| Dividing the Light | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Artist | James Turrell |
| Year | 2007 (2007) |
| Medium | Granite,steel[2] |
| Movement | Light and Space |
| Location | Pomona College,Claremont, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 34°6′1″N117°42′47″W / 34.10028°N 117.71306°W /34.10028; -117.71306[1] |
Dividing the Light, colloquially thePomona College skyspace,[3] is a 2007skyspace art installation byJames Turrell atPomona College, his alma mater.[2] It consists of a courtyard with a fountain nestled between two academic buildings with an illuminatedcanopy framing the sky above.
James Turrell graduated fromPomona College in 1965.[4] Starting in the 1970s, he created a series ofskyspaces that framed the sky. He was approached by the college when it was designing the Lincoln Hall and Edmunds Hall academic buildings and asked to create an installation for the Draper Courtyard located between them.[3]
Redgranite benches line a partially-enclosedcourtyard with a shallow black graniteinfinity pool.[3][2] A thin brightly-coloredsteelcanopy covers the installation, with a nearly 16-square-foot (1.5 m2) cutout or aperture, that contains an LED lighting array.[5][2] At night, the hiddenLED lights illuminate the canopy. Every hour between sunset and sunrise, they "chime", rotating through a series of colors over three minutes, and longer light shows take place daily at sunrise and sunset.[4][6] The shows slightly vary with each day to match changing conditions over the course of a year.[3] Short trees and other landscaping surround the exterior.
The work is Turrell's first public installation in Southern California.[2] It costUS$2.26 million to complete.[2] It was constructed in consultation withMarmol Radziner, AIA, and Amazing Steel.[2] It underwent maintenance work in 2018.[7]
The installation received critical praise. ALos Angeles Times review called it "one of the best works of public art in recent memory", lauding "Turrell's capacity to pull experiences of sensual refinement out of the heavens".[2] Other critics noted its easy accessibility.[8] It is associated with theLight and Space movement that originated in Southern California in the 1960s, and of which Turrell is a prominent member.[2][9]
The college uses the skyspace courtyard as an event venue. Wading in the pool has been prohibited sincec. 2009.[10]