Assignment #3 - Artist #1

GRACED WITH LIGHT - ANNE PATTERSON
"I hear color. I see sound. The synthesis of the visual and the auditory allows for a personal connection as my paintings, design, and direction immerse the audience sensorially. Within my frames, the brushstrokes depict scenes of reality - the changing seasons, waves, rippling water - but more importantly, their abstraction is my way of inhabiting the realm of personal interpretation rather than realism. My set design and direction also encourage the audience to connect and discover, deepening their experience. I strive for my work to denote concrete times and locales, references which allow the audience to connect on a basic level. By combining these realistic visuals with color, lighting, projection, and sound, I hope to further develop that connection, to allow the work's visual and auditory synthesis to provoke a response which will deepen the meaning of the aria or soliloquy. My goal is to encourage sensory exploration - to hear and feel the crash of the waves, to see the music playing before your eyes - and to have the audience experience art in a new, deeper way." (Quote from artists: http://www.gracecathedral.org/visit/concerts-and-events/artist-in-residence-2013/)

Patterson studied a BA in architecture from Yale University and a MFA in set and costume design at Slade School of Art in London. Many of her works combine visual arts and music and she is a renowned  for her work in galleries, museums, theatres, symphonies and operas. Her works aim to bring physical visual representation to musical experiences. Her aim is to create an immersive environment for the viewer.
The site for this installation was the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to help celebrate 100 years of music. The coloured ribbons took four days to attach to the cathedral ceiling.



For our third installation assignment, myself and my group partner have decided that we would like to attempt creating a piece from textiles and materials. Like this example, we want to explore the notion of hanging coloured materials from roof tops and banisters.


I find Patterson's colour choices really beautifully done. The blue, red and purple combine to form a very rich visual creation. Patterson refrained from using overly bright or pastel colours, or dark and sombre colours - she found the perfect middle ground in dark and light.

I find the notion of adding to a space, but not taking away from it really interesting. This project adds colour and ribbon, but doesn't block our vision of the interior architecture of the church. Because she choose to use a material that could be placed in a carefully spaced manner, we are able to see how the ribbons compliment that space instead of covering it. The light and reflective properties add a sense of ethereality and heavenliness, which obviously is helped by the religious surroundings. I think this work is beautifully executed as it manages to add colour and a sense of modernity to a space which can so easily be seen as dark, threatening and intense. In our project I hope that we can also subvert the intended atmosphere or meaning of our chosen space.