India Duncan

Artist Talk 2

Feb. 20, 2013

Light in Flux

Artist / MICA professor Glenn Shrum is amazed with light design. Glenn Shrum

explained how his curiosity for light evolved into a passion. He was interested in how light

reflected off of objects and fascinated with why that was so; he then questioned why everyone

did not share his interest. That passion is what opened the doors to a permanent career in art

design. He went to architecture school and now synchronizes his knowledge of structure and

light to create large-scale light design. During his years as an undergrad, he was recognized by

the owner of Flux Studios regarding a light design project he had done. He expressed his

curiosities about light in an enthusiastic and passionate manner to the previous owner. For this

the owner made him owner when he saw that Glen’s skills and knowledge of the field had

developed, and enthusiasm had increased.

During his lifetime Glenn has only been interested in shooting light- light over time,

visual space. He said that spatial characteristics evolve when light streams through a window.

Light changes a room space, and the formation of shadows from this transformation intrigues

him because a new space appears. The intent of his work is to invoke the interest of the public,

and to encourage thinking of what they perceive.

One of the aspects of his work I find successful is the large scale. Light in large scale is

dynamic because it comes to life. It also receives a lot of attention from the public. I had the

pleasure of meeting him and experiencing his work close up in the white room of Monty. The

room held a light design that was projected onto a sculptural piece- The cords hanging from the

ceiling were of three colors and each turned a different color when the light changed. Not only

did he have a light design, he also included sound. So with this project, light design and sound

changed the space.

One of the projects where he specifically incorporated his learning from architect school

to help with a lighting design was the project Solar Noon. He constructed a miniature equinox

that followed the sundial; this was projected onto a building. This project did not intrigue my

interest because I found it plain; the many model of this was impressive because it intrigued me

as a sculpture, but the finished product was not.