberman. (ISBN 978-2-7073-1736-0)

Interviews

• works + conversations interview of James Turrell
• EGG interview with James Turrell
• Into The Light: A Conversation with James Turrell by Elaine A. King

References

1. Birthplace sometimes given as Los Angeles (for instance, see Adcock, Craig, James Turrell: The Art of Light and Space, Berkeley/Los Angeles/Oxford : University of California Press, 1990, p. 2). Pasadena is given in a biographical note to the introductory leaflet for the 1993 exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank, London, UK.
2. Adcock, Craig, James Turrell: The Art of Light and Space, Berkeley/Los Angeles/Oxford : University of California Press, 1990, p. 2.
3. Belcove, Julie L. "Incredible Lightness", Harpers Bazaar, April 19, 2013.
4. Wil S. Hylton (June 13, 2013), How James Turrell Knocked the Art World Off Its Feet New York Times.
5. Biographical note to the introductory leaflet for the 1993 exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank, London, UK
6. Hoye, Matthew. "Obama admits boyhood crush on Linda Ronstadt". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2014.

Other websites

• Authorized James Turrell Website
• Google Map of James Turrell Installations
• BakerIE.org
• Mattress Factory exhibition by James Turrell Archived 2013-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
• BBC article about James Turrell
• Flickr: jamesturrell
• Roden Crater 1978
• Roden Crater on Google Maps
• James Turrell Perspectives exhibition at the Academy Art Museum Archived 2015-05-05 at the Wayback Machine