It is with a heavy heart that I forward this news from his family of the passing of James Hubbell:

We’ve lost a great friend: James T. Hubbell—a generous creative talent, and an extraordinary man. He died peacefully in Chula Vista, California, on May 17th at the age of 92 with wife Anne and family members by his side. …

Please click here for a wonderful obituary.

Sun Petal Clay model James Hubbell photo Cornelia Featherstone

James helped birth the ecovillage here, setting the scene with Sim Van der Ryn in 1982 in their design ‘charettes’ for what we wanted to do and inspiring us to just get on with it. The ‘Gaudi-esque’ clay model he produced of the ‘Sun Petal’ cluster become the centrepiece of the October conference that year – “Building a Planetary Village”.

The watercolours sketches he did in his spare time became the design for the window that adorns the entrance to the Universal Hall. The story of that project can be found in this interview I did with the stained glass artists in 1983.

And, of course, most recently he and his team in California re-created the Firebird window that originally adorned the Upper CC, was lost in the fires several years ago, and whose replica now hangs in the Upper Foyer of the Universal Hall. And that reproduction process happened while James was in his early 90’s!

Firebird by James Hubbell upstairs in Community Centre ©Findhorn Foundation/Eva Ward

What a guy, and his heart was as huge as his talent. He will be sorely missed.

Roger DOUDNA

Idealistic philosopher who has tried to ‘change the world’ by living at, and contributing to, the Findhorn Community and its work.