Ellsworth Kelly's Austin - A Chapel of Light

Photo: Lars Plougmann from United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on UT Austin Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

This small white stone building is the only freestanding building the artist Ellsworth Kelly ever designed. It looks like a chapel and invites the same hush, but it belongs to no religion. Think of it as a work of art you can walk inside.

Kelly first sketched the design in 1986, but the project stalled for about thirty years. The Blanton Museum of Art took it on, and it opened in February 2018, two years after Kelly died. Inside, bands of colored glass in the windows throw shifting patches of light across the floor and walls as the sun moves. Black and white marble panels line the walls, and a tall wooden totem stands at the far end.

Visits are included with Blanton admission; check in at the museum's desk first. Even from outside, notice how simple the forms are: plain stone walls, a vaulted roof, and windows that do all the talking. Come back at a different time of day and the light inside will be completely different.

Getting here: Walk south from the fountain to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and cross to the Blanton grounds. Austin stands near the foot of the Speedway pedestrian mall.

Did you know?: Kelly originally drew the design for a private collector in 1986; it waited about three decades to be built in Austin.

Photo op: On a sunny morning, stand to the south and frame the white walls against blue sky, with the colored window grid catching the light.

More on Wikipedia: Austin · Ellsworth Kelly · Blanton Museum of Art

Ellsworth Kelly's Austin - A Chapel of Light

Stops on this tour