Bruce Munro: Light

Bruce Munro is a British artist best known for immersive large scale light-based installations. His Light exhibit opened at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH on September 25 and will be there until February 2014. In the United States, Munro has found that botanical gardens provide the scale that he needs for his outdoor pieces. 

People of all age groups were in attendance. Quite a few children were there because their art teachers at school had told them about Light. Hubs and I got there around 9:00. It was a beautiful, clear, cool night and we were some of the last visitors to leave.

"You need a medium to find yourself and to explain things to other people, and light happens to be mine." ~ Bruce Munro

Light Shower is in in Himalayan Mountain Biome at the Conservatory. As visitors follow a meandering path over a bridge and past a waterfall, over 1000 tear drop lights hang above, creating a mass of raindrops in suspended animation.

"Eden Blooms is a hybrid creation that has evolved from a number of design concepts. But it was during a visit to the Rainforest Biome of Franklin Park Conservatory that the idea of creating an exotic, illuminated bloom was formally sown!" ~ Bruce Munro

Chindi hangs in the spaciously expansive Desert Biome. "Dust devils came into my mind and I decided to give form to these ephemeral vortexes also called Chindi." 

Over 100 individual fluorescent hang above the lush tropical vegetation in the Pacific Island Water Garden Biome. Appropriately named Lightning Storm, these tubes flash and are accompanied by rolls of thunder.

Icos makes its debut at Franklin Park Conservatory. This suspended piece contains 361 glass spheres and two miles of optical fiber.

Beacon is a dome covered in 2730 plastic bottles. Visitors can view the glowing hemisphere up close and in the round. 

A trip to Australia inspired Munro to create Field of Light. This landscape-scale installation is in the Sculpture Garden. 2750 lighted glass spheres on slender stems rise from the ground and softly glow with pulses of colored light. Crickets chirp, colors flow like ocean waves...mesmerizing, peaceful.

Five Giant Snowballs are suspended in the Grand Atrium. Each cluster of 127 glass spheres glows with an ever-changing parade of colored light.

Twelve Water-Towers are connected to light projectors and audio systems which causes them to respond to the music to create an ever-changing rhythm of colorful light. These towers are created from over 3000 one-liter plastic bottles.

In this playful exhibit, Whizz Pops, 45 glowing spheres are situated on the Zen Terrace. They look like they are filled with illuminated bubbles.

 

Zentangle

I have a friend who is turning 49 in a few days. For the last few months, he has been compiling a LOL (Live Out Loud) List that has 49 things on it that he wants to do before he hits the big 5-0.

On Monday, I celebrated #56 and I am going to LOL like my friend, just not in the organized manner as he is doing. Don't get me wrong, I am a list queen when organization is the priority. I am also a go-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl; when something looks fun or interesting, it is worth investigating, and a lot of times it is right at that moment.

Through the UDLLI (University of Dayton Lifelong Learning Institute), I am taking a Zentangle class. I love art and I try to do artistic things, but my talents are limited. 

So what is Zentangle? It's a meditative artistic experience using simple, deliberate and repetitive strokes. The patterns look complicated but they are easy to draw and they are built "one stroke at a time." Zentangles are unplanned, but deliberate. The supplies are minimal: paper, pen and pencil...NO ERASER. There are no mistakes in Zentangle. An line that goes errant evolves into a new design. 

Zentangle has many benefits: it reduces stress, improves focus, increases dexterity, promotes better concentration, it's an intuitive art and an experience that you can share with others.

My first Zentangle tile...we created four different tangles on one tile. We used four patterns: crescent moon, floorz, printemps and meer.

Although everyone in the class used the same patterns, each tile turned out differently. It's an art form that mirrors life.

Pysanky {Ukrainian Easter Eggs}

The art of pysanky, the beautifully decorated Ukrainian Easter eggs, dates back to pagan times. Folk tales reveal that people who lived in the region now known as Ukraine worshipped the sun. It warmed the earth and therefore was a source of all life. Eggs decorated with symbols of nature were chosen for sun worship ceremonies and became integral to spring rituals as benevolent talismans.

The word pysanka is derived from the Ukrainian verb pysaty 'to write.’ Pysanka is an egg which has been decorated with a wax-resist method where a person draws (or "writes," as Ukrainians would say) the design on the egg. 

ArtStreet is an innovative learning and living arts complex located in the South Student Neighborhood at the University of Dayton. ArtStreet offers creative programs and spaces for the entire UD and Dayton area communities to enjoy. Recently, Christina Pereyma and her daughter, Helen, offered a hands-on workshop on the art of pysanka. Helen is the 5th generation of pysanka artists in her family. 

A special tool called a kistka is used to melt the beeswax and write on the eggs. The kistka is the pen and the beeswax is the ink. Each successive color is waxed and dyed until the entire design is created on the surface of the egg. The wax is then removed, a protective finish applied and the contents emptied. The eggs are shared with others as an expression of friendship, good will and love. Each participant learned how to use a kistka by practicing on a piece of paper. Blobs form easily and if the beeswax blobs on your egg, that “design” will stay there. Once we felt comfortable with the kistka, we created our own eggs.

Christina brought some eggs that her 87-year old aunt decorated. They are exquisite works of art. Her aunt escaped from Ukraine and came to the United States when the Soviets invaded the country and consequently suppressed the traditional arts. Christina’s aunt is considered a living, national treasure of Ukraine because of her mastery of this art form.

Exquisite pysanky

My first-time attempt at pysanka

Among Ukrainians there is a belief that the fate of the world depends upon pysanky. As long as egg decorating continues, the world will exist. Should the custom cease, evil in the guise of an ancient, vicious monster chained to a huge cliff, will encompass the world and destroy it. Each year the monster's servants encircle the globe, keeping a record of the number of pysanky made. Should there be too few, the monster's chains loosen, and evil flows through the world. If there are many, the monster's chains hold taut, allowing love to conquer evil.