Bicycle Lighting & Art
Lighted Clothing
Welded Jewelry & Accessories
Artistic Clothing
Glass Work
Custom Rainwear
Light as a medium is very much alive. By taking light and shining it on different materials, it makes those materials take shape. In my art, I take ground steel, glass, qwartz crystals, optical fibers, and shine lignt from light emitting diodes (LED's) in different directions. The light is reflected off in different patterns as the viewer looks at the object from different angles.
As a light artist, I feel that it is my obligation to allow only the light's interaction with the medium of the piece of art to show and not to let the source of light itself to show. Whether it be glass that is engraved; artfully ground stainless steel; or natural quartz crystals; I want to have the light appear to come from deep within the media and not from the LED itself.
Wearing a combination of artistic clothing constructed of unusual fabrics, along with light art jewelry enhances the experience of a special occasion, whether it be a formal dinner or going out on the town!
For those of you who live in the Portland, Oregon area; I do wear these out and about. The places that I commonly wear these pieces are at OMSI After Dark; Portland Gay Mens Chorus Concerts; events with the Radical Faeries; some events at the Q Center; as well as riding my art bike in the evening after dark.
My childhood fascination with locks and keys, lights, electricity, and
simply being unusual gave me the inspiration for this cape.
Weighing close to 50 pounds, it is much too heavy to wear all the time. It is used only for very special occasions.
The brass locksets that you see on the cape I got from Hippo Hardware (Little did they know what I was going to do with them!). The clear plastic is 20 gauge thick. Thic lighs are fiber optics lit with high power LED's. The clothes that I am wearing under the cape are ones that I made for myself.
My visions of peaceful coexistance is manifested in
The Cathedral of Religions.
The quartz centerpiece has several major religious symbols engraved on its surfices. The light of hope blazes from within this magic stone to radiate peace and hope.
The side pieces symboles plants and and fire, both symbols of life that coexist naturally.
The small piece of quartz, which changes colors gradually over time, is a beacon of hope.
With the exception of the LED's this piece is 100 percent recycled from the scrap heap. All of the welding was done using gas tungsten arc welding. The glass and quartz faceting and polishing were done using diamond lapidary wheels. The engraving was done using a high speed diamone burr (similar to your dentist's drill.
Watching the movie 'The Little Match Girl' once on Christmas (and crying
thereafter) inspired me to construct this piece of light art jewelry.
It expresses hope at shooting stars; there's a saying that
when you see a shooting star, it means that someone's soul
has ascended into heaven.
This piece was constructed using less than $2.00 in raw materials, some of which were found on the shoulder of Oregon Highway 26 in Beaverton while I was riding my bicycle 20 miles to and from work.
If you look carefully, you will see what appears to be green hills and sky. The hills were constructed of pieces of steel from an old door lock that the Rebuilding Center in Portland gave to me for next to nothing. The blue sky consists of knife blades from the 'bins' (The Goodwill Outlet Store in Millwalkie, Oregon). The two torch flames are pieces of quartz crystal lit from within by LED's.
I sometimes dream of majestic cathedrals bathed in light. In these
dreams, I can never go inside them.
Perhaps this is why I feel that I shall adorn myself with them.
This light sculpture is the buckle of a belt constructed of fiber optic cables encased in clear vinyl.
With the visions from my dreams suggest a holy or celestial place with light that invites you to come in; I attempt to use multiple types of steel and colors of LED to create the same feeling here. The pieces on the sides symbolize strong and sturdy protection for the celestial being within; with the smaller pieces in the center presenting a light and open space inviting you inside.
In one of my childhood dreams from long ago, I was standing with
my family in fron of this large cathedral of light. We tried to
go inside.
We were stopped by a group of bullies from my school.
They told us that we were too poor to go inside this special place. We could only look at it from the outside.
I awoke from this dream crying.
Now, although those bullies never let me and my family inside; I wear this magical place with joy and pride at many events here in Portland. It is one of the lightest of all of my Light art jewelry and is easy to wear while riding my bicycle.
I wore this piece at the Basic Rights Oregon fund raiser gala. It was a hit.
For example, I have no idea what the back of a shirt will look like as I design and make the front.