Betsy Price July 6, 2022 Culture, Headlines
Bruce Munro’s C-scales is an installation in which a film projected onto a lake of 8,960 CDs, mimicking Longwood’s water gardens. Photo by Hank Davis.
When light artist Bruce Munro this year brought his night magic back to Longwood Gardens, it was the first time he’s brought a new exhibit to the site of a former one.
Ten years ago, his “Bruce Munro: Light” exhibit delighted audiences at the former du Pont estate in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
It also electrified his career, partly because Longwood invited directors of gardens all over the country to see the exhibit and meet Munro, just as his connections in England and Australia were starting to blaze.
Suddenly, he had a ton of work.
“You’ll always be on my Christmas cards list,” Munro told Paul Redman, Longwood’s CEO, back then.
Now Munro, who has dual English/Australian citizenship, is back with “Light: Installations by Bruce Munro.” It includes eight installations, three inside and five outside.
“It’s like coming home and seeing old friends,” Munro told Delaware LIVE News, “not only the lovely people who work there, but also the amazing landscape.”
In the East Conservatory, Green Flash is an 11.5-foot sphere of 1,820 bottles—each filled with a single fiber optic cable—that slowly changes colors while mimicking a rising and setting sun. Photo by Serena Munro.
Munro, 63, says he’s been sketching ideas since he was 16, when an art teacher gave him a stack of sketchbooks. He considers them private and won’t allow others to look at them.
The urge to create has been with him all his life, he said.
His road toward light installations began in 1985, when he pushed aside his ideas of a fine art career and started an illuminated display business in Sydney. He sold it in 1989 and went to work for the new owners.
By 1992, he and his then-fiancee, Serena Ludovici, had decided to move to England. Before they did, they went camping around Australia. At Uluru, a large sandstone formation, in the middle of Australia, he was amazed at the connection he felt with the space and with live.
“I wrote a whole lot of things in that sketchbook but I had these thoughts and feelings about the landscape and how powerful it was and how it made me feel,” Munro said.
Already working in lights, he suddenly had the idea for an artwork that would bloom at night, like dormant desert seeds responding to rain.
Munro had planned to paint when he returned to England, but it wasn’t lucrative.
The birth of their second of four children sent him back into the commercial world with a tile company. Ultimately, he began handling unique residential projects using paint, tile and lighting.
Then his father died in 1999. Munro was devastated and briefly set adrift emotionally, dwelling on the moments when he felt profound connections to people and places and life itself.
1,000 glass flamingoes wade in the basin near the Chimes Tower in Ramandu’s Table. Photo by Serena Munro.
“Essentially, what I’m trying to achieve, whether it’s at Longwood or another venue is always the same,” Munro said, “and that’s simply to express thoughts and ideas about what it is to be alive, and, hopefully, celebrate that in some way and allow people to to join them and share that that experience.”
While his installations draw from that sentiment, they also have very specific connections to his life.
He points to the new Ramandu’s Table installation in the pear-shaped basin near Longwood’s chimes. It contains 1,000 flamingos made of glass that’s constantly changing hues, including a brilliant pink.
The name of the piece comes from C.S. Lewis’s “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” In that story, an old man named Ramandu is actually a fallen star. Each day he sets the table for a flock of birds who visit and feast each evening.
One brings Ramandu a sun berry jewel, and helps the man slowly grow younger.
The idea for including flamingos was sparked by Munro’s father giving him a plastic lawn flamingo after a trip to the United States. Munro was fascinated by it and learned what he could about its creator, graphic artist Donald Featherstone, who has since died.
The Longwood flamingos were ordered from Featherstone’s company, and Munro considers the installation a celebration of Featherstone’s work.
Munro is known for his fields of lights, which are huge installations of lights set out in shapes. This year’s Field of Light will feature 18,000 illuminated stemmed orbs lit by fiber optics along the Large Lake.
In Longwood’s orchard, SOS is an illuminated path of 162 rectangular baskets made with galvanized wire, synchronized to the tuning of an old radio.
Gone Fishing features three 15-foot diameter structures, each formed by 100 lit fishing rods, and all reflecting on the surface of the Small Lake.
Time & Again at the Whispering Bridge offers 37 stainless steel lilies forming a 20-foot convex dome that shimmers with radial star bursts of light.
Indoors, a three-and-a-half-meter geodesic sphere of 1,820 empty bottles radiates in the East Conservatory in Green Flash.
Nearby, Munro has created C-Scales, a lake of 8,960 shimmering CDs in the exhibition hall.
Along the path near Longwood’s Large Lakes, a luminous Field of Light features 18,000 illuminated bulbs. Photo by Serena Munro.
Overhead, projectors stream a Longwood-inspired film sequence so the light bounces off the CDs and creates a constantly changing “skin of light” on the walls and those watching.
“I love the idea or the notion that water absorbs light and that you could plug water in and play it back and you get the history of the light that is coming back into the air,” he said. “I know it’s not true, but there’s this notion that water is really like a memory bank and if you could play that, it’s rather like standing in a time machine in a sense.”
A few feet away in the Music Room is Time & Place, a series of artwork that reinterprets moments in time, inspired by Longwood and represented as abstractions.
Many of the plants near the exhibits work with them, and Munro says that’s not by accident.
“It’s what I call dancing together and all good exhibitions are,” he said. “You can’t impose your ideas on a place just by saying I want to do this or I’m gonna do that. You’ve got to sculpt it, and everybody collaborates in that sense.”
Munro said he does have dream projects.
“I’m a bit like a dog with a bone,” he said.
He’s working on one now: A full philharmonic orchestra constructed in lights using Australian clotheslines.
Another is a meditation space taking shape in New South Wales, Australia, where a modern open structure called Mettabhavana will allow visitors to walk in and see play of lights all around them.
“I have a great feeling that we need spaces,” Munro said. “You know, we’re a very stressed out society. We don’t have an awful lot to smile about, but we should do because you just have to open the door and window and walk out into the lovely landscape that we have.”
There are terrible things going on in the world, he said.
“And I think people need to take care of themselves but also take care of each other,” he said. “Maybe in a small way these installations — or interventions — can cradle people a little bit and give them some respite from the pressures of the day.”
It’s not hard for Munro to dismantle an installation, he said.
“Taking it down reveals the beauty of the place you’re in and it leaves the canvas free for other artists and people to to exhibit and create,” he said. “In a way, you’re just passing. That’s just what we do in life.
“I think the sadness for me is that time does pass very quickly. But the joy is to fill that time that you have with as much as possible.”
Tickets for “Light: Installations by Bruce Munro” are $35 for adults (ages 19+); $32 for college students and seniors; $19 for youth (ages 5–18), and free for ages 4 and under. Buy them here.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.
Two Delawareans have filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. John Carney and Attorney General Kathy Jennings alleging that a state law signed last month violates their First and Second Amendment rights. Photo courtesy of Everytown Research and Policy. Two Delawareans have filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. John Carney and Attorney General Kathy Jennings alleging that a state law signed last month violates their First and Second Amendment rights. The suit alleges violations of the First Amendment right to free speech by criminalizing the sharing of information in the form of self-manufactured gun blueprints, schematics and 3D printing files. The law also violates Delawareans’ Second Amendment right to bear arms, the suit says. “The basic right of individuals to self-manufacture arms for self-defense, along with the possession of the parts and information necessary to exercise that right, is protected by the Constitution, period,” said Adam Kraut, senior director of legal operations at the Firearms Policy Coalition, which filed the suit on behalf of Delawareans John Rigby and Alan Knight. “Delaware’s new laws make exercising these rights a crime, which is unconstitutional and something we cannot allow to go unchallenged,” he said. Carney and Jennings did not reply to requests for comment Wednesday. What the law says House Bill 125, sponsored by House Minority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Delaware City, criminalizes the possession or manufacturing of what are colloquially called “ghost guns.” A ghost gun isn’t marked with an individualized serial number, either because that number has been illegally removed or because the firearm is exempt from federal laws that require those markings. Law enforcement agencies often use those serial numbers to track guns associated with crimes back to their point of purchase or last known lawful owner. The term most commonly describes an unmarked firearm, made by private individuals for personal use, often using prefabricated or partially unfinished firearm parts. Ghost guns are often manufactured using 3D printers, thereby making them unnoticeable to metal detectors. Under federal law, only the receiver – which houses the firing mechanism – is considered a firearm and is subject to a background check. Other components, such as the barrel, can be bought and sold without a criminal background check. However, House Democrats allege that retailers have exploited a loophole by selling “unfinished” receivers, also known as “80% receivers” – which don’t require a check. These receivers can be made fully functional with minimal effort. The law, which became effective on Oct. 20, makes it illegal to: Possess or manufacture a covert, undetectable or untraceable firearm. Transport, ship, transfer, or sell an unfinished firearm frame or receiver. Manufacture or distribute a firearm made using a 3D printer. Distribute instructions that would allow a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm, firearm receiver or major component of a firearm. Transport, ship, possess or receive any firearm or receiver with the knowledge that the manufacturer’s serial number has been removed, obliterated or altered The lawsuit “The State of Delaware has enacted and is enforcing an expansive and unconstitutional ban that strikes at the fundamental rights to keep and bear arms, freedom of speech, and due process,” the coalition wrote in a statement to Delaware LIVE News/Town Square Delaware. “Moreover, the State immediately imposed criminal penalties on people who were, up to that time, engaging in perfectly lawful conduct. Imagine if the Governor had signed into law a statute that immediately made it a crime to own a home-built computer — that would be intolerable and unconstitutional, but that’s what they did as to home-built firearms in this bill. Such unconstitutional and immoral laws must always be aggressively challenged,” they said. The complaint alleges that enforcement of House Bill 125 threatens offenders with serious criminal penalties, including incarceration and the lifetime loss of Second Amendment rights. “Throughout American history, rich with traditions of citizens robustly exercising the cherished right to keep and bear arms, people have been free to personally manufacture, construct, and/or assemble arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense in the home,” the lawsuit reads. Kraut said the lawsuit is aimed at protecting the right to self-manufacture firearms and argue that sharing information about how to do that is “necessary to the preservation of individual liberty.” Mitch Denham, president of Delaware Gun Rights, said he was proud to see that coalition filed the lawsuit on behalf of Rigby and Knight. “The plaintiffs are all members of Delaware Gun Rights which shows how much the gun community cares about the protection of our rights,” Denham said. “The Ghost Gun Bill and subsequent laws are highly flawed and created thousands of felons with the stroke of a pen for an act that has been a tenant of our nation since its inception.” Denham said the lawsuit could set a precedent for the whole nation for the “preservation and protection of information as it relates to firearms.” The coalition believes that governments have no constitutionally legitimate role in broadly banning self-manufacturing of arms by law-abiding people. “Under the Constitution’s text, and as it is informed by history and tradition, Delaware’s ban laws are plainly unconstitutional,” the group said. “We believe that the law, properly applied, must result in the challenged statutes being declared unconstitutional and enjoined from enforcement. Firearms Policy Coalition will litigate this issue through any and all appeals, and petition for Supreme Court review if need be.”
Minorities have only gotten 6 percent of the vaccine that has been given out, and the state is worried about seniors who have mobility issues or don’t have computers.
A former Delaware Republican candidate for governor and U.S. Senate will spend a year behind bars after pleading guilty to federal charges of mailing threats to his ex-wife’s attorney. Michael Protack, 64, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews on the charge of mailing threatening communications. According to court documents, Protack used the U.S. mail to send a series of threatening communication to his ex-wife’s attorney. One threat, received on Jan. 7, 2021, stated that the victim should “count on being dead by June 2021.” “You won’t know when, where or how but your end has been written,” the communication said. “Take the time and put your affairs in order because they will not find your body for weeks.” Another threat, received a couple of months later, contained nothing more than a graphic image of a dead, mutilated body. One of the last threats received by the victim stated, “I drive past your office every day.” Protack was arrested on June 11, 2021. In handing down his sentence, Judge Andrews described Mr. Protack’s conduct as a “campaign of terror” and noted the lengths to which Mr. Protack went to conceal his identity as the perpetrator. Andrews further noted that Protack’s actions represented a “very serious offense” and there was a need for just punishment that would promote respect for the law. United States Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss said “Protack’s repeated threats to murder another human being is, indeed, a very serious offense, and the court’s sentence reflects that fact.” “My office is dedicated to obtaining justice for victims of violent crime and holding the perpetrators of these crimes accountable,” Weiss said. “I want to thank the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI for their diligence in investigating this case and helping bring Mr. Protack to justice.” Damon Wood, inspector in charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service said people using the U.S. mail to terrorize others is not that common. “The Postal Inspection Service, however, takes such threats seriously and will aggressively investigate anyone who uses the mail to terrorize or threaten another person,” Wood said. “Protack thought that by using the mail, he would never be identified. Thanks to the work of local Postal Inspectors and agents of the FBI, he was identified and now has a year in prison to think about his crime.” Wood said anybody who is being threatened through the mail should not hesitate to file a complaint with the Postal Inspection Service. “We have over two hundred years of experience investigating and identifying criminals who use the mail to commit or facilitate crimes,” he said. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI’s Delaware Violent Crime and Safe Streets Taskforce in the Wilmington Resident Agency. Protack, who graduated from William Penn High School in 1975 and the University of Delaware in 1979, unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2004 and 2008 and for U.S. Senate in 2006. Assistant U.S. Attorney Briana Knox prosecuted the case.
Archmere Academy vs Wilmington Charter baseball photos, Archmere won 5-4
Delaware reported 665 new COVID-19 cases Friday, the highest daily total since January. Even so, the number of new cases, when averaged over seven days, dropped slightly to 389 as of Thursday, down from 397 last week. In its weekly COVID-19 update, the Delaware Division of Public Health said Friday that 252 people are hospitalized, up 19 from last week. Of those 38 are considered critical, up 10 from last week. Of those, the state said, 87% of the new cases were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, as were 90% of hospitalizations and half of the week’s deaths. The state said 1,900 Delawareans have died from COVID-19, with 12 added in the last week and half of those from a review of vital statistics. At the same time, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 76.8% of Delawareans ages 18+ have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The state said that means 563,547 people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 505,790 Delawareans are fully vaccinated. Delaware has seen 2,307 breakthrough cases of COVID-19, which represents five-tenths of 1%. Of those, 50 cases required vaccinations and people have died. The state lab continues checking positive cases for genotypes. It said 93% of the variant samples this week were identified as the Delta strain. Public Health said it is tracking the Mu variant, which has been in the news all week because officials are afraid it does not respond to vaccinations. To date, Delaware has detected 18 cases of the Mu variant.
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