Theatre's Shawn Irish Designs Lighting Concept for Crystal Bridges Exhibit

Ironside Photography / Stephen Ironside

Shawn Irish, associate professor of lighting design in the Department of Theatre, recently collaborated with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as part of their Crystal Bridges at 10 anniversary exhibit, which is an exhibition of 10 immersive, distinct art experiences.

Irish worked with Mindy Besaw, who curated the art works in the exhibit, to "bring the outdoors in" to the space and give patrons experiencing it a sense of how the light might change over the course of a day.

Irish's theatrical lighting work is paired with a collection of sounds recorded live on the grounds at Crystal Bridges and live feeds from cameras set up on the museum's grounds bring nature into the exhibit to complement a variety of landscape watercolors.

This section of the exhibit is entitled Art + Nature and contains works from the museum's permanent collection.

Irish and his students researched and developed the lighting concept used in the exhibit so it would take visitors through the different stages of light in a full day and night in Arkansas.

"The lighting fixtures and colors are based on realistic examples of day into night in this region, but we amplified it with richer colors and faster movements through the cycle," Irish said. "In addition to lighting the room as a whole, each artwork was given special treatment as well."

While Irish did not take part in the curation of artworks that were selected for the section, he said his impression of each artwork informed its lighting concept.

"How you light something reflects how you feel about it," he said. "I did research on each artist and work in the room. And that research, paired with my own feelings about each piece, helped inform our decisions. Lighting design is about telling stories - whether it's art or a theatrical production."

Crystal Bridges at 10 is Irish's first art exhibition credit.

"In the lighting design field, we are always looking for new ways to apply what we know," said Irish, who noted that special thanks should also go to Erica Harmon at the museum for her help with the project.

Crystal Bridges at 10 opened on July 11 and will remain on view at the museum through Sept. 27, 2021.