Fine Arts Studio

Navigation Menu+

Moonlike Sunlight

This sculpture is wired with a small solar panel beneath blue glass and stores sunlight during the day via two super capacitors. At night, or in a dark room, it then projects an image which is similar to the full moon, using the exact same sunlight/photons as what the solar panels earlier captured. It is a meditation on the fact that what we think of as moonlight is actually reflected sunlight, a simple and obvious point that I nevertheless find amazing, mainly because our emotional responses to sunlight and moonlight are so different. I very much enjoyed doing the wiring and figuring out how to make the unique switch by laying stainless steel across the copper terminals. The blue glass is from The Commodore, an historic paddlewheel boat on Lake Austin.

 

(Please wait while images load)

  • hello world

Techniques Used

i  Astronomy

ii  Woodwork

iii  Electrical wiring

iv  Machining

v  Metalwork

vi  Glass cutting

Materials Used

i  Vintage longleaf pine

ii  Green glass from a riverboat built in the 1940's

iii  Copper stock

iv  Stainless steel stock

v  Photovoltaic cell

vi  Super capacitors

info@mccombsculpture.com | 512.537.7971