By Israel Amador and Isa Kaufman

About

West Wall

In 2014, Lunar Drift was placed in Miller Hall at Western Washington University. This art piece had been acquired for the State Art Collection, and was produced by Rebecca Cummins and Paul DeMarinis. Lunar Drift is a three part sculpture.The first of the three sculptures is the south wall, west wall, and Vitrines( or Sun and Moon Pointers) . These sculptures are located in a place with a lot of socialization. The artists intentionally placed these sculptures so they can interact with people and comment on memory and time. The West wall are comprised of a photo set of the moon phases , which decorates the wall. These moons are ordered by the moon cycle, and makes for a impressionable view. The open room also allows for light to reflect and illuminate the photos with it’s rays.

South Wall

The south wall has a far diverse variety of photos that convey movement. These photos are in the form of circular shapes and were taken in Bellingham. These photos were taken at different times during the day. The artists took these photos to convey time passing and nature having a consistent cycle of sunshine and nighttime.

Artists 

Rebecca Cummins got her BFA at the University of Northern Iowa in 1979, her MA at the University of New Mexico in 1982, and her PhD at University of Technology in Sydney, Australia in 2003. Cummins taught at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney for 16 years. She is now a professor and Chair of Photomedia at the University of Washington. She has exhibited throughout the world; including the US, China, Australia, and Europe.

Rebecca Cummins likes to explore the possibilities of light, natural phenomena, and imaging in contemporary life sciences. She has created other works of art similar to that of Lunar Drift. Other sky themed pieces include: Seattle Sky Pearls (2009), Bounce(2014), and Big Circles (2015). She was not influenced by anything during the creation of Lunar Drift, as Israel had contacted her about the piece. The piece was mainly created to influence one’s awareness in reference to the universe rather than a political issue.

Paul DeMarinis is a professor at Stanford University. He got his B.A. at Antioch College and his M.F.A. at Mills College. DeMarinis has years of experience in electronic media; including visual and sound, electronic music, performance, and computer based works and installations. Paul DeMarinis has collaborated with Rebecca Cummins in past works as well, such as “A Light Rain” in 2004.

Much of his work focus on human communication and technology. Many themes of his work are multimedia oriented and involve interactivity. Common works of his seek to comment on human interaction, according to Stanford’s Art History Department.  In Lunar Drift, he helps with communicating the locations of the Sun and the Moon. For example, the artwork, juxtaposed next to studying and chatting students in Miller Hall, conveys a sense of memory and time amidst social activity. The photographs of the sun and moon  which show the movement and transition of the sky.

Timelapse

We chose to make a time-lapse video of students walking about and socializing in front of Lunar Drift. The dreamy background sounds and the tinted color altering were meant to enhance  and highlight the experience of being in the room. The videos speed reflects the cycles of time, and comments on how time goes by way to fast to take for granted moments of joy and growing. When I look at Lunar Drift, I not only see the artwork but the space around it.  As students walk by, sit down, talk to their friends, stress out about homework– around Miller Hall — time is going by. I think this is why the artists places it smack dab in the middle of a social space– so that students, faculty, and anyone who wanders in the open space can interact with it somehow.

Lunar Drift Animation

This photographed series that was made into a short animation represents not only the phases of the moon, but also how close we are to the moon itself and how it affects our lives. The gravitational force due to the sun and moon pulls and pushes the ocean towards and away from the moon. This frequent movement of the tides effect the Earth in many ways. The motion of the water pushes the rocks, causing them to collide and chip away and smooth one another; In time, creating the form of this rock represented in this short animation, that was picked up at the shores of Boulevard Park in Bellingham, WA.

Sources

“Paul DeMarinis.” Paul DeMarinis. Stanford University.      https://art.stanford.edu/people/paul-demarinis\

“Rebecca Cummins.” University of Washington.

https://art.washington.edu/people/rebecca-cummins

“New Sculpture Tracks Lunar, Solar Movement.” Western Today.

https://westerntoday.wwu.edu/features/new-sculpture-tracks-lunar-solar-movement

“Lunar Drift 2014”.ArtsWA.

http://www.artswa.org/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=12761;type=101

https://www.rebeccacummins.com/work#/public-comissions/

https://www.rebeccacummins.com/about/

https://www.google.com/search?q=paul+demarinis&safe=active&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS758US758&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi63I_F2MHeAhW3HzQIHTDvD3UQ_AUIFSgD&biw=1920&bih=889#imgdii=Kl4UqNpfGAT9rM:&imgrc=RNbrOLFruRimnM: