Go Inside and Greet the Light: Turrell Skyspace opens at the new Chestnut Hill meeting house
James Turrell’s grandmother used to say of Quaker meeting, “Go inside and greet the Light.” The Quaker architect has made a career of using light and space in interesting and novel ways. He designed and donated the Skyspace in the meeting room of the new Chestnut Hill meeting house, recently completed and open for meeting for worship.
The Skyspace is a truly remarkable method of inviting light and spaciousness into the meditative atmosphere of the meeting room. Through the end of the year, the Skyspace will be open to the public for sunset viewings on Tuesday and Sunday evenings and for sunrise viewings on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. A new schedule will be posted in the new year.
The Chestnut Hill meeting house is the first new Quaker meeting house built in Philadelphia in the past eighty years. It is not just a work of art; the meeting house has expanded space for gatherings and meetings, for First Day School, and for short term housing for families in transition through the Northwest Interfaith Hospitality Network and teaching space for Mt. Airy Learning Tree. The meeting hopes to be a spiritual and artistic resource for the entire community for many years to come.