Upon opening your eyes when you first wake, the sun greets you with a friendly glare. It's a rare moment when you're suspended between sleep and consciousness, and if you're lucky enough to wake outside, those first morning moments feel like floating.
Since the 1970s, world-renowned American artist James Turrell has been constructing "skyspaces"-art installations built to frame the sky-that give form to these formless moments. They are in their simplest renditions cubes with aerial openings, sometimes in the shape of a circle, sometimes a square. With installations sprinkled across the world, from Switzerland to Japan to the Netherlands to Argentina, his latest luminous intervention has popped up in the least expected of places: the small town of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado (population 875).
Unveiled in June at the Green Box Arts Festival, Green Mountain Falls Skyspace-as the title suggests-is situated on the side of Green Mountain near Pikes Peak, accessible through hiking trails or a short ATV drive. Visitors can choose from a sunrise or sunset show, committing to one journey on the mountain in darkness. Drama is an integral part of the experience, manifesting as tension between the sharp built environment and the wild beauty of its natural surroundings.
"I was excited to work with the deeper blue of the high-altitude Rocky Mountain sky," Turrell said in a press release.
The Skyspace was largely funded by Christian Keesee, a longtime resident of the town, whose family has been there since the 19th century. Keesee, who also has residences in New York City and Oklahoma City, is the founder of Green Box Art Festival. The festival showcases the work of artists in residence who live in Green Mountain Falls for several weeks to months at a time.
For the Green Mountain Falls Skyspace, Keesee worked in harmony with the surrounding community over a two-year period to acquire the permissions to build the artwork. Several parcels of land had to be bought and light pollution (a big concern for the town that is considering adopting a "dark sky" policy), disturbance of the natural habitat, and impact studies for the neighboring properties had to be taken into consideration.
During the sunrise show, visitors lie in silence in a 26 x 26-foot square box on beetle kill pine (sourced from local trees felled for their high flammability) with their eyes to the sky. The sky moves from pitch black to navy to sky blue. There are hints of pink and red and yellow as night becomes day, and if visitors are lucky, a flock of birds interrupts their view. Turrell, who was raised a Quaker, is no stranger to stillness and that is felt in his space. The silence is nearly religious and the experience transportive.