... Repurposing pieces of Rothko Chapel

Upon completion, Rothko Chapel’s $32 million Opening Spaces capital campaign and master plan will eventually include a program center, energy facilities, landscape and drainage infrastructure and a guesthouse for artists or scholars-in-residence. The Welcome House, another new addition, is already complete and open for business. As is the recently restored chapel, now enhanced by a reimagined skylight, lighting design and entryway.

The fate of two gray bungalows with white trim on campus is less certain. All an interested party would have to do is split each one in half and haul them off. An expensive and time-consuming undertaking, though it wouldn’t be the first time artists, or an organization, have moved mountains to claim a piece of Rothko Chapel.

Guild member Carlos Silva salvaged the Chapel’s original 600-pound doors. Eventually, he’ll use them to create a site installation, reinforcing the doors with a steel platform surrounded by a solid frame. And artist Geraldina Interiano Wise partnered with former Glassell School of Art classmate John Cryer III to reimagine lighting baffles as ‘Texas Light Dancers.’ The duo’s abstract interpretation of a dancer will express the movement and dynamics of light, and represent their original purpose.