Jenn Figg

Associate Professor, Department of Art+Design, Art History, Art Education

Jenn Figg

Jenn Figg has big ideas. Like 80-feet-wide ideas.

That’s the width of the glass and steel structural chandelier that she, collaborators Matthew McCormack and David Fakunle, and a crew of Towson University students constructed to illuminate the during Light City 2016.

The inaugural weeklong festival at the Inner Harbor featured large-scale light installations, music, performances and innovation. What Figg and her team pulled off was all four.

β€œI love working with Towson students,” says the associate professor. β€œThis was a really good opportunity to get them involved in a big, multifaceted project they could see develop from the ground up.”

Working in the ΌͺΟιΒ齫 art department space and downtown, interns under Figg’s supervision got real-world experience with everything from building 3D-printed, energy harvesting kinetic light drums, to installing the gigantic sculpture β€” 30 feet above the floor β€” at the Visitor’s Center. Some even got certified to operate a scissor lift.

Months of work culminated with shows at Light City in which a group of professional performers demonstrated the drums’ capability to produce human-generated light, without batteries or electrical power. Additionally, each beat of the African-inspired rhythm triggered dynamic light shifts throughout the building.

Though the drums are packed away now, the sculpture is a permanent fixture. Students can still visit the harbor at night to enjoy the light’s spectacular dance (now activated by the flip of a switch) they helped to create.

β€œIt was exciting for me to see the students take ownership over the project,” says Figg, β€œand really have fun with it.” 

The Baltimore Visitor Center illuminated with dynamic light during Light City 2016.
The Baltimore Visitor Center illuminated with dynamic light during Light City 2016.
Collaborator David Fakunle performing on the kinetic light drums during Light City 2016.
Collaborator David Fakunle performing on the kinetic light drums during Light City 2016.
Close up of a glass, steel, wire, milled polycarbonate sculpture, titled Seagrass.
Seagrass, 2016. 80' x 35' x 12'. Kilnformed glass, steel, wire, milled polycarbonate. Site-Specific Permanent Installation in the Baltimore Visitor Center.
Seagrass sculpture inspired by the aquatic grasses of the Chesapeake Bay.
Seagrass. Inspired by the aquatic grasses of the Chesapeake Bay, the sculpture takes the form of eelgrass as if it swayed with the tides.
Seagrass sculpture, detail.
Seagrass, detail. Always in motion, the glass moves with subtle air currents and reflects light upon the ceiling in dynamic displays during the day.