My concept for this project is to create a series of hanging, lit up sculptures inspired by abstract artists. I want to focus on the different colors and shapes that abstract artists use in their work and bring it to a 3D world with lights.
I will use cardboard and tape (and potentially a beach ball) to create the frame of the sculpture and use clear wire to hang the piece to give the illusion of it floating in space. I plan to use Electroluminescent wire and battery packs as the light component. The hope is to hide the battery back inside of the sculpture. I will need to use some adhesive for the EL wire, I’m thinking either more tape or some type of glue. I will also potentially use a diffusion layer of sorts.
Question 1: Do you foresee any issues with the construction of the pieces or using EL wire? Do you have any adhesive recommendations for the EL wire? My backup plan in case the EL wire doesn’t work is to pivot to LED strips however I’d like to avoid coding if possible and I’m hoping that the EL wire will be more flexible for the pieces.
Finally, I was wondering what could I do to make my concept even better? Thank you so much for your feedback!!
To answer questions 2 and 3 sort of, I think you should do different shapes inspired by the patterns in the paintings if you choose to do artists other than Rothko.
Hi Olivia,
This is a relly cool idea! I would recommend maybe trying double-sided tape if the EL wire is not too heavy, or you could use those sticky foam tapes incase there is a lot of weight, however, that might require a better method to hide the adhesive. I also agree that you could try multiple shapes inspired by different artists, I feel as if you combine multiple artists, your personal vision would shine through! Another similar concept could be maybe using a clear material for the base of the objects and having the light be encapsulated within it!
Hi Olivia,
Your concept sounds a lotta fun! For Q1: According to some online sources, EL wire can be tricky to work with, especially if you need to cut it or solder it… You might need some special tools and skills for that. Hot glue, silicone sealant, or zip ties might work well with EL wire , and you can also use clear tape or fishing line to secure it.
Question: How big are you planning to make your sculptures? Are you bringing those to class?
For question 1, one product you could look into is Neon LEDs. They work the same way as a regular LED strip, except they only take an input voltage, meaning no code is needed to operate them. I think it would be cool if you could incorporate the hanging images into some sort of visual display, such as a solar system or an image that is projected when you look a certain way.
This is an interesting concept with lots of creative possibilities. A couple of thoughts come to mind:
EL wire and LED strips can both be bent and shaped a certain limited amount, but not into every possible configuration that one would want. So I encourage you to get your hands on materials as soon as you can and do some testing so you get a sense of what kinds of shapes are possible. Trying to avoid cuts is helpful too, though you can do things like putting black tape over sections of the EL wire to block the light and create a space.
If your goal is to put lights inside the shapes and diffuse the light, LEDs are a lot brighter than EL wire and may work better in that scenario.
As John mentioned, no code is required for LED strips unless you want to change the pixels individually. There are lots of strips that can be controlled with remote controls, dimmers, and/or phone apps with no computer/code needed.
To answer your last question I think it would be really beneficial to create different sizes and shapes to the piece. I think it would look really cool and have more variety