DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/SNGT-FN63
Defense Date
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Crafts
First Advisor
Jack Wax
Abstract
When I was nineteen years old, I traveled to ten countries in Europe. While there, I visited many museums and monuments, but it was in the solemn churches that I first saw stained glass and my aesthetic awakening occurred. My first impression was of a "living painting". By this I mean that a stained glass window is a non-static painting, as its appearance is dependant on the quality of light that shines though its panes. The same stained glass window looks different in the morning, evening and night. It has one color scheme on a sunny day and another on a cloudy day. The same window can look like a completely different work depending on its lighting. Most of the windows I saw were figurative, but the projections they made on the wall and floors were abstract. To me these projections seemed like "color stains", that moved with the sun and the passing of time. The solemn environment of these old churches looked like a huge light installation to a young girl from a country where centuries old stained glass installations did not exist.Currently, I make my work using reflective material and light. In the case of my outdoor pieces, they capture different "colorscapes" depending on the time of day. These reflective materials patch together and create new landscapes out of their natural surroundings. In the case of my indoor pieces, when light hits the surface, a complex interplay of reflections and shadows are created. The relationship between my work and my interest in reflection is the most exciting part of my creative research. Like sound, memory, feeling and imagination, light is intangible and invisible, but its effect on our lives is profound. My interest in creating works with light is in experiencing the phenomenon of their visual qualities as well as in the creation of a relaxing and sublime space.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008