Janet Saad-Cook

Chronology of Art with Sunlight

 

1978

 • Artist Janet Saad-Cook begins working interactively with sunlight as an additive sculptural element

1981

 • Begins working directly with sunlight as the sculptural object, making Sun Drawing elements and room-sized works with thin plastic industrial film

1982

• Artist conceives idea to design and create large permanent structure for a multiple Sun Drawing that would work in harmony with the sun's cycles, and begins work on the Sun Drawing Project

1983 • Begins astronomy studies at ancient sun marking sites throughout the world, does research and site work at Tsiping in northern New Mexico at time of Vernal Equinox
• Conducts astronomy research and site work during summer solstice at Chaco Canyon and at Hovenweep, Anasazi sun marking sites in New Mexico and Utah
• Ccreates prototype Sun Drawing Project for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
• Continues research and site work at Chaco Canyon and Hovenweep during winter solstice
1984

• Creates second prototype Sun Drawing Project for the Smithsonian Institution. Exhibit travels for three years to museums throughout the US
• Completes research and site work at Chaco Canyon and Hovenweep during summer solstice
• Ccompletes Southwest Portfolio, photographic works of temporary Sun Drawings created at the Anasazi sun marking sites
• Conducts astronomy research during Autumnal Equinox at the pyramids of Teotihuacan , near Mexico City
1985 • Artist shifts to new materials, now using mirrored metals and optically coated glass
• Artist publishes limited edition book, Sun Drawing
• Journeys to India to study the astronomical instruments at the 18th century observatories of Jai Singh, Delhi and Jaipur
• Artist presents paper, "Sun Drawing: Ancient and Modern," to the Commission on the History of Astronomy at the XIX General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in New Delhi, India
• Saad-Cook becomes first Artist-in-Residence in the Physics Department at Catholic University of America , Washington , D.C., refines technique of forming glass for creating Sun Drawing images for the project
1986 • Conducts site search in New Mexico , traveling over 6,000 miles throughout the state, locates eight possible sites, selects National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array, on the Plains of San Agustin as site for Sun Drawing Project
• Artist submits proposal to Dr. Ron Ekers, Director of VLA, to build Sun Drawing Project on this site
• Artist establishes The Sun Foundation as not-for-profit educational organization
1987 • VLA Sun Drawing Project is accepted by National Science Foundation, National Radio Astronomy Observatories and Associated Universities, Inc.
1988 • Artist receives grant from Exploratorium Museum for artist residency with access to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories for experimentation with optical coatings
• Artist presents paper, "The Observatory of Jai Singh, Jaipur , India ," before the Commission on the History of Astronomy at the XX General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Baltimore , Maryland
1989 • U.S. Patent Office grants Saad-Cook a patent for the Sun Drawing process
1990 "Sun Drawing: Connecting the Earth and Sky," one-person museum exhibition by Artist sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences which travels it for two years to museums throughout the US
1991

• Artist selects Eric Owen Moss as project architect for collaboration on designing sculptural enclosure for VLA Sun Drawing Project.

1993 • Artist and Architect design VLA Sun Drawing Project
1994 • Saad-Cook develops global concept for the Sun Drawing Project
1995 • Site One of Global Sun Drawing established at MIT Haystack Observatory
1997 • Site Two of Global Sun Drawing established at Boston University Photonics Center
1998 • Award-winning Withers' House designed in collaboration with Artist to showcase site-specific Sun Drawing
1999 • Withers' House Sun Drawing featured in NY Times
2001 • Zen Garden with Sun Drawing, Headquarters Building, Reflexite Corporation, Avon , CT.
• Open air Sun Drawing designed for entrance of private residence.
2003 • Design for World Trade Center Memorial, with Architect John Paul McGowan ; submitted in international competition
2006 • "Solar Elegy, A Living Memorial," for Beirut, Lebanon, with architect John Paul McGowan; project pending

 

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Last updated 3 Apr 2007 Photo by Amanda J. Cook