Crystal Light, 2011
North Temple Bridge / Guadalupe Station, Salt Lake City Utah.
Etched Glass, Stainless Steel, 75 x 200 x 78’. $589,000
Crystal Light is a response to the dramatic weather of Salt Lake City. It uses water in its different states as the metaphor for the temperature changes and precipitation. The salt crystals of the lake and the spectacular lightening storms over the lake are woven through these images as well.
Crystal Light is a complete environmental experience that surrounds the visitors to the Transfer Station and is never quite the same because it responds to the shifting lights and colors of the daylight and at night is bathed in the programmed lighting that changes both intensity and color as if in response to the movement of the pedestrians and the elevator. The work exists within the planes and surfaces of the station as it dematerializes the surfaces, projecting and reflecting crystal and water patterns beyond the physical boundaries of the work itself onto other surfaces. The dramatic sky, its color and the clouds become a part of the work as the etched water crystal forms are seen against this dramatic backdrop of light and color. The colors of the lighting program subtly change throughout the seasons, cooling as the weather warms and warming as the cold arrives.
Crystal Light transforms the two level environment of the Transfer Station of the UTA linking the new line to the airport. The dramatic weather of Salt Lake City is suggested in images of water in its different states: ice crystals, clouds, a rushing stream, gentle waves of a lake are etched into the glass wind screens and elevator tower to catch the sunlight during the day and at night color flows through the station with programmed lighting.
