One of six installations for Spoleto’s The Memory of Water visual arts exhibition, A Lighthouse Woman was realized in cooperation with members of Save The Light, Inc, a non-profit organization whose mission is to save and preserve the Morris Island Lighthouse, built in 1876. Using a mixture of light, colour and ingenuity, the lighthouse was transformed into a memorial commemorating the enduring relationship of light and the sea.
Equipping the location was a challenge. The lack of electricity made importing a generator the first priority. Once power was available, Steve Shelley and Festival personnel worked closely with Wybron and Fourth Phase to design a system that would endure the rugged atmosphere of the sea. Washing the lighthouse with a variety of colors was accomplished by installing eight Altman outdoor pars, equipped with water-resistant Wybron Mariner color changers. The team then developed a program that operated the equipment on a timer, turning each unit on and off in a specific sequence. Designer Steve Shelley commented: "Wybron’s Dave Mayne was invaluable. He wrote the sequencing program that enabled the CXI Mariner color mixing system to work as one unit, flooding the lighthouse with the right color at just the right time." This team of creative engineers and designers produced a dramatic effect that transformed a simple structure into a work of art.
(Lee Baldock)
