Number Garden at Night
Made by Laura Lodewyk
Made by Laura Lodewyk
My experience sitting in the number garden at night
Created: November 5th, 2014
Initially, I felt that the number garden was very enclosed and not very large. I felt that my surroundings were fairly monotonous. As I sat there, I started to realize that my eyes were always drawn to places that were well lit with light, and that I didn't spend a lot of time looking at dark spaces. In the lighter areas, I could see more detail because I could tell what the texture of an object was based on how light was reflected off of it. I tended to look more at bright colors as well, or places with very little detail. By the end of the experience, I was starting to look more at the distinctions between light and dark, and began to examine more of the intricacies and details I could make out in the light. I found the environment much more interesting than I originally imagined.
When you arrive in the space. Think about the words that come to mind when you take in the scene in front of you? Why do they come to mind?
Dark, featureless, and monotonous
What are the objects you see directly in front of you? Name each of them in your mind.
bushes, walls, windows, more bushes
Imagine there are lines drawn between all of objects or things in the space? How are they connected? Are they organized?
the bushes are all on a line with each other, with walls surrounding them and windows placed in equally spaced location upon them.
Close your eyes for a minute and open them again. Where do your eyes go to? Why do you think they land in this location?
One of the walls is a brighter color, and more well lit than the others. My eyes naturally are drawn to this area.
Close your eyes for a minute and open them again. What are the colors that you see best or appeal to you most? Why is that?
The brighter colors appeal more to me, I think this might be because these wavelengths are so different than the others?
Look around. Is there anything you can’t see or can’t see well?
The leaves on some of the bushes, inside windows, dark spaces.
Look around. What are the textures that you see? How do the feel to you?
The walls feel very flat, and bushes kind of dark blobs, but as I sat there I noticed more of the styling at the tops of buildings and could distinguish between different leaves.
Let your mind wander. Where does it go? What do you think about and how is that related to the space around you?
I honestly started to think about how cold it was, but if I focused on what was around me I started to think about how I could make out different leaves because the way light bounced off of it. A leaf would be lighter on one side if the light hit it, and dark on the other since it was in shadow, but my mind could still identify it as a single leaf.
If you attention shifts, what has it landed on? Why do you think your eye moved to this location?
My eyes were often drawn to movement or areas that were faintly lit. The two extremes, really dark windows or streetlamp, were not very appealing. I think this was because those areas were so saturated that there was little my eyes could discern.
My experience sitting in the number garden at night