Kyle France: Final Documentation

Most of my finishing thoughts were covered in the Polish update, but I’ve now taken a video of the piece working. The final piece used acrylic, paint, corrugated E-flute cardboard, electrical tape, hot glue, and double-sided tape. The controls consisted of a speaker, an arduino UNO, and a breadboard with various components. Light was provided…

Kyle France: Polish

In this final section, I cut the acrylic pieces and rebuilt the project around them instead of the cardboard to create the final piece. Each piece was cut around the edges, and scored for the inside details. The depth of the score versus a raster etching catches more light from the LED’s. I eliminated the…

Kyle France: Everything Working

The project is coming together, but still a lot of polishing to be done. I haven’t been able to get time on a laser cutter to make the final cuts on my acrylic, and I am still deciding on a centerpiece. Aside from these two finishing details, I have created a replica of the final…

Kyle France: Failure and Recalibration

This week I continued my testing and gathered more of my final materials. I made a trip to Home Depot, where I bought acrylic, wire, and black spray paint. I still need to decide on and purchase LEDs/LED strips, but most of my components are now together. My first test was to try edge-lighting the…

Kyle France: Maquette

While starting my prototyping, I have focused mainly on the electronics and control side, since I have not worked with arduino much before. Using a kit that I have along with some parts from a friend, I was able to build a setup with an arduino uno, a sound sensor module, and a custom amplifier…

Kyle France: Concept Proposal

Initially, I was very interested in working with a projector and a faux stained-glass window in a similar way to one of Bruce Munro’s installments, Dawn Treader. When I saw it in person, I was captivated by the animation-like effect achieved by changing the background projection over the still image formed by the panes. It…

Light Artist Showcase: Bruce Munro

Bruce Munro is an artist based in Wiltshire, England, who is known for creating immersive light art installations around the world. He seeks to capture his responses to various stimuli with his installations, finding inspiration in stories and literature, music, and sometimes more spiritual themes. Munro’s pieces tend to be larger-scale, experiential installations using optical…

Introduction and Art portfolio

Kyle A. France, Mechanical Engineering Sophomore Prior to my time at WPI, my primary experience with art-making has been with model building, painting, and photography. Several years ago, I began by hand painting Warhammer 40k miniatures for tabletop gaming. As I learned, I began using an airbrush with a variety of paint types. The most…