Light on Water

My collection of videos has gotten pretty big since I began making them in 2013. I now have videos from many of the places I've traveled to both in Europe and around the U.S. These pieces show things like light reflecting on water and subtle movements of light and shadow. I see these recordings as materials and would like to use them somehow in grad school. They are stored in a number of places on my computer, mostly in folders and/or in iPhoto and iMovie, as well as on an external hard drive. I'm taking time to organize them into one place, plus a back-up, while labeling them and identifying my favorites. I'm already having trouble finding a few, which is upsetting, but I'm glad I'm doing this job now before things gets more disorganized. Since creating and keeping video is still new to me, I don't have a filing system in place yet, unlike my photos that are well-organized after years of documentation. Being without a studio now seems like an opportune time to do this rather picky work. I'm also creating stills from some of my favorite ones, which I love doing.

I uploaded a few more videos to my YouTube channel, like the one above taken on an island in Sweden's Southern Archipelago in early April, 2014. All videos are works-in-progress and the sound has been removed from each. I will add more in the coming weeks. 

Read more about my videos here.

Thanks for reading.

Thinking About Light

I don't write my "Thinking About" posts often and thought it was time to write a new one with some recent observations. Previously, I have written about abandoned spaces, atmosphere, texture, and white here and here. Today I share with you some thoughts on light. I notice light throughout the day, but lately something has gotten me to look even closer. I like observing how light reflects and refracts, diffuses, and fills a space; how it highlights certain things, creates shadows and patterns, and establishes emotional qualities that can have everything and nothing to do with the place the light is cast. Light has a presence and can become an entity of its own without being something one can touch.

Thanks for reading.

Where?!

view from my studio 11:04am today

Yesterday I posted a map of Iceland on Facebook to show everyone where exactly I am. Blönduós is located in Northwest Iceland, population 881. It is not far from where I lived the first time I came to Iceland, Skagaströnd, which is about 9 miles farther north. Blönduós is situated on either side of the Blanda river which flows into the sea. Right now, the horizon starts glowing around 9:30 or 10 as the sun begins to rise. It appears around 10:30 and rises just a little and then starts to set, maybe around 2.  It's dark by 4. It's much brighter during this time than I thought and often everything appears to be bathed in blue. The weather changes frequently, and quickly, and within the span of an hour there might be gale-force winds, stillness, a near white-out, pink clouds, bright sun, and a complex blend of periwinkle, slate gray, lavender, and robin's egg blue in the sky. Sometimes the sea is lighter than the sky, while other times it has an orangey-pink tint, reflecting the sunset above. I've been lucky to see the Northern Lights a few times already, too. I walk every day despite the cold and wind, just wearing extra layers as needed and maybe walking not as far due to strong gusts. I cannot imagine not being outside every day so I will continue to venture out as much as I can.

Blanda river and snowy mountains at 12:20 today

blue light at 3:02 a few days ago

sea and sky and some of that orangey-pink tone 

around 1:30 on my first day

Thanks for reading.

Now I am Here, #7

I took a walk through Golden Gate Park the other day and loved watching the interplay of light through the trees in relation to my own movements and distance.

Thanks for reading.

I Showed a Video

my video at the exhibition

The Sím April residents had a group show last week and I showed a video. Along with all those thousands of photos I'm taking all the time, I also make videos, usually of light reflecting on water. I use my simple digital camera and available light. I do not use a tripod and try to be very still, holding the camera in a way that creates and captures this unusual purple streaking that can be challenging to get. The two-minute pieces are silent and appear black and white with just hints of color here and there. I play them on a loop as I try to transform the different elements into something else, almost like water, light and movement are individual materials in themselves. I've been collecting these videos for a few years now and have amassed a collection that I am just now beginning to work with.

The video I showed during the exhibition was made at Skógafoss waterfall in south Iceland. It looked beautiful projected on a wall and it was great to see it like that after only ever watching any of my videos on my laptop. I've started a Vimeo page and will add more videos over time.

at the opening

The rest of the work at the show included a mix of paintings, photographs and mixed-media works. All the residents worked together to hang the show and everyone agreed the pieces were complementary and created a collectively strong show. I want to say thanks to my fellow April residents. It was a really great month!

Annalisa Fulvi (Italy) - www.annalisafulvi.carbonmade.com

Robert Clark (England)

Yasmine Louis (Canda) - www.yasminelouis.com

Peter Pendergrass (US) - www.peterpendergrass.com

Mar Cuervo (Spain) - www.marcuervo.com

Kobie Nel (South Africa) - www.kobienel.com

Keeley Haftner (Canada) - www.keeleyhaftner.com

Breda Lynch (Ireland)

getting ready to install the work

Thanks for reading.

Going Into Nature

I've spent a little bit of time in nature in the past couple of weeks going for hikes and walking in city parks. I'm looking at light and how it interacts with different kinds of things like leaves, trees, and water. I'm also taking a closer look at moss and see trees as simple lines...

See more images on Flickr and on Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

Bright Light

I have long admired the work of Ólafur Elíasson and became acutely interested when I lived in Iceland in the spring. I got to see his work in person for the first time--Ólafur Elíasson: Tiltrú at i8 Gallery--and liked the exhibition so much, I went twice. As I said in a recent interview on Art Jewelry Forum, "Seeing work about Iceland in Iceland by a favorite artist (who also happens to be Icelandic!) was fascinating and wonderful." I also spent several mornings wandering in Harpa, the concert hall in Reykjavík that he designed the facade of.

In both i8 Gallery and in Harpa, I was able to interact with his work. One piece at i8, a series of four mirrors each frosted in different areas and positioned at just the right height, made me feel as if I was walking in fog as I moved from mirror to mirror. The experience was reminiscent of some of my long walks in Iceland as it transformed the gallery into something else. While in Harpa, as I walked around inside and up and down stairs, the play of light, shadow, and prismatic color allowed me to interact with the building and heightened my awareness of the space and of myself in it.

inside Harpa on my first morning in Reykjavík and in Iceland

I have also been curious about light and shadow for awhile now, too, collecting images and videos as I walk. I think seeing Elíasson's work in person and upon further reading about it, I find myself diving deeper into this inspiration. Finally, something I keep going over in my mind is the fact that I believe my purpose or intention as an artist is to communicate and connect with others.

So...just the other day I read a Tweet from Studio Ólafur Elíasson that grabbed my attention. It began with "Celebrate the connectivity of art..." and then mentioned a new project with The Guardian called, "Share Your Sun." As soon as I read the Tweet, I dropped what I was doing and visited the website. The first few words drew me in and when I investigated the project I immediately wanted to join in. Anyone can participate by contributing photos or videos of the sun. The photo I submitted is the image at the top which I was excited to find among many others on both Share Your Sun and The Guardian over the weekend. This project gave me an opportunity to connect, communicate, and share with a broader audience and in the work of a favorite artist as it allowed me to go a little further with my own interest in light, shadow, and photography.

screen shot from Share Your Sun

my photo is on the left in the middle

Thanks for reading.