The Facts
Dichroic - from the Greek dikhroos, meaning two coloured.
CWL artworks feature a material called dichroic which was originally developed by NASA in the 1960’s.
Dichroic is a colourless optical coating that selectively reflects certain wavelengths of light. This allows the remaining wavelengths to transmit through, producing a variety of rainbow coloured shadows and projections.
The material itself shifts from being reflective like a golden mirror to vibrantly coloured or almost transparent depending upon the viewpoint and angle of light.
Each CWL artwork is a case study of this magical material.
The same simple arrangement of dichroic will appear differently in response to changing viewpoints and the angle and intensity of light falling on the work.
“I discovered Dichroic glass when I was at the Royal College of Art and I was absolutely fascinated by it, however, every time I tried to use it - it just looked too busy! I played with it for over 10 years before I worked out how to use it successfully. I’d moved to the fens in East Anglia and was working with reflective materials against the strong lines of the fenland landscape – it was this that inspired the mathematically engineered approach I use to contain the dichroic effects. If you’re interested in light, glass is the material you naturally gravitate towards, and dichroic is the most eloquent description of the magic of light.”
— Founding Director/ Artist Chris Wood