Teaching posters focus on a single work in the Walker's collection and include a large image of the artwork, information about the artist, discussion questions, and related resources. You can view posters with the ArtsConnectEd image viewer or download the PDF files to your computer. Use the Prev/Next buttons to move between the images of a PDF and the actual file. “We think of color as a thing that we’re receiving. And if you go into one of the Skyspaces, you can see that it’s possible to change the color of the sky. Now, I obviously don’t change the color of the sky, but I changed the context of vision.”  —James Turrell, PBS Art 21, 2001

James Turrell was born in Los Angeles in 1942. His college studies included perceptual psychology, mathematics, and art—subjects that continue to inform his artistic practice today. In the 1960s, Turrell became part of the California Light and Space group, a collective of artists who produced artworks as pure visual experiences, rather than as images or objects, often incorporating such materials as glass, phosphorescent materials, and acrylic. With this group, Turrell experimented with using high-intensity projected light as a physical material. The artist’s sculptural and architectural installations, created for indoor and outdoor spaces, offer viewers an experience of total immersion vastly different from an encounter with an artwork in a typical gallery space. In one of his works, an electric beam offers the illusion of a wall; in another series, which he refers to as Skyspaces, an outdoor room with a large opening in the ceiling offers a view of the ever-changing sky. One of Turrell’s major Skyspace projects is the excavation of the Roden Crater, an extinct volcano in the Arizona desert. He has been transforming this huge site into a celestial observatory for more than 30 years. Once it is finished, viewers will enter the volcano to observe reflections of the sun, moon, and starlight on the crater walls. He describes the power of this work as actually “changing the shape of the sky.” Influenced by the majesty of nature as well as the awe-inspiring great cathedrals, Turrell is drawn to the spiritual in art and ways that it can be expressed with light and space.

Self-guided tours are thematic instructional materials for student groups experiencing the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on a self-guided visit. All self-guided tours include a Garden map marked with the tour stop locations. Self-guided visits for student groups (10–100 people) can be scheduled using the Tour Request Form (walkerart.org/tourrequestform). You can view the materials with the ArtsConnectEd image viewer or download the PDF files to your computer. Use the Prev/Next buttons to move between the page previews and a link to the actual file. About this Self-Guided Tour Students will encounter works that stretch traditional concepts of sculpture through the use of unexpected materials and subject matter. Pre-Visit Planning Print out a copy of the tour for each student. Let them know in advance of your visit that the tour offers optional writing exercises and opportunities to take photos of what they see, so students can bring pencils and cameras if they’re interested. Role of Chaperones Instruct the chaperones to float from group to group engaging the students in conversation.