The Star Press
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Symphony of Light harmonizes with new music building
There are no brushes or tubes of paint in Stephen Knapp's home studio. Instead, the Massachusetts-based artist relies on dozens of pieces of coated glass, polished steel brackets and a few halogen light bulbs to create his one-of-a-kind masterpieces. Once finished, Knapp's three-dimensional lightpaintings explode in rainbows of color upon the walls of the galleries and institutions that commission the 58-year-old for his unique work.

The latest home of one of Knapp's installations is the grand entranceway of Ball State University's Music Instruction Building. More than 100 pieces of glass make up the mammoth 23-by-40-foot installation Knapp has completed for Ball State. Titled First Symphony, the work is the first lightpainting he's installed at a college nationwide and the only artwork of his in Indiana. At first glance, it's easy to believe there is no rhyme or reason to the layered pattern of glass pieces Knapp affixes to a building's white walls with the boost of a scissor lift. But as the soft-spoken artist will tell you, those pieces are "definitely not random."


Before shipping an installation to its final destination, Knapp spends hours at his 6,000-square-foot studio, laying out each piece of glass that makes up the artwork.

The glass is special-treated with layers of a colored metallic coating, which hardens it, turning it into a "safety glass." The slightest shift to one of these glass pieces, which must be cut with diamond band saws, will change the pattern of light, altering the entire painting. It is a tricky process to align all of the tinted glass pieces just so, but a labor of love he cherishes.

"Light is a part of everything I've ever done as an artist," said Knapp, who's worked with glass as an artistic medium since the late 1980s.

Stephen at work on First SymphonyPhoto by Melanie Maxwell

Lightpainting not the norm

So how did one of Knapp's brilliant pieces find its way onto the walls of a Ball State building? University officials say they sought out the artist because the art they wanted to grace the entryway to the Music Instruction Building's Sursa Performance Hall had to be unique. In 2005, a committee assigned to finding artwork for the space narrowed its selection down to four artists. One look at Knapp's unparalleled mock-up for the entrance had committee members sold, said Robert Kvam, dean of Ball State's College of Fine Arts. "It was clear what we had in front of us was not your normal tapestry or landscape," Kvam said.

Knapp's artwork will be highly visible to passersby -- especially atnight -- because of the large panels of glass that make up the north side of the building. 		The lightpainting will also change appearance depending upon the time of day and the amount of light that filters in through the building's windows. Knapp said he believes it is a privilege to install one of his pieces at Ball State because the university's push for technology closely mirrors his efforts to make light the new art form of the 21st century. "I feel like Ball State is a forward-thinking kind of place and that I fit right in," he said. "It's as if I was meant to be here."

Awe-inspiring artwork

Kvam said First Symphony would not have been possible without a private donation given to the university by local beneficiaries Patricia Schaefer and Tove Stimson. Though he declined to say the amount of the gift, Kvam did note it was "substantial."

When First Symphony is unveiled to the public later this month, Knapp hopes the artwork elicits the type of response he frequently hears from those who view his work for the first time.

"I get a lot of gasps," he said, noting that during a recent unveiling for an installation in Texas, the entire room was left awe-struck. Other places to host Knapp's work include Tampa, Fla., New York, Toronto, Spain and Japan.

"It's a wonderful feeling to elicit that emotion out of a person, but what excites me most is getting beyond the gasp," Knapp said. "Having people truly take in something they've never seen before."

 Knapp is still putting the finishing touches to his work at Ball State, but that hasn't stopped students and faculty members from stopping by to admire what he's done.

"My wife and I were driving past the building and we just couldn't believe how beautiful it is," music professor Ray Kilburn said of First Symphony.

After months of seeing nothing but bare walls above the concert hall's entrance, Kilburn had a hard time envisioning what the installation would look like. But Knapp's work, he said, "has exceeded all expectations."

• Contact news reporter Gail Koch at 213-5827.
Photo by Melanie Maxwell
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