Abi Thomas BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design
My style derives from an understanding of colour and light. I aim to enhance mood and redefine space through illustrative pieces. After flirting with lighting design and festival decoration, I stumbled across neon light making and fell in love. Having found an affinity with glass work in my final year of University, I have focused my passions on using light to create art and adorn public space.
I use instillation and sculpture to encourage an audience to see the world through my eyes. I am driven by a desire to bring people joy and to change society for the better. I believe in community, representation, and narrating stories to emphasise the beauty around us, and challenge the darkness.
Urban Jungle is a project that spans the entangled streets of Manchester. That swings around the skyscrapers and delves into the deep waters of city centre stone fountains. This project takes you on an adventure, encouraging you to embrace the urban mileu. Using the Urban Jungle app; find new ways of manoeuvring Manchester in a search for a neon parakeet. As more routes are discovered they will be painted to the wall behind the neon, eventually building up a forking, fractal tree.
Inspired by psychogeography and the art of walking creatively, Urban Jungle encourages the user to discover new areas of the city by listening to the call of the neon parakeet projecting through the adjoining app. It is partnered with a community webpage that allows the user to share their route. This is then captured and sprayed onto the wall where the parakeet is hidden.
I partnered with Neon Workshops™ to build this final piece, learning the basics of tube bending and glass manipulation along the way.
