FLAGSTAFF, AZ.- The Skystone Foundation, the non-profit organization responsible for supporting and administering artist James Turrell’s Roden Crater, today announced the appointment of art historian, curator and museum professional Yvette Y. Lee to the newly established position of Executive Director. Ms. Lee will spearhead the Foundation’s work in realizing the monumental artwork in an extinct volcanic cinder cone outside Flagstaff, Arizona.

To extend his work with light and space into the landscape of the American West, James Turrell purchased Roden Crater in 1979. Since then, the Crater has been the site of ongoing construction for a project that will eventually comprise a network of underground tunnels and spaces that open to events in the sky. The Skystone Foundation was established to advance and champion this work. The first phase involved the construction of the 854-foot Alpha (East) Tunnel, the Crater’s Eye, the Sun and Moon Space and Crater Bowl, a task that involved moving more than 1.3 million cubic yards of earth. The Skystone Foundation is now engaged in fundraising for the final phase of work on Roden Crater, including engineering currently being developed for the next chambers and tunnels scheduled for construction.

Michael Govan, a board member of the Skystone Foundation and CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said, “James Turrell’s Roden Crater is monumental in both scale and conception, using light itself and the power of landscape and celestial events to awaken our understanding of ourselves in the universe. The effort to complete Roden Crater has been comparably ambitious. With more than twenty years of wide-ranging museum experience, Executive Director Yvette Lee has the expertise to manage all aspects of our work for this astonishingly complex project.”

Ms. Lee said, “Roden Crater has already attained legendary status. But it is much more. It is an unprecedented reality—one very close to realization. I feel profoundly honored to have been chosen to direct the operations of the Foundation and organize its fundraising efforts, as we help achieve a great artistic contribution that is a gift to humanity and will be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Ms. Lee comes to the Skystone Foundation from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, where she served most recently as Senior Project Manager for the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative. She also served as Exhibitions Manager for the international network of Guggenheim museums. While at the Guggenheim she managed complex exhibitions such as James Turrell; Chamberlain: Choices; and Louise Bourgeois. For the MAP Initiative, a multi-year project that includes a team of more than forty staff members and activities in acquisitions, exhibitions and education across three regions of the world, Ms. Lee managed activities in New York and with collaborating museums in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City.

Prior to joining the Guggenheim, Ms. Lee served as Curator of Exhibitions for the American Federation of Arts from 2004 through 2008, conceiving and organizing exhibitions that traveled to museums internationally. At the Whitney Museum of American Art from 1994 to 2002, she was Assistant Curator for Special Projects, undertaking exhibitions that included co-curating The Paintings of Joan Mitchell with Jane Livingston.