Light Sculpture by John Borchard

Welcome! You have arrived at the sketchy webpage for my new, new light sculpture. If you're looking for my photography, which isn't sketchy at all, pass through this web portal

The story begins with some mad-inventor images of my process

My first real light sculptures were collaborative pieces with the brilliant glass artist Sidney Hutter … We made five in different shapes and glass colors and called them Architectural Light Vessels. On some the metal structure is high-polished nickel, on others it's a suave matte black

Second was my sconce design using Sidney's "Quasi" shapes, hence their name Quasi Sconces. I found his inner rough glass surface fascinating and determined to bring light into all their corners. When viewed straight-on as in these images, you see my colors (which change). Viewed upward you see his colors which come from pigment in the glue lines. The pictures here are all of one piece, showing some of the color banding that happens in time. We made just two of these 18" pieces

Third is my snake prototype, about 16" in the longest dimension. This is really intended as a demonstration vehicle for proving out my physics algorithms, as the snake has gravity sensors, a light sensor, electronic compass, and a software-driven radio so it can communicate with its siblings

Fourth and last, I'll only show you some mock-ups to tease you. These are the same technology as the snake, but these spirals extend over 13 feet long with 420 independent color-adjustable LEDs on each side. If we're really lucky I might have one working for the Newton Open Studios May 19-20

It's a work in progress! Feel free to contact me by email, phone, or in person. Thanks for swinging by. jb