After two years of waiting, the Ball State University Music Instruction Building finally has a piece of art in its lobby.
Friday, about 100 people congregated in anticipation of the work. As people walked in, a sculpture hung on the wall with dimmed colors and random shapes. A harp player, champagne and chocolates lightened the mood. After speeches were given to commemorate the painting, a trumpet fanfare played and Stephen Knapp's light painting, "First Symphony," was unveiled Friday night.
Greens, yellows, magentas, blues and oranges illuminated the room. Softer colors flowed into darker colors, like music crescendoing from soft to loud, creating a scene difficult to explain.
Depending on where a person is, the painting will have depths and shades that will appear different to everyone, Knapp said.
"The art is just tremendous and opens all kinds of doors for the community," Bob Zellers, director of scholarships and financial aid, said. "It has so much vibrancy and color, shape and form. It is a living work of art that will change against the light and different conditions."
Knapp, creator of the light painting, built the 23-foot-tall by 40-foot-wide sculpture with 158 pieces of colored glass that captures the natural light of the sun and uses eight fluorescent lights to reflect the glass' complimentary colors across the wall.
President Jo Ann Gora said "First Symphony" was a magnificent work of art that thousands of people would have their eyes drawn to. Public art is all around campus with "Frog Baby," "Naked Lady" and "Beneficence," and this painting is just one more that should make the Music Instruction Building a destination to come and admire art work, she said.
Ball State is blessed and fortunate to have this piece, Kristi Koriath, information services manager in the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs, said. It is absolutely spectacular and is a rare thing to find a work of art such as this in a small town, she said.
Knapp was selected to create the piece by an art committee, Robert Kvam, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said. The committee chose this piece because it had a good cross-sectional appeal and was modern in the sense that it went beyond typical artwork by using colored glass in the technique, he said.
Knapp started working with colored glass in 1993 and is one of a handful of artists to use it in art. He began working on "First Symphony" in January. After spending three months constructing the piece in his studio, he spent about two and a half weeks dismantling it and another week reconstructing the painting in the Music Instruction Building.
"When I was creating 'First Symphony,' I listened to everything from jazz, to rock, to even some Johnny Cash," Knapp said. "My children participate in music. Music moves my work and my world."
Artists can name their work whatever they choose, and Knapp decided to name the painting "First Symphony" to remind students that they can do whatever they set their minds to, Knapp said.
During the morning hours, the colors of the painting are light and hardly visible. During night hours when the building's lights are turned off, the lobby is filled with bright colors that appear to move as you stand in different areas of the lobby.
People ask a lot about creativity, and artists can be talented, but not creative, Knapp said. Creativity goes among all walks of life and inspires people in all fields of study; creativity knows no bounds, no fields and no limits, he said.
"The most important part of "First Symphony" is what each and every person brings to it," Knapp said. "Everyone will see something different and like music moves me, I hope the crescendos and soft passages will move a little piece of yourself."
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