‘In Visible Light’ on View at Hampden Gallery's Sculpture Garden Through May 30

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The “In Visible Light” light sculpture installation will remain on view at the Hampden Gallery’s sculpture garden through Sunday, May 30. It first debuted on April 1.

“In Visible Light” is a large-scale illuminated sculptural work of art (40’ circumference) on view at Hampden Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. The work is supported by Hampden Gallery’s Collaborative Outreach Program. This new program facilitates collaborations between MFA students and other members of the UMass community. These collaborations entail various aspects of conceiving, designing and constructing a work for exhibition at Hampden Gallery.

For this year, the project, “In Visible Light,” was conceived by Sally Curcio, Hampden Gallery’s interim director, who engaged first year MFA student Jacob Peters, to collaborate with her in the design and construction of the sculpture. The sculpture was created during the coronavirus pandemic.

The sculpture hangs at Hampden Gallery and consists of two suspended, illuminated metal semi-circles that appear whole as a completed circle. The completed circle connects the exterior of the outdoor Sculpture Garden with the interior of the gallery. The circle creates the illusion of breaking through the barrier of glass and inhabiting both the interior and exterior of the gallery.

While the gallery doors are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the sculpture safely, and creatively, reaches out to re-connect. “In Visible Light” acts as a beacon of optimism to the campus community while acknowledging the constraints and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. By using light as a medium and subject matter, “In Visible Light” seeks to illuminate the physical darkness of the shorter days of the year, as well as the emotional darkness brought out by the coronavirus pandemic.