The Water’s Edge
Call for Entries Accepted Artists
Artist Karen Hochman Brown
Altadena, California,
Parting The Water
Digital Art
Artist Statement
I’m a child in my mother’s garden. Flashes of color & light dance as I hold my first kaleidoscope up to one eye, find a source of light, & the rest of the world disappears while I endlessly turn. The light transforms broken bits of colored glass into perfect rays of symmetry. Identical triangles recede into the mirrors, creating vibrant patterns, effortlessly changing as I spin the tube.
As my heart beat with delight at the endless play of animations, who could foresee that I was igniting a lifelong passion for the swirling patterns of light & color born on that summer’s day? Today, my kaleidoscope is more complex. Computers replace the simple cardboard tube of colors. I watch the show unfold as I spin the reflection from my photographs, brightly illuminated in my monitor.
The base photograph for “Parting The Water” was taken at dawn when the sun was just peeking over the cliffs. The play of light & dark intensifies the division between land & ocean, wave & break, spray & sky. The churning of the sea after a breaking wave is veiled in shadow. The depth of color is ominous & unearthly. Sharp edges appear that are unlike the softness one expects from water.
Bathed in light, cresting waves form a frame to contain the ocean’s power. The spiraling arms of the central star motif draw the viewer in and around, evoking the ebb and flow of the sea itself. At its very core, a basin offers purification and renewal from its depths.
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