Jim Campbell

We looked at a couple of his works that used light bulb LED grids, including the Madison Square Park one that showed humans, another that showed more recognizable figures in a gallery setting and another gallery piece with birds. An article says he thinks about pixels and about expanding images out from their original forms- so conceptually, the Madison Square piece was about describing human movement in a city setting in a highly urban medium, light, but also, technically, about translating flat footage captured with a camera into an unexpected, three-dimensional image installation. So, we think it's art that isn't immediately understandable to the general public, but still fun, who doesn't like lights :)

Projects 25-27, for the record

just by the honor code, they worked for me, though the language on 26 was particularly nasty :/

29 August

Static electricity was defined in the book as being caused by mechanical friction, such as the charge that builds between wool and amber as they are rubbed together. It happens less in places with high humidity because water absorbs charge, so it leaks away faster from the agitated material than it otherwise would.

I couldn't remember off the top of my head, but the illustrated electromagnet used a coil wrapped around a nail insulated with a straw; a magnet is rubbed over the coil to create an electromagnetic field.

I most wanted to try the experiment with the motor made with the lightweight nail, because I didn't understand how it would work at all, despite how I was supposed to, selon the book ....