New Work – “Nord Licht” – Northern Lights

I love a challenge, and I also love new technology. So when this very cool fiber optic fabric came on the market, I was just excited to try it out. But when I got it home…. It’s difficulties presented itself. I plan to go over it in a more in depth post later on, but basically, the light effect is VERY difficult to see in even dim light. It’s best in pitch darkness. So when I wanted to show this work at a gallery show recently, I had a challenge. How do I get my viewers to see the work, but in a bright gallery space?

Enter this contraption, designed by my husband out of pink insulation board and then painted black. We put a drape over the top, and you view the work  laying flat on the bottom in the box. Pretty neat huh?

I had this piece running on an LED that slowly changed colors, to add to the “northern lights” effect.

You can get a sample piece of fiber optic fabric at Sparkfun.com.  (The white fabric is sold out, the link is to the black.  It’s spendy for a very small piece of this, FYI)