James Acord
Encyclopedia
James Leroy Acord was an artist who worked directly with radioactive materials. He attempted to create sculpture and events that probed the history of nuclear engineering and asked questions about the long-term storage of nuclear waste. For 15 years he lived in Richland, Washington, the dormitory town for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
, at one time home to nine nuclear reactors and five plutonium-processing complexes and the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States. His major ambition while there was to build a "nuclear Stonehenge" on a heavily contaminated area of land in the site, incorporating twelve uranium breeder-blanket assemblies.
James Acord was the only private individual in the world licensed to own and handle radioactive materials, and acquired spent nuclear rods to use as artistic materials. He had his nuclear license number tattooed onto his neck. He spoke on art and nuclear science at both art and nuclear industry events in the US and the UK and organised many forums that brought together artists, activists and nuclear industry experts.
He was profiled by Philip Schuyler for The New Yorker
in 1991, and was the inspiration for the character of Reever in "The Book of Ash" by James Flint.
From 1998-99 he was Artist in Residence at Imperial College London
, a residency set up by arts commissioning organisation The Arts Catalyst, and funded by Arts Council England
and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
.
He committed suicide in Seattle on January 9, 2011 at the age of 66.
Hanford Site
The Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW, Hanford Nuclear Reservation...
, at one time home to nine nuclear reactors and five plutonium-processing complexes and the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States. His major ambition while there was to build a "nuclear Stonehenge" on a heavily contaminated area of land in the site, incorporating twelve uranium breeder-blanket assemblies.
James Acord was the only private individual in the world licensed to own and handle radioactive materials, and acquired spent nuclear rods to use as artistic materials. He had his nuclear license number tattooed onto his neck. He spoke on art and nuclear science at both art and nuclear industry events in the US and the UK and organised many forums that brought together artists, activists and nuclear industry experts.
He was profiled by Philip Schuyler for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
in 1991, and was the inspiration for the character of Reever in "The Book of Ash" by James Flint.
From 1998-99 he was Artist in Residence at Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
, a residency set up by arts commissioning organisation The Arts Catalyst, and funded by Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...
.
He committed suicide in Seattle on January 9, 2011 at the age of 66.
See also
- James L. Acord memorial website, compiled by friends of the artist.
- Progressive Alaska blog post by Philip Munger.
- Author Fred Moody's description of his obsession with one of Acord's masterworks, "The Monstrance and me", from The Seattle TimesThe Seattle TimesThe Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
. - Author James Flint's 1998 profile of James Acord, "Looking for Acord".
- Chris Arnot's article for The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, October 26, 1999, "Sculpting with nukes".