Having been entranced for many years with darkness and our vast night skies I contacted the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ and some days later was thrilled to have received the award of “Artist in Residence.” I waited patiently for the next several months for my arrival date. Finally, my husband, David Vogel, and I set off by car for the 5+ hours’ drive to the Observatory, enjoying the car trip of beautiful scenery as we anticipated what we would see and learn in the coming weeks.

Driving up a lovely windy road with terrific views of Flagstaff we ascended to the Lowell Observatory Campus where we were graciously greeted by
Michael West, an astronomer at Lowell who would be our host. He showed us to the Trustee’s home that had a lovely apartment where we would reside during the 2 weeks of my residency. We especially liked being settled in a landscape of Ponderosa pines. Flagstaff has the largest contiguous Ponderosa forest in the world. We enjoyed our apartment’s balcony as it overlooked the city at a distance and had good views of the sky.

The staff and our host Michael were so generous in giving us information and Michael even escorted us to the LDT an extremely large telescope 1 hour outside the city on a hilltop which held our attention for hours. The floor beneath the telescope would rotate to position the telescope directed by the operator, Ben — sometimes by a program on his cell phone but mostly by this NASA looking array of monitor screens downstairs in one of the many rooms snaked with massive cords and wires of every color.

Positioning the telescope was done by the coordinates decided remotely by the researcher. My imagery of astronomers looking through telescopes on a hilltop was readily dismissed. It is highly technical work that is largely conducted with precisely programed computers.Amazed as I was by the technology and the work that was undertaken by the technicians and the staff of astronomers my biggest impressions were, of course, the celestial skies and the incredible sights one could access by the ingenious mechanisms and programs that now exist. 

 I loved that young and older people could visit the beautiful campus and share in the mysterious skies—Lowell is currently building an even more spacious Discovery Center that will dazzle and teach. We loved hearing the excitement of young people experiencing the skies — their joy was palpable.

Of course, the history of the Lowell and its beginnings from Percival Lowell’s interest and experiments was intriguing as it is still a private non-profit business. The restored historical buildings with stone and wood were beautiful. Flagstaff was the first city in the world to be designated as a ‘dark city’ that uses light effectively and smartly, so they do not impact the sky views nor human metabolism! Being at Lowell affirmed my desire to describe my impressions of the wonders of our Universe in my art and poetry. Ironically i was so busy taking in all the opportunities that were available to learn that I did not have time to ponder, sketch or write. That will have to happen back home after I complete my current work. However, my ideas and impressions are so impactful that they will save, store and manifest later. Stay tuned for those developments.

Toward the end of my residency, I was invited to speak to a group of people who were lured with a pizza lunch! it was a lot of fun to tell them about my work and interests and then discuss how it might align with their own scientific practices. I was delighted by the young people that stayed on to discuss their ideas—always learning so much by these exchanges.

Well, I hated to leave although I was looking forward to being back in my studio. There could be a night I would miss when I could have glimpsed another star cluster or planet. It was a magical place. I encourage everyone to visit. It is always a good thing to observe the cosmos and recognize the perspective of our place in it as small humans on a beautiful planet rotating and dancing around in a vast playground with many glorious playmates!

Photos by Leis and David Vogel