17 July 2014

Violet in Seattle

A section of the wall in the EMP museum shop.

 

This month's edition of the ROY G BIV Challenge* was a lot of fun to photograph, and came together in a single afternoon during a recent visit to Seattle. After turning in the cute little Chevy Spark that had gotten us safely up the west coast of the US, we had a single night & day in Seattle before our red-eye to the east coast. Much of the morning disappeared in pursuit of sampling various downtown coffee shops, checking out the Pike Place Market and generally enjoying the city bustle before heading over to the Experience Music Project (EMP) museum.

While my daughter was there for the music aspect of the EMP——much of her time was spent in the practice rooms of the Sound Lab since she was missing her instruments by this point of our trip——I was especially looking forward to experiencing the architecture. And the fluid, multi-color metal surface and constantly changing reflections of the Frank Gehry-designed building did not disappoint. By the time we exited to a clear evening several hours later the center section had transformed into to more of a fuchsia color, but the effect was purple when we first entered under rain-threatening skies. Thus began my quest for VIOLET...

It wasn't hard to find. Just as the exterior of the building offered several glimpses of violet, so did the space within...lights & color joined and reflected on the metal panels that also line the interior. With its enormous screen, hi-tech sounds system and light effects, watching music videos in the Sky Church makes you feel like you could be at a concert (complete with lots of blue, red——& purple——lights; a few of the purple-y moments are shown below). In fact, I suppose you could say that (Psychedelic) Purple is pretty much ingrained in the spirit of rock 'n roll.



Umbrellas hang from the Sky Church's seventy-foot ceiling.

The sense of drama above this set of stairs (right) matched that of the Sky Church (left).
Intersecting ceiling panels/reflections
This ceiling/wall inside (left) could easily be confused with the building's exterior (right).
Another view of the intersecting ceiling elements

 

There is a general impression of letting go of a sense of time and place in this sculptural, ambiguous wonder of a building—a feeling that seems perfectly suited to the scope of the Experience Music Project. You can discover more about the EMP by following this link.

*



I still have some catch-up to do with everyone's explorations of June's ROY G BIVI can never seem to manage much time on the computer while traveling——but am excited to see both the INDIGO and VIOLET discoveries. Also, I am sorry to not have replied yet to those of you who kindly took the time to leave comments on my quick "indigo" entry, but I look forward to reading them properly and finally answering il prima possibile.

*



The ROY G BIV photo challenge was created by artists Jennifer Coyne
Qudeen & Julie Booth. Each month is devoted to a different color of
the rainbowred, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo & violetand
all are welcome to join in the search. (Guidelines are here.)

14 comments:

  1. You have quite an eye for violet; your photos are unique and beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Sharmon ~ I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the "violet" images this month. I truly enjoyed exploring the EMP building with the camera...
      - Lisa

      Delete
  2. All I can say is "WOW". It's been a long time since I've been in Seattle...I would certainly go back just to view the interior and exterior of this amazing building. Hope you've been having a great summer...It certainly seems like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Julie, Thanks for coming by for a look...I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone came up with this month (and last!). It's always good to have the ROY challenge to inspire some blog catching-up...
      - Lisa

      Delete
  3. As always, your colour selection is stunning. There are so many wonderful images here I can't begin to pick a single favourite. The group of photos of that incredible ceiling with all its reflections leaves me breathless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Margaret, I'm glad you found some joy in this crazy collection of images. It was really hard to tuck my camera away that afternoon - and looking up (i.e. at the intersecting/colliding ceiling panels) was never so rewarding!
      - Lisa

      Delete
  4. I've been rolling, swinging and sliding amongst these beautiful violet photos ... what an experience for the eyes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your imagery - very apt for the Frank Gehry building experience!! : )
      - Lisa

      Delete
  5. A dazzling parade of Violet! Not only Gehry's architectural genious but your careful framing of every picture too. I also wish I could visit that place but I am quite content with your impressive collection of shots here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for your lovely comments, Ersi! I found the building had literally endless possibilities for composing shots with the camera - a piece of architecture that definitely meets the definition of art/sculpture as well...
      - Lisa

      Delete
  6. These photos are incredible - not only a stunning display of electric violet, but real works of art in themselves! This place is on my list now of things to see in Seattle!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goofy me, I forgot I had already commented, but this post deserves double comments, I say! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're very generous, Sharmon! I'm glad you enjoyed the images, and hope you make it there one of these days. Besides the actual building there were - of course! - some really enjoyable exhibitions/works of art (like the sculpture composed of not-sure-how-many-dozens of guitars...it's multiple stories high!).
      - Lisa

      Delete

Thank you for joining in on the dialogue; I appreciate your comments!
{Sorry about enabling word recognition, but I'm hoping it will alleviate the spam.}

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...