“Light Work/ Shadow Play”
A Dublin 40th Anniversary Temporary Public Art project
“Light Work/Shadow Play” is a collaborative artist and youth project incorporating the work of artist, Thomasin Dewhurst, Livermore art students and Dublin's Eta Carinae, a student-led performing arts group. “Light Work/Shadow Play” comprises a outdoor theater which is both a daytime structure and a nighttime shadow puppet theater. The project's name, in part, is inspired by the poem “shadow's play” by James Morehead, poet laureate of Dublin, CA, from his book “canvas: poems”. I also use Morehead's poem “At the Crossroads” which he was commissioned to write by the city of Dublin to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its incorporation.The name “Light Work/Shadow Play” also comes from the Ursula LeGuin's novel, “The Dispossessed” where, in one of her created alien languages she describes “work” and “play” as being the same word. “Light Work/Shadow Play” is thirdly inspired by two artists who have been influential in the creative work of Thomasin Dewhurst: Walter Oltmann and William Kentridge, both of whom give the idea of play a central role in their artistic output. In the “Light Work/Shadow Play” project the creative work is a playful activity, giving the young artists rein to express their own unique ideas, offering them new experiences in art making, and opportunities to expand their creative skills and imagination.
The installation at the foot of the Dublin, CA Civic Center clock tower
The shadow puppet display at night
The Eta Carinae student group participants at work setting up the solar powered lights for the
shadow puppet effects
The two poems by James Morehead that inspired this project, recited by the poet:
https://viewlesswings.com/2022/07/11/light-work-shadow-play-a-poetry-based-city-of-dublin-40th-anniversary-public-art-project/
The project:
The “Light Work/Shadow Play” installation takes the form of a theater. It has a backdrop, painted in oils, acrylic and gold leaf on wood and canvas panels, by Thomasin Dewhurst. The backdrop shows a sky and a sun illustrated with ideas from the the Morehead poem “shadow's play”. It also depicts theater curtains on either side, and a central landscape representing the Dublin hills in summer. The whole backdrop has a feeling of surreality: looking like reality but having an air of strangeness or unreality about it. This suggests both the imaginary world of theater and the slightly supernatural tone to the “shadow's play” poem.
The backdrop acts as a set for wooden painted sculptures made by the young artists who participated in this project. The sculptures together create a daytime summer garden which doubles as a shadow display at night. The sculptures are a gallery display for the students, who worked industriously at developing their drawing, painting, shading, color and design skills during this project. The work is a collaborative effort, with the individual creations coming together to make a cohesive whole.
Anamorphism:
Anamorphism in art is the creation of a distorted, unrecognizable image that, with new vantage points or the addition of devices such as mirrors or lights, creates an undistorted, recognizable image. In “Light Work/Shadow Play” the students art is anamorphic. From simple cut-out shapes (the younger students) to more elaborate structures (the older students) each artwork was created to transform from a painting to a shadow puppet. During the day the sculptures look like Dublin's summer plants and animals, with their silhouetted outlines obscured. At night, when footlights come on, shadows are cast from the sculptures representing Dublin's nocturnal wildlife. All the sculptures were hand-drawn and painted by the students, and cut out with a scroll saw from pieces of wood on which they designed
their creatures.
The participants:
Thomasin Dewhurst (Livermore artist and owner/educator at Thomasin Dewhurst Fine Art) provides art, art history and music instruction to Tri-Valley students. In addition to private tuition, she began work, in 2020, with various community groups, bringing public art opportunities to youth: those who have art experience and those who don't normally have access to art classes or workshops. With the support of grants from the cities of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin, as well as funding from the Wente Foundation for Arts Education, Livermore Rotarian Foundation, the Pedrozzi Foundation and private donations, Thomasin Dewhurst Fine Art continues to bring art opportunities to youth of the Tri-Valley community. A significant contribution to public art and city beautification has been the Livermore Conversation Pieces project.
Thomasin Dewhurst Fine Art students:
The students of Thomasin Dewhurst who participated in the project range from ages 7 years to 16 years. They are Livermore students who take art and art history with Thomasin at Livermore's Bothwell Center (part of Livermore Valley Arts). The students have contributed to a number of public art projects such as murals, banners and display posters, the Piano in the Plaza project at Dublin's Persimmon Place, and the Livermore “Conservation Pieces” project.
The Eta Carinae group:
Eta Carinae is a student led Non profit organization founded by Anwesha Ghosh (Dublin High School student) and Audrija Ghosh (Fallon Middle school student) in 2021. The organization now has 17 members from Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore. Students run their projects depending upon their interest and, having roles like Project Managers, Communication specialist, Finance specialist, Blogger, form their team to bring a project to completion. Past projects: Project pencil - Donating over 1100 books and back to school supplies to Mission elementary school and Marsh Elementary school in Antioch; Partnered with helptestbayarea and Predicine to assemble test kits to be supplied to DUSD, PUSD, Piedmont Unified, West Contra Costa USD; One warm coat - Donated jackets and energy bars to the
underprivileged kids of Mission Elementary School, Antioch; Hope for Homeless - Donated warm clothes to Tri-Valley Haven, Livermore; Caldor Fire relief - Partnered with Hands4Hope and donated over 500 clothing and food items to Caldor Fire victims).