Christian Serwold, Emily Peterson and Sophie Kastelic

Overall Statement

Lunar Drift is a three part sculpture created by Rebecca Cummins and Paul Demarinis in 2014. The piece was commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission. Rebecca Cummins and Paul DeMarinis are both professors. Rebecca Cummins teaches at the University of Washington, and Paul DeMarinis at Stanford University. Each of these pieces works to make sure that the viewer leaves with a new understanding of both physical space and time. That is what the artists love most and that is what they want the viewers to take away. They all work with each other, the Vitrines lead to the West Wall, Which leads to the South Wall of Bellingham and brings the audience back home from the moon.  

The South Wall

The south wall of the Lunar Drift sculpture are pictures of the sky that represent the sun. This piece of the sculpture are photos of the sky taken by Rebecca Cummins and Paul DeMarinis printed on circular discs that are mounted in line sequences on a white wall. Although you wouldn’t know it by just looking at the photos, they aren’t just random pictures of the sky taken at random times. There are a total of 48 discs on the south wall. Every column represents a month of the year in 2014. Each month Cummins and DeMarinis picked one day and took four pictures, The first taken at six a.m., the next at twelve p.m., one and six p.m.,and the last was taken at twelve a.m.

At first when you walk in the room you don’t even notice the sculpture really. Then you see a big white wall with a bunch of small circles

on them. As you get closer you notice that the small circles are actually photos of all the stages of the moon and youthink huh, that’s cool. I really like the lighting and

all 
the colors in the room because almost everything is white or light colored and then you have the high contrast of the dark circular moon pictures. On the other wall are photosof the sky. I like this part

of the sculpture because most days especially in the winter the sun isn’t out and you can’t see any blue sky. This piece reminds us that the sun will come back and gives us hope. The medium that Rebecca Cummins and Paul DeMarinis used definitely had a lot to do with interior design. I really enjoy this piece and am excited to research and learn about their idea as well as their process of constructing their vision.

The West Wall

The west wall contains 365 disks depicting the phases of the moon at its highest point in the sky in Bellingham of 2014. The pictures are of the moon at its highest point in the sky. Each row represents a month out of the year, and starts with January at the top and ending with December at the bottom. Every column aligns with a day of the week, and starts with Friday on the furthest left.

“I really like this part of the sculpture. It makes me feel calm and tranquil. I also like the educational aspect of it.” -Emily Peterson

The Vitrines

The pointers which are actually called Vitrines move and no matter what is going on outside the vitrines always point directly at the sun and the moon. These vitrines are currently out of order is what Paul Brower, the Preservation and Museum Specialist said while on a tour of the campus art collection. Both pointers are kept in

 glass display cases to ensure that they don’t get damaged, but they are both fully visible and the case doesn’t disrupt the viewer. The Vitrine further to the left is always pointing at the sun. It moves at a consistent 15 degrees every hour to keep up with the sun. The pointer on the right side doesn’t move at a rate that is quite as constant, but it also keeps with the moon. What is interesting about these two Vitrines is that even if you don’t know what day it is, you’ll still be able to get some sense of time by looking at these pointers. The moving moon pointers make me feel like things are always moving and changing.

Linda Alterwitz. “Art +Science: Rebecca Cummin.s” Lenscratch, http://lenscratch.com/2016/10/art-science-rebecca-cummins. Tues. 06 Feb 2018.

Paul, Christiane. A Companion to Digital Art. John Wiley & Sons, Mar 2, 2016.

“Paul DeMarinis.” Paul DeMarinis | Department of Art & Art History. N.p., n.d. Tues. 06 Feb. 2018.

“Paul DeMarinis.” Stanford Department of Art and Art History. https://art.stanford.edu/people/paul-demarinis. Tues 06 Feb. 2018.

“Rebecca Cummins.” Rebecca Cummins | School of Art + Art History + Design | University of Washington.N.p., n.d. Tues 06 Feb. 2018.