Introduction

 

Guardian Portrait, 1998

 

It’s interesting to be talking about using light as medium in the context of the Crafts Study Centre because I work between the boundaries of the conventional political enclosures of crafts and fine art. My practice has developed over the years from an initial interest in sculpture, through many years with the craft of making neon, to where I am now working with architects and urban planners in the built environment using different types of light sources.

I'm part artist, lighting designer, crafts person, fabricator and computer programmer. Over the last few years nearly all of my work has been created as public art away from the sanctuary of galleries and teaching.

 

Oriel Gallery, Cardiff Craft Commission Room, 1992

 

I was not very academic at school and I ended up in the Art Room and then in Art college studying fine art sculpture in the 1970's. When I was at college there was a lot of interest in expanding the material possibilities of sculpture. At the time there was a lot of discussion about the nature of sculpture and its relationship to the space of the gallery.

What started out as an interest in looking at the relationship between space and sculpture led me to be interested in using electric light as an autonomous expressive medium. Because instead of relying on reflected light to create form I found by using electric light my sculptures generated the light and filled the gallery spaces with their presence.

 

Toy Boy, Tib Street, Manchester, 1998

 

This was one of my first large public art commissions in 1998 for the Tib Street area of Manchester. It had been a run down area that was being developed into a cultural quarter for creative businesses and warehouse apartments. This sculpture, called Toy Boy, is bright and funky and fitted really well with the aspirations for the area. Its 12 metres high and sits on top of a car park lift tower giving it a height of over 50 metres.

One of the revelations to me about this sculpture was the way that the sculpture affected the surrounding area. What I had expected was that the tower would create a visual sign and focal point for the area. What I hadn’t really comprehended until it was installed was the way the sculpture then spread it’s luminous magic of small reflections all over the area. As I walked round I found many small perfect reflections of the tower in all the shiny surfaces from car bumpers, shop windows and even the puddles.

 

 

My training

The first light sculptures I made while studying for my degree used discarded fluorescent lights that I bought from an army surplus shop. I then used the mainframe college computer to work out how to position them at random in my studio space. Bristol was a traditional art college with traditional sculpture-values and my experiments went down like a lead balloon, being met with horror and disbelief. I was very hurt at the time and unsurprisingly was awarded a 2.2 for my degree. As a result I left university feeling skill-less and a failure.

After Bristol I spent a gap year travelling going to Turkey, Germany and America. In all these places I started noticing the potential of neon. In Turkey there was a huge profile of Attaturk in blue neon on the top of a hill. In Germany I saw some fantastic window displays that used different coloured tubes to create clouds and shoes. Then in America I visited Las Vegas and was completely blown away by the incredible neon architecture. During the day the buildings revealed themselves as shabby ordinary sheds but as darkness fell they became glowing palaces with glittering facades.

 

Spiral lamp, 1988

When I returned to the UK I decided to learn the craft of neon for myself, and enrolled on a scientific glass blowing course, followed by two years working for commercial neon companies before setting up my own studio in London’s East end. Spiral Lamp (above) is one of the first lamps I made that I sold in shops like Liberty's in London. At this time I also received recognition from the Crafts Council and was awarded a setting up grant as well as getting on the list of selected makers.

The lamps had been aimed at a domestic market, but when I started putting the lights into architectural settings I realised that this was their natural home. And it is in this area that I have continued to work and develop my ideas.

 

 

Interactive art and reflexive architecture

 

The Light House, Poole Art Centre, 2002

 

Interactivity has become an increasingly important aspect of my work. The advancement in technology -  including mobile telephones and text messages - has made this a real possibility over the last few years. And the installations can be made to respond to environmental conditions, and human interaction. Interactivity also has advantages in that it helps to make the artwork more approachable, breaking down the traditional barriers between the work of art and viewer.

I was commissioned to light the exterior of the Poole Art Centre. The installation uses the levels of carbon dioxide in the building to control the lighting effects on the outside of the building. The building has a natural ventilation system that is controlled by the carbon dioxide levels given off by people in the building.

When the building is quiet and there is no performance, my lights gently change colour, but when the building is buzzing the carbon dioxide levels increase and the light responds by creating ripples of animated light.

 

What is light?

 

Sunrise over Gwithian, West Cornwall. Courtesy Roger Shone

 

This is a picture of a sunrise over Gwithian. It is a local beauty spot near where I live in West Cornwall. This is the light from the sun that has bathed the world since the beginning of creation. For me looking over the sea and watching how the light plays between the sky and the water is a continuous inspiration in my work. But then some time later in the late nineteenth century a new human light was born.

The credit for the first commercial incandescent electric light usually goes to Thomas Edison although it was really a product of the era with many scientists all over the world contributing. Then in the early part of the twentieth century a man called George Claude discovered how to make neon light. And suddenly man could light up the night skies.

 

Night sky from satellite Courtesy of NASA

 

This is one of my favourite pictures of the earth taken from a satellite at night. It’s interesting not only because of its beauty, but also because to me it reveals a complex relationship we have with light. This map reveals the way electric light is not only functional but also aspirational. The reason cities glow at night is not only because we need to see in the dark, but also because to glow and to be seen from space is an expression of progress and prowess. At one level it makes me very proud to be a human being at the beginning of a new millenium, but at another I see the destruction of the night which has consequences that we cannot imagine. It is also very sobering to look at the dark places on the map and to realise that the gift of light is very unevenly spread.