Ivan Dryer (March 7, 1939 – July 27, 2017) is generally considered to be the father of the commercial
laser light show
A laser lighting display or laser light show involves the use of laser light to entertain an audience. A laser light show may consist only of projected laser beams set to music, or may accompany another form of entertainment, typically mus ...
industry. He is the founder of the world's first continuously running laser entertainment, known as Laserium.
Biography
Dryer was a filmmaker in the early 1970s. On one project, he worked with
Dr. Elsa Garmire, a
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
physicist interested in laser light art. (She had previously worked with other artists on special event laser shows.) Dryer was disappointed because the resulting film, ''LaserImage'', did not have the pure color and shimmer of laser light.
Dryer had the idea of bringing the Caltech laser to Los Angeles'
Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California, on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the sou ...
. He, Garmire and Dale Pelton formed Laser Images, Inc. to create Laserium laser light shows to be presented in planetariums. ("Laserium" is a
registered trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from ot ...
for the company's laser light shows.)
The first Laserium show opened to the public on November 19, 1973. It is thought to be the first on-going laser show that was not part of a special or one-time event. Laser imagery spread from planetariums to become more common at other venues such as concerts and corporate shows.
Laserium brand laser shows went on to be played in 46 cities in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Miami, Denver, St. Louis, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto, as well as Paris, London and Tokyo. The shows were viewed by over 20 million people. According to the company, Laserium was the longest running theatrical attraction in the history of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The Los Angeles show continued until 2002, a run of 28 years. Laserium continues today in special events and on tour.
In 1989, Dryer received the first ILDA Career Achievement Award from the
International Laser Display Association. Dryer's company Laser Images won 43 ILDA Awards for artistic and technical excellence, in the years between 1988 and 2000. Dryer also served as ILDA's president from November 1990 to November 1992.
In 2013, Dryer received the first IMERSA Lifetime Achievement Award from the Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science and Arts association. IMERSA noted, In 2017, ILDA declared Dryer's birthdate, March 7, to be an annual event called "International Laserist Day".
March 7 - International Laserist Day
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References
Further reading
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External links
Dryer's IMERSA acceptance speech, with a detailed history of Laserium
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EuwOu5im-M How Laserium works - video explanation of the laser-projected images
Laserium home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dryer, Ivan
Visual music artists
Laser art
1939 births
2017 deaths