Angela Scharff

 

My art originates from my childhood memories.

When I was six or seven years old I got a kaleidoscope for Christmas. Now long gone, there wasn’t much to my kaleidoscope; just a couple of cardboard tubes, some colored plastic chips, and a mirror. I remember it took me a little while to figure out that the mirrored reflections were the key to the colorful patterns. I was fascinated by the changing, brightly colored, symmetrical patterns I saw as I turned the outer tube. The combination of changing color and light was mesmerizing to me.

That combination of bright light and color is what attracted me to the Chihuly Collection in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Dale Chihuly is a glass artist from Tacoma, Washington. He started working with glass at the University of Washington in 1961. Later he began weaving glass shards into tapestries. In 1965 he began blowing glass and making glass sculpture. Chihuly’s art is bursting with light and color that overwhelms the senses. His sculptures are displayed on spotless black mirrors and each is exquisitely illuminated.

​Those reflections inspired me to make mirror image photos that would create colorful patterns similar to a kaleidoscope. This was my chance to create brightly colored, visually exciting images. This image was taken with my IPhone. I created the final image by using filters and layers in Photoshop to duplicate and rotate it. Next I joined the images together to create the kaleidoscopic final image. Through the digital magic of photography I was able to bring my memories back to life again.

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