ATRIUM
FIAT LUX
Sculptural Installation by Gail Grinnell
This installation announces a place where people engage in the merging of intellect and emotion – the heart of artistic expression. Inspired by memories, Grinnell weaves materials and methods through place, time, opportunity and experience and creates grounds for the stories we tell ourselves.
It is my pleasure to be working in the Atrium space at SJIMA. A light filled architectural form with ancient roots. Here it functions as the visual announcement of an art museum - where people engage in the merging of intellect and emotion -- the heart of artistic expression.
I also take as reference the Atrium of the human heart – where our blood is infused with oxygen imbuing us with all that is life.
My installation is titled “Fiat Lux”(let there be light) and its form has evolved from my labor, rooted in a collection of embodied gestures. How we sit in a room, hold a baby or use a tool creates patterned movement and physical memories that stay with us throughout life. My choice of materials are ones my mother used, those of a gifted home seamstress whose work table was the family dining table.
Visual objects I create in my daily practice serve as ground for the stories we tell about ourselves. I circle back on early life experiences as I develop my work by weaving materials and methods through place, time, opportunity and experience – always reframing
The lantern form inside the light box of SJIMA’s atrium replete with bones, botanical forms and chain link is aspiring to act as an invitation to illuminate and exercise both reason and emotion during this hard time in our history.
SPONSORS
Brought to you by - The Honeywell Charitable Fund, Town of Friday Harbor, Orcas Island Community Foundation, Browne’s Home Center, Anonymous, Printonyx and Harbor Rentals.
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