At Luminara II, I made a small box lantern from recycled AOL CDs. After the next festival where bigger CD lanterns got too heavy to carry all night, I asked if I could stay in one place and be an Installation Artist. I'm high concept, low execution, which means lots of packing tape, glue gun and many many CDs. The 250+ Lotus Lanterns” use nearly 2500 CDs and once those are refurbished, I get to play with other combinations and shapes... I love that our amazing park gets completely reconfigured and returned to normal in one day with a magical evening (even in the rain years!) in between. Most of us do this for the great camaraderie and the joy of being a part of the magic, but my crew and I are always amazed to feel like the cool kids in the class as people <
Events at ICA
We're collecting stories of unique experiences over the past ten years of the festival. Tell us your Luminara story! Everyone who goes to the festival has a different experience and we'd love to hear yours.
High Concept, Low Execution
The Light of My Life
Last year me and my boyfriend were walking around looking at all the amazing lights. We were by one of the ponds where I said "This is all so beautiful. Im glad you're here with me to see this." He looks at me right in the eyes and says "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I want to share the rest of my life with you." Gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. Luminara will always have a special place in my heart and I know his. Now its almost been one year and only a few more weeks till our wedding. From Kely
The Most Amazing Thing Ever
Last year me and my family were looking through the things to do and we found Luminara. Everyone else thought it wasn't a good idea but me and my mom were totally up to it, so we dragged the rest along with us. I had the most wonderful time i have had in ten years. It was so amazing – all the lights and lanterns. This year we will be going again and same with the next - maybe even a family tradition. This year we will be going to one of the lantern workshops and getting dressed up... Because Luminara is here. From Hannah
Bringing Light Into a Dark Place
What I like best about Luminara is how spontaneous it is, how improvised... how everyone who comes has a different experience... that there is no apparent "program" . I love it that you can't possibly see everything. Even though there is a plan, stuff just happens and lots of the best stuff is a complete surprise. I love to see what people bring to the event to add to what is provided. I love the beauty and the humor. Every year I'm flabbergasted by a lantern someone brings or a costume someone wears. I remember talking once to an elderly couple who told me their lanterns were from pre-world war 2 Germany... that they hadn't had them out of their boxes for decades and here was a place they could shine. I look for those lanterns every year. I love the feeling in the crowd... the wonderment... the sense of sharing something completely outside everyday experience. I am thrilled that so many people have embraced the festival, that thousands upon thousands of people: couples, families, groups of friends and neighbors, groups of youth and old ladies like my 85 year old mother feel comfortable together in the Park in the dark. At some level that what this is about for me... bringing light into a dark place ... I love that it is so insubstantial, so fragile, so fleeting and that it is conjured up by our collective imagination. Terry Loeppky
A Life of Its Own
Luminara has had many homes in its ten year history, from its original studio in Silver Threads (where the new CRD building now stands), sharing space with Scrabble-playing seniors, then moving on to an empty storefront on the edge of town, then the long-empty Warehouse School, then a Market Square walk-up, then the 'old Monday Magazine' building, and then, and then... Its most recent home, a beautiful domed roof sanctuary with light flooding in through stained glass windows, seems a suitable space from which to build a spectacular event that celebrates ten years of beauty, light and magic. In the years since Luminara began, thousands of lanterns have been created, moved, broken, rebuilt, moved again, reinvented and bid farewell. Scores of people from all walks of life have come through the studio doors, taken a deep breath of the white glue and coffee fumes and jumped into the creative chaos of the place. Hundreds of community members have entered the studio, been inspired by the setting, dusted with glitter, guided by the brilliant artists, and have come away transformed – infused with fresh ideas, endless possibilities, wonderful and lasting friends and the satisfaction of playing a part in something magical - something much greater than the sum of its parts. Because Luminara is not just about lanterns. Luminara is much more than one summer night of beauty (but what a beautiful night it is!). Luminara is much brighter than the tens of thousands of IKEA tealights that have been loaded on and off rented cubevans and borrowed pick up trucks. And Luminara is as magical and mysterious as an early morning walk through Beacon Hill Park, looking for traces of the beauty and brilliance of the night before, and finding only a stray strand of sparkly ribbon. Having had the amazing privilege of producing Luminara for its first eight years, there are many aspects of the event that will always be meaningful to me. Ultimately what I think makes it so special is the people, because Luminara attracts the very best kind – creative, dedicated and inspired. The faces and spaces may change over time, but Luminara Victoria has a life of its own. Let's celebrate! Ten glowing candles on a big, beautiful cake – Happy Birthday Luminara! Alice Bacon
