Event Based Conceptual Sculpture
by Gary Molitor

Light Trap
Simmons Lane, Novato, CA, 05/06/1970

     The following twelve photos are a record of light reflecting through a glass of water sitting on the kitchen window sill then off a mirror and through the lens system of a  Miranda F SLR camera.
      While using the kitchen sink my eye caught a rainbow ray of light reflecting off the water faucet. Some how the glass of water sitting of the window sill which had a plant sprouting in it was capturing the sun light, splitting it into a rainbow and focusing it on to the water faucet nozzle which then was reflected in to my eye. Instantly it occurred to me that this was a unique event and I quickly garb my camera to capture the event.
     Regardless of how I focused the camera I could not capture the rainbow as I saw it. I  thought if I put a mirror in place to provide a wide surface I might capture the light as I was it.
     Using the camera with different focal lengths, aperture and shutter speed settings I was able to capture the light as it reflected back and forth within the cameras lens.
    I was not able to capture the light as my eye first experienced the event. Maybe the sun's movement caused a change in how the light reflected within the water glass or the mirror change the light in some way. What ever of the cause, what was going on inside the lens system was much more interesting.
    13" x 19" prints are available in either gloss photo prints or on matte archival paper using the giclee printing process with UV stable inks for a price of $200.00 each.
    The enlarged images seen here are low resolution 6" x 8" at 96 dpi.

After my teaching position was terminated at UC Davis and the promise of a teaching position by the art department chairman at the Reno campus of the University of Nevada, Joan I and our 1952 Dodge truck/camper took off on a three month road trip up the west coast and a cross Canada via the Trans-Canada High Way, ending in Nova Scotia with the return trip through the northern US states. At that time some of the Trans-Canada High Way was still dirt and gravel which made the trip a real "roughing-it" experience.

Half way through the trip I was to call the UNR art department to be told what my salary and class schedule would be. When I did, I was told that the position was no longer mine and it had been awarded to some one else. What a horrible sinking feeling that was. Well, There was not much I could do about it stuck way up in Canada so Joan and I continued with out trip. On the way back to the Bay Area we stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument. After attending a slide show about Craters of the Moon, I asked the Park Service Ranger how I could get a Ranger hat. His answer was That I would have to become a Ranger and gave me the information on applying as a Temporary Ranger. The short story is I was accepted by the Department of the Interior and became a temporary Ranger at Chiricahua National Monument.  The job lasted for about four months after which we found ourselves back in the Marin County living a one bedroom cottage in San Anselmo with our two Irish Terriers, John and Ruffles. The house was too small to have any work space so I started a series of projects using the only materials at hand. These above series of photographs documents that activity. The Earth Probe One work was done in Las Vegas while teaching at the University. ... story to continue.

Art site of Gary Molitor: Bay Area Art History, California
Site designed and executed by G.W. Molitor. All rights reserved
Copyright © 1997, — 2014; Gary W. Molitor. San Leandro, CA
Send mail to gary.molitor@gmail.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Please note that the links offered here are not for commercial purpose but for your information only.
Updated 06/06/2014.