Lanternia - Temporary Public Art Piece in Seattle

Made on a Glowforge
1

Hi everyone!

I want to share something I built as a distanced-accessible public art project a few weeks ago.

I hand-built this archway from Cedar and then suspended lanterns and ornaments that were all made on my Glowforge. I named it “Lanternia” :grinning:

During the day, iridescent acrylic ornaments made colored shadows that danced in the wind.
By night, three wood lanterns projected crisp geometric patterns across the entire side of the house that was hosting my installation.

Here’s a video during the day:

And by dusk:

IMG_4630
IMG_4630612×816 145 KB

IMG_4631
IMG_4631480×640 89.8 KB

Almost 20 Seattle artists made installations that were drive-through & pedestrian-friendly during the week that would have been Burning Man (8/31-9/7). If you were in Seattle at that time, you may have seen this at 38th & Genesee in Columbia City.

Thanks for looking!

54 Likes
2

Wow, very nice! I like the shapes and detail; it is very beautiful!

4 Likes
3

Thank you for the kind words! It was a great distraction from the trials of 2020 and it felt good to be putting art into my community :blush:

3 Likes
4

Very nice. I bet a gentle breeze completely changed the look of the shadows. Wished I lived in an area with more public art.

3 Likes
5

It did! Most of the time there was a gentle enough breeze that the shadows spun and flowed but weren’t too shake-y to be appreciated.

It’s possible that if you put some public art out that others will follow :wink:

5 Likes
6

Gosh, that’s gorgeous!

4 Likes
7

Drive-by art show, great idea. Lanternia is wonderful!

4 Likes
8

The pieces are so great, but the shadows on the wall lit up at night are amazing. Great project and appreciated by anyone who drives by.

4 Likes
9

Just lovely!

3 Likes
10

Beautiful! I love the shadows. Some day I want to make a light fixture that would cast interesting shadows on our back porch.

3 Likes
11

I was just thinking the same thing!

Getting a string of solar lights and putting something this around them.

2 Likes
12

You can’t tell but it’s on a ~4ft bluff right by a stop stop sign too, so I got to see slow down by it and sometimes park to take a little longer.

Lots of foot traffic on the sidewalk too!

3 Likes
13

You should! The main thing I learned was that you want something as close to a single point of hard light as possible. No frosting, and no array of LEDs for crisp shadows :slight_smile:

4 Likes
14

Thank You! You have a suggestion what to use?

2 Likes
15

No problem!

I am still testing a few variants out, but I’m having greater success with incandescent floods than anything LED at the moment.

3 Likes
16

This is really lovely…and what a great idea for a display. The intricasies of the lanterns are beautiful.

1 Like
17

This is so lovely! Great job

1 Like
18

@NateG !!! Exactly what type of lightbulb did you use for this??? I have failed many times and purchased many bulbs to try to do something like this. The project sits near the projector screen to taunt me.
It looks great!

3 Likes
19

Outstanding! Great light effect especially at night.

1 Like
20

this is so beautiful and inspiring!!

1 Like