CATHERINE WIDGERY

Wind Veil brings to our attention the universal patterns that surround us: how light and wind interact constantly with surfaces and animate our world with a delicate wonder.

Crucial to the concept is to have an ever-changing experience inside and outside the building both during the day and night. Depending on the angles of the sunlight or artificial lights and the position of the viewer, the sky is reflected in the areas of the glass that are not laser etched. The image is an abstraction of points of light on water. It was transformed from video footage of the moving surface of water where lights were reflected. The focus was changed so that the digital translation is one of perfect overlapping circles of different densities. It is similar to what we see if we half close our eyes. Our mind makes sense of this very abstract pattern because it has registered this arrangement of light points unconsciously over countless times of seeing light on water. Yet this image also refers to a universal visual language of the natural world that suggests different things to different people.

The lines of cable on which are mounted dichroic glass ‘flags’ that turn in the wind interact with
the glass façade and its reflective blue and laser etched surface. Projected colour, reflected glints of light and shadows all are part of the ‘veil’ through which the surface of the glass is seen so a subtle and delicate dance of light and wind plays each day. In my public art installations one of the most frequent comments is that people want to stand and watch how the works change; it is a moment of meditation, a slowing down in their day.

Catherine Widgery’s practice of creating site-specific art works for the public realm spans almost 40 years. She has built her career around making public art because she is inspired by the richness of new places and meeting the people who will live with the artwork. Her works support multiple levels of meaning and experience. Anyone, child or art curator, will find something compelling to engage their senses, body and mind. She believes that giving her viewers something unexpected or intriguing helps awaken them to their surroundings. She engages them through mystery, ambiguity, changeability, animation and altered but recognizable imagery. The interpretation resides within the participant. Visitors are embraced by her artworks that often exist as shimmering light or move- ment in a shifting environment. Permeable, dematerialized, appearing and disappearing, her works in the public realm are never the same since it is nature’s energies and the viewer’s participation that determine the art in any given moment.