Tracking Shadows
I’ve always been fascinated by the patterns created on the sidewalk as light makes it way through a leafy tree to the ground. Frustrated with my inability to make images of the shadow and light patterns on the sidewalk, I turned to casting shadows myself using sticks set in the ground. My notations of the cast shadows evolved from pinned surveyor’s tape to spray paint on canvas drop cloths. My locations evolved as well, moving from my backyard to the nearby beach, where buildings and trees wouldn’t interfere with the shadows cast by the sticks.
These sticks were, of course, rudimentary sundials and served to focus my attention on the apparent daily motion of the sun and the angles of incoming sunlight. Using multiple sticks created beautiful overlapping patterns of shadows.
These sticks were, of course, rudimentary sundials and served to focus my attention on the apparent daily motion of the sun and the angles of incoming sunlight. Using multiple sticks created beautiful overlapping patterns of shadows.
By marking the shadows of the sticks at different points in the year, I was able to observe the changing shape of a day's worth of shadows. In the northern hemisphere, summer shadows create a hyperbola curving toward the stick, winter shadows curve away from the stick, and on the equinoxes shadows extend in a straight line from the shortest shadow at midday. These art investigations were more in a process of discovery process than of making. The patterns I was able to image, of course, already exist. To make the patterns visible simply required a bit of interference - namely a stick and an artist.
August 21 2018
September 24 2018
December 6 2018