Usually Illumibrate is held every March at JUMP Boise. Sadly, the event got canceled this year due to the Omicron Covid-19 variant was surging. And a shame too, as I had been leading a team of artists and volunteers in building several pieces of sea-themed black light-activated art.
But when the Omicron wave abated, the powers-that-be at JUMP looked around for an excuse to show everything they had been working on. The result: a partnership with a local church to raise funds to benefit those affected by war in Ukraine. It culminated in a two-night event featuring live music. The art was arranged in a main centerpiece with nine sub-installations around the room.
Good news: Illumibrate will be back for 2023, and this work will be on display!
More info –
JUMP Boise: https://jumpboise.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBDaniels-Art-103699161740609
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbdanielsart/
The fish were all made out of reclaimed cardboard. For the midsized ones (angelfish, manta rays, tuna), I handmade the prototypes, and then Jesse at the JUMP Maker Studio digitized the pieces and used a laser cutter to cut them out. Volunteers assembled them with hot glue and packing tape.
The larger fish (hammerhead sharks, moray eel) were custom-built one-offs. Each one was over 6 feet long. Details on the fabrication of one of the sharks:
The large coral centerpiece was made from recycled styrofoam blocks that JUMP had somehow scored for dirt cheap. They were cemented together with gap-filling insulation foam and then carved back. We tried several approaches for the carving, including hot wire/hot knife (toxic odors) and an angle grinder with wire brush wheel (carved fast but made a horrific mess). But in the end, it was a trusty bread knife that did most of the work.
