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Cloth & Culture NOW
the artists - Helena Hietanen
ANGEL HAIRS IN THE ARCHITECTURE - HOW
I PERCEIVE LIGHT IN TEXTILE AND ARCHITECTURE
I work with light as my main interest. When I talk about light
I consider it in broad sense. Light for me is like sculptural material
and I use it in many ways depending on the artwork or situation.
I use light as reflections in different materials. I also use light
as texture or phenomenon. I get my ideas of natural light, but
often I use artificial lighting technique to work with the idea.
Many of my thoughts as how to use light come from looking around:
I love to notice those sudden moments of brigh sunlight in my eyes
or moving shadows of trees branches on the ground.
I try to involve nature with my artistic work even though the
materials can be very technical. This is for me an interesting
contrast and brings also contrast to the content of the artwork
itself. Many people have commented that my artworks made out of
opticalfibres bring about associations with nature, for example:
fire, stars, water and even butterflies. The most beautiful comment
was from a four year old child who said that the free hanging optical
fibres in my artwork called Technolace were like angel hairs.
My special interest is to look how the
sea changes and reflects light during a sunny day or through
out the entire year. I can take endless pictures of the sea surface
and its reflections. One other inspiring topic for me is the
sky. I have a great collection of pictures of clouds and skies,
from all over the world. This is my way of sketching. I have
noticed that the images that I have perceived and captured with
photographs are memorized in my mind, and they influence my work
this way. When working I have this material in my mind.
When the actual technique or structure of the artwork has to
be planned I then remember the experience and bring the feeling
of it to my work. This is not a process of thinking about the
material but rather feeling it. It is an intuitive process.
Light and how it reacts with different
materials is difficult to visualize in the form of a sketch.
This is why often my
ideas evolve only in my head, I see the ideas very vividly in my
minds eye. I have even developed my own technique of using imagination:
I relax myself and close my eyes, as if sleeping. But I use
the moment for looking at my ideas in my mind and imagining how
material look like with light. Often has happened that the artwork
is ready planned in my head and when I start working on the idea
it is all very clear for me how to make it happen. Even if I have
never seen anything like it or I have never done anything like
it before. Often the artwork when ready looks just like I have
imagined it.
During recent years I have become more interested in light itself
and how light is changing interiors and places. From working with
lightsculptures and objects I have started to look more at surrounding
environment and the space. I perceive the changes of natural light
in certain space and this brings ideas for how to work with light.
Very often I end up using natural light as part of my artwork and
blend it with the artificial material of my artwork. If I have
a possibility I want to include the artwork with the architecture
entirely. I have made quite a few public artworks together with
architects. I have found this a very rewarding way to collaborate,
because then my work can be a part of the space not a separate
object. When working with light I have to know what the lighting
conditions are in certain space so that whatever I do with light
it will be visible as I want. Light is a material that involves
the whole space, therefore I want to work with the space. My dream
is to be able to combine art with space; architectural lighting
with artistic approach.
FINLAND
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