I made a single photograph of my animated projection during the eclipse, and this is it!
Everything happened so fast: the light, which had been slowly altering, swooped into darkness, shadows disappeared, a crow cawed, Jupiter emerged, two geese flew across the lake, and people whooped. I barely had time to marvel at the blackened sun, register that my projection was now visible, check my video camera’s exposure, and snap this photo before the sun came back in seemingly full force (even though it was still 99% obscured).
Hot diggity!
#eclipse #projectionart #experimentalanimation #animateddrawing
5/ 🌳 There is a moment of illumination equilibrium I search for, when the setting sun and the projector’s bulb both register to the human eye. The balance of light depends on many environmental factors, including the angle and distance of the projector and the quality of light. For instance, I found projecting on the coast of Eastport, ME challenging as the still waters of the Passamaquoddy Bay reflected the evening light like a 360 mirror. I had to wait until night had truly fallen for the white light of my animations to appear flickering on their cast surface.
In the Pond Drain, the balance of light was luckily in my favor. The forest floor darkened while the canopy was still glowing with the retreating ambient day. The white light of my animations appeared ever stronger as they crept across the Mothership, illuminating the trunk here brown, here moss green.
My companions, now staked out behind the projector amidst the ferns, fell from chattering to silence. We watched and listened. All was quiet except for the ever more infrequent last calls of the songbirds. Or was all quiet? As our ears adjusted, the forest seemed full of a barely perceptible soft sound. I imagined it was the activity of so many small life forms: caterpillars chewing, centipedes ambling, chipmunks scuttling, leaves falling gently.
@mountainlakebiologicalstation #oldgrowthforest #experimentalanimation #projectionart #artistresidency
Projections on the bluffs of Cuttyhunk Island from earlier this summer, along projections on the Root Glacier from August of 2018.
I’m back on Cuttyhunk this week for the fall session of @cuttyhunk_artists , and I’m reviewing some of the photos I haven’t shared yet here. I keep thinking “Animated Drawings for a Glacier” is a complete project, and yet the landscape draws me back in. Considering the pace of geologic time, I guess it’s not so surprising that I need more than a few months - or years - or decades? - to play with this idea.
Adventures in the forest continue
🌱🍃🌱🌱🍂🌳🌱🪲🍄🟫🍃🌱
Watercolor and gouache on paper
Tricky to capture the interplay between these transparent and matte media in a photo, but I am really enjoying this exploration
A bright spot in the cold landscape of 2026: I’m thrilled to be back in the classroom, teaching animation at the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University @smfaattufts - nearly six years after my last in-person class at SAIC. It’s especially meaningful to teach in Boston; a homecoming.
As I prepared for my first class, I thought of all the wonderful art educators and mentors I carry with me into the classroom: @tirtzaeven@claudhart@chrissullivananimation@fmoffe@rleexon@woffsilog and many more. Thanks, art teachers. I don’t take these communities for granted.
Ps. The Leich / like animation is for pronunciation - not self-admiration ;)
An experiment layering gouache over watercolor from earlier this year - finally put the finishing touches on it yesterday (though when is a work ever really done). I’m really excited about what gouache can do (paint opaquely over prior layers!!) and how it opens up new possibilities for working with watercolor…
Old Growth Efflorescence, 9x12”, watercolor and gouache on paper
Wishing everyone a happy solstice ✨🌑 with these excerpts from “Projection for an Eclipse”, now with a soundtrack by incredible virtuoso sax player @michaelwilbursax (of famed sax duo, @moonhooch ).
I captured this projected animation, designed just to be visible during a total eclipse, in April ’24, but wasn’t sure how to present it until I met Michael at the Cuttyhunk Island Artists’ Residency @cuttyhunk_artists this fall. One afternoon, his practice session drifted through the air as I was editing: his remarkable circular breathing arpeggios creating an uncanny pairing with the rotating solar image. I asked if he’d be interested in maybe composing a piece for the video; he watched it, nodded, and returned with this beautiful piece. “It was as though the music was already written” he said.
And just in the nick of time to share finished piece in the two-person exhibition “Site Lines” at @Bethelgalleries this fall.
So big thanks to Michael! If anyone wants to watch the full thing, just send me a DM and I’ll send a link.
And welcome back to the light 🌞
TERNS TURNING - currently on view at Bethel University’s Johnson Gallery in the two-person exhibition Site Lines.
When I was an artist-in-residence at @shoalsmarinelab earlier this summer, I got to visit a Common Tern colony on a little island off the coast of New Hampshire. I was amazed by the whirling choreography of the birds, as they warded off outside intruders (us humans), while navigating each other in beautiful, seemingly chaotic synchronicity. (Have you ever seen birds crash into each other?)
On the last night at Shoals, I projected the terns onto the isle’s rocky cliffs (check my feed for evidence). This new installation contains Shoals footage, as well as animated lines derived from the migratory paths of inland terns from the MN shores of Lake Superior down to their wintering sites in South America. It feels really cool to adapt a projection for a gallery context for the first time, while still incorporating a site-specific, local element. And to add another layer, Shoals’ Dr. Liz Craig was one of the contributing authors on the paper where I found the migratory paths!
On view through Dec 12 at @bethelgalleries
Documentation of “Site Lines”, on view now at the Johnson Gallery @bethelgalleries in St. Paul, MN. Open through December 12th!
This two-person exhibition includes the stunning graphite drawings and prints of @mikemarksalot and four videos from me, as well as my first-ever projection for a gallery context, “Terns Turning”, with footage from my residency at the @shoalsmarinelab earlier this summer. (I took advantage of some afterhours documentation time to capture the projection in lower light, complete with bonus shiny floor reflections.)
I would say that both Mike and I have been developing visual languages for how to respond to natural environments in an era when a “natural” environment inevitably involves destruction, or at least some degree human interference. And yet there is still wonder, still amazement, at this earth. It’s an honor to show with Mike - and a cool coincidence that we both spent time at the @tidesinstitute .
Huge thanks to Michelle Westmark Wingard @westmarkwingard_art for curating this exhibition and for your and Mark’s ingenuity and seamless problem-solving skills in the install process. 🎧🪡🪨💙
Opening next week: Site Lines at the Johnson Gallery at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN), September 25th. Artist talk and reception, 6-8 pm.
I’m excited to be showing animated video work, including a new video installation, alongside the beautiful drawings and woodcuts of @mikemarksalot in this two-person exhibition. MN friends, it would be wonderful to see you!
Special thanks to @westmarkwingard_art for curating this show.
From the gallery: Come explore Site Lines, an exhibition showcasing Boston-based artist @mer_like ‘s animated drawings presented in video and installation formats and Minneapolis- based @mikemarksalot ‘s large-scale graphite and printmaking works. The pairing of these two artist’s work offers the viewer the opportunity to explore two perspectives on landscape drawing, concerns about climate fragility and offering the viewer new ways to consider the making process. Join us for an artist talk on September 25 and the reception afterward!
Honored to have this lovely profile in the @swarthmorecollege Bulletin on my tree projection project Arborlight and recent work illuminating scientific ideas—often invisible—about our world. My thanks to the talented writer @nmforrest for elegantly weaving together many different strands, to @photokesterson for this amazing portrait and documentation of Arborlight, and to @phillipsternart for the beautiful layout. You can read the profile in - where else! - the link in my bio. 🌳✨
Slides 1&4: 📷 Laurence Kesterson
Images and video from my last night as artist-in-residence at the @shoalsmarinelab , projecting footage of terns, gulls, and waves on to the rocky shoreline of Appledore Island’s Broad Cove.
Prior to visiting the Isles of Shoals, I had never before encountered a bird colony. Wow was I in for a surprise! Appledore is home to two gull species, the Great Black Back and the Herring, and nearby White Island, pictured here, is a common tern colony (with some appearances of the roseate tern). On both islands, the air is filled with their cries, as the different species feed and defend their young. The encounter decentered me as a human being, in ways both wonderful and at times unnerving (ever been chased by a territorial gull?), as I witnessed, intimately, the life cycles of other beings. It was clear that these islands belonged to the birds.
It felt special to share these projections with the students and staff, who were my companions in living alongside these gulls and terns. These birds flourish here thanks to the preservation and social attraction efforts of the scientists. Next time I’ll have to include a Shoals fan-favorite: the elusive guillemot!
Thank you, @shoalsmarinelab 🌊✨
