Arts

Illuminations

by Pamela Portwood

n Tucson, when people hear the word “luminarias,” they usually think of holiday nights and sidewalks lined with small, brown bags, each filled with sand and glowing with light from the candle burning inside. This year downtown will glow with “luminarias,” but they won’t be tiny and they won’t be illuminated by candlelight.

The “Luminarias del Pueblo” is a public-art exhibition designed to raise funds for local nonprofit organizations while highlighting the possibilities of solar energy. The project was coordinated by the Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) in cooperation with the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau, and it follows TPAC’s success last year with the “Ponies del Pueblo” exhibition.

Both projects are part of the worldwide craze of cities commissioning sculptures for temporary display outdoors. Most projects, including “Ponies del Pueblo,” have been based on the idea of providing artists with the same sculptural, animal form to transform through paint, tile or other media. Moose roamed the streets of Toronto, and lizards lounged in Orlando. Donkeys and elephants created a political storm in Washington, D.C. in 2002.

According to Mary Anne Ingenthron, TPAC’s executive director, “The idea of luminarias, of lighted sculptures, came about before the ponies project when we were brainstorming with artists.” She adds, “Artists were interested in something that gave them more creativity, more freedom than a fixed form.” Even so, the pony project carried the day, and “Luminarias del Pueblo” was born the next year when artists at another brainstorming session came up with the idea of solar-powered sculptures.

Luminaria are sponsored by indviduals, businesses or organizations for $3,500 a piece. Each sponsor has selected a non-profit organization to benefit from its sponsorship, and together the sponsor and the organization selected a design from the roster of 53 designs approved by a panel of art and design professionals. Thirty-five luminaria had been sponsored as of Nov. 19.

Last year TPAC had a trial run with eight luminarias that were not solar powered. Although this year’s sculptures did not have to be solar powered, most are. Tucson Electric Power and its subsidiary Global Solar donated micro solar-power plants for each of the pieces.

In terms of working with solar power, Daniel Martin Diaz, an artist who has two pieces in the exhibition says, “It’s (been) a learning process for everybody.” Because of time constraints, he ended up wiring his first sculpture, “Cor Sanctum (Sacred Heart), for conventional power with an option to convert it to solar energy later.

Diaz is working on completing his second piece, “Spiritus Noctum (Night Spirit),” using solar power. He hopes that when people realize the light shining through the sculpture’s rose windows is solar powered, they will be inspired and think “Maybe I can use solar energy in my house.”

The majority of the luminaria will be installed downtown, and the official opening ceremony for the exhibition will be held on Dec. 10 in conjunction with the Downtown Parade of Lights.

The large-scale sculptures will be auctioned at a gala at the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa on April 2. Each nonprofit agency will receive 70% of the sale price of its sponsored luminaria with the remaining 15% going to the artist and 15% going to TPAC. Last year the ponies raised over $400,000, and everyone has high hopes for this year’s auction.

The luminarias have created other aspirations. Ingenthron says that TPAC is planning to make “Luminarias del Pueblo” an annual event. She hopes that some of the people who purchase luminarias will be willing to display them annually, so eventually the exhibition will make Tucson a winter attraction as a city filled with hundreds of illuminated sculptures for visitors to explore.