Art in Nature at the Top of Jupiter Lighthouse

If you are in Jupiter, FL and you have good legs and lungs, climb to the top of the lighthouse. Be sure it is a clear and sunny day with the wind out of the southeast, and the color palette in these photos will greet you when you emerge on the platform at the top. A visiting friend said it best. “Oh my, this is magical.”

The pictures were taken looking northeast, southeast, and east at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian River (which is not one) and Loxahatchee River (which is one). I've also added a photo of the irreplaceable great Fresnel lens that makes the beam of light visible to ships up to 28 miles out at sea.

To be clear, I can hear the "Artworld" art critic type person saying, “these are like any great number of pretty scenic photographs taken by amateurs.”* And, I know it isn’t art until a person recognizes it as such, and makes the appropriate photographic and/or painting choices. As an artist, I should have used the edge of the lighthouse platform or people in front of me to achieve depth of field focus from foreground through the entire panorama of ocean, river, and Intracoastal before me to emphasize the fact that I was actually present to the creation of art. So, next time I pay my 9 dollars, and go up those steps, I’ll be sure to put a bit more of an artsy spin on the images. Meanwhile I’m loving and seeing the magical color in these images as Art.



Notes

*The term "Artworld" was coined by Arthur Danto in the essay of the same name in "The Journal of Philosophy" in 1964. The term denotes galleries, museums, critics, artists, literature and theory about art as a cultural entity.