Week #9 - Lights and Symbols

This week I noticed the first of the Christmas decorations going up, even before it was Thanksgiving. At first I had my standard dismay at the way Christmas seems to come earlier every year, and then I realized with interest what a perfect example these lights were of using light as a symbol. I knew immediately when I looked at this shape of light that it was meant to be a Christmas tree, even though it was blue (not a Christmas color) and had no colored balls etc adorning it. In fact, it didn't even attempt to mimic the shape of branches; it was just a simple blue cone. This made me think of how much light can hint at or suggest certain ideas, without having to spell them out explicitly. As the viewer, we make the jump and our minds fill in the details to match what we expect to see from our association of the light we see and the ideas/feelings we attach to it. This idea will be useful in my own lighting designs, in that we can give them impression of a forest etc. with lighting by capturing the main points in light; we don't necessarily have to worry as much about every little detail as much as the overall feeling we are conveying. I really enjoyed the exploration I got to do with the light gloves in the dance piece I choreographed for Katy to design this week, and will have to think more about light's potential for use as symbols in my future work.