Love Stories Response

              When walking into the art gallery my first impression of Nichola Kinch's piece Love Stories was very nature filled, romantic, and beautiful. The exhibition contains column like trees scattered throughout the gallery. Each tree is exactly the same and almost touches the ground, as well as the ceiling making it feel very real. The lights are off during the exhibit while the light from outside is the main source of light. In the background, outside the window, are many trees that make the fake ones almost blend in. in the front of this piece is an optical device that allows one to use and see the moon change in time.  The moods this exhibition reveals are romantic and also fairytale like. The fake trees make the scene look almost theatrical that also brings out the real life background. Nichola uses the moon optical device that I mentioned earlier to highlight the use of time. As you spin the device and look through the slits, you can see the different phases of the moon changing. This exhibition makes me think about the beauties of nature and time. The trees stay the same however, they look different as the light changes. The moon also shows that it may change in time while the trees are a constant background. During the talk Nichola described herself as a crafty individual. She explained that she loves to have a physical relationship with her art, oftentimes, making her pieces interactive whether it's incorporating an optical device or animation machines. She also said the trees reminded her of photoshop where you can copy and paste pictures. This was because every tree in her exhibition was the same scattered throughout the gallery. I thought it was beneficial to here Nichola talk however, I do not think it was absolutely needed with this piece. However, I did enjoy learning more about who she was and see how proud she was of her piece.