Living Light and Hard Edge glass art: A new way of seeing

You’ve seen art all your life.

You see it at home every day. You feel familiar with it.

Fragment of the Grand Stairwell Installation - Dale Chihuly 2019

Then one evening you change the light.

And something in your artwork changes with it. Colours become more dramatic. The geometry seems to alter. The work itself starts to look bigger somehow.

You notice something different you hadn’t really seen before.

Today you can place light exactly where you want it, quickly and easily.

This moment is what we call Living Light.

It’s recognising that when you change the light, you change how you experience your art.

You’re seeing what the old masters lived with

When you look at a Rembrandt, or a Caravaggio, you’re seeing painters who understood light at a very human level.

But you’re also seeing something practical.

They lived in a world where good light cost money.

When you look at Rembrandt or Caravaggio, you’re seeing artists shaped by candlelit worlds.
Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair - Rembrandt 

Decent beeswax candles were very expensive. Tallow candles were smoky and dim. Studios relied on windows by day and flicker by night.

If you had lived then, you would have grown used to working and seeing in half shadow. Your eyes would have adapted. You would have noticed subtleties because you had to.

'The Calling of Saint Matthew' - Caravaggio

Chiaroscuro and sfumato were not only artistic ideas. They were responses to the reality of limited light.

Imagine how those painters might have explored their work if you’d given them a modern spotlight?!

You’re living in a different lighting world today

For centuries you would have had to compromise. Candles. Oil lamps. Gas. Red hot light bulbs.

Today you have something different.

Like your car, modern LED lighting uses new materials and precise engineering to give you stable, cool, controllable light.

When you stand in front of glass, you’re watching colour interact with light.
'The Fox and the Magpie' fused glass art Miniatures by Glass Art by Linda

You can place it where you want. You can adjust it without fuss.

Lighting has been democratised.

You don’t need a gallery. You don’t need a specialist.

You only need curiosity.

When you look at glass, you’re seeing light move

'Yearning' fused glass art lit with a usb spotlight - client's photo
Glass Art by Linda

When you look at paint, you see reflected light.

When you look at glass, you see light travelling.

It enters colour. It moves through layers. It returns to your eye with energy.

When you adjust the light, you immediately change what you see.

Hard Edge glass is made with this in mind. When you’re exploring lighting, you’re exploring new relationships within the piece.

Living Light is something you experience

When you see your artwork in morning light, it feels fresh.

In the evening, it feels warmer, more intimate.

As you live with an artwork, you see it differently at different times of day
'Stairs' fused glass art Roundel Glass Art by Linda

When you introduce a spotlight, you add another layer to what you see.

You’ll find yourself noticing details you hadn’t paid the same attention to before - and seeing how lighting affects glass art.

This is Living Light.

Your artwork deserves your attention

When you stand in front of glass, you’re watching colour interact with light.
'Strelitzia and Sakura' fused glass art Roundel

Your artwork carries intention and presence.

When you take a moment to explore how light affects it, you allow it to be seen fully.

You don’t need expertise. You only need a pair of eyes. Yours.

You find yourself adjusting the light simply to see what happens.

Sometimes the difference between simply seeing and truly noticing is just a small change in light.

You’ve moved from candlelight to precision

Not long ago, careful lighting required effort, experts, and sometimes complex installation.

Today, with modern USB led spotlights, you can shape how you see art with ease. 

The shift is profound.

You’re living with art

Owning art is one thing.

Living with it is another.

When you choose to let light play its part, you let your artwork participate more into your daily experience.

When you give thoughtful light to an artwork, you allow it to show you more of itself.
'Mono Lisa' fused glass art roundel and Miniature

When you turn the light on

When you think about Rembrandt and Caravaggio, you’re thinking about artists shaped by the light they had available.

Today, you have light that is precise and incredibly easy to explore.

Your artwork asks very little.

Only that you allow yourself to see it fully.

Living Light is simply an invitation.

When you turn the light on, notice what happens.

You now have control over lighting for glass art that earlier generations could only imagine
Glass artwork in the Studio at Glass Art by Linda

Linda says

“When you live with a piece of glass, you begin to realise that light is part of the artwork.

I design with colour and form, but I’m always testing how light will move through it.

Bright sunlight, neutral daylight and artificial light all make a huge difference.”

When you change the light, you’re not changing the artwork. You’re discovering another side of it. Living Light.