Gregory Mowery

Neon is a medium of light, color, and atmosphere-at once iconic in commercial signage and radical in contemporary art. This course introduces students to the history and practice of neon, from early experiments to its use by contemporary makers. In the Light Lab, students will learn essential methods of tube bending, wiring, and installation, while also exploring neon's significance as both a craft tradition and a contemporary artistic medium.

We will look at how artists such as Bruce Nauman, Keith Sonnier, Joseph Kosuth, and Cerith Wyn Evans transformed neon into a language of sculpture, architecture, and experimental art. Readings on light, vision, and color theory will provide both scientific and conceptual grounding for studio practice. By the end of the semester, students will have created an original neon work that reflects their own creative vision.

This class will be an exploration of the electric light as an art medium. Through the demonstration of various electric light technologies the student will learn both the traditional use of lighting and installation and also an experimental approach to lighting that will produce unexpected visual effects. Students may work in individual or group projects that will span the range of light use from architectural design to performance as well as merging with other media such as sound.

Light is a material that can be shaped to express ideas, create experiences and increase the communicative potential of objects and spaces. Through a combination of lectures, demos, fields trips and most of all, hands-on lab work, students develop a degree of self sufficiency in the design, construction and prototyping of illuminated objects, physical graphics and environmental lighting. Students learn basic electronic and electrical circuit design, lamp specification and experiment with illumination technologies including incandescent, LED and cold cathode (neon).