We learn many things from our work after it is up and in the world, and The Lighthouse is no different. An artist may set off in one direction of thought for why they are creating a sculpture, video or painting, but inevitably, the work has something to tell the artist.
I can tell you that I started my process by thinking about Boston being the home of the first lighthouse in North America. About how the materials are chosen for the industries of New England, and how the wool, a material not found on the Christian Science Plaza is in contrast with the static solid massive materials and buildings of the plaza. How the wool can move in the wind and twist among its graceful scaffolding. I thought the grid of the scaffold mimics the lines of its surroundings, the rope bridges the two materials, and in the wind, was a moving line. I thought the lighthouse was about employing the sun as the light of the lighthouse.
But then the installation comes out of the studio, interacts with its surroundings and continues the process that the artist started. It becomes much more than its materials. In this case perhaps The Lighthouse is about opening up. Opening up the impenetrable forms of the buildings or ourselves. The typically thick walls of a lighthouse are not there and we witness the internal structure allowing the light to shine through.
The Lighthouse at dusk
