IGNIS July 2015 | Page 14

Bruce Munro “ Field of Light, Eden Project, UK 2008 I used to get in lots of trouble for daydreaming, and I found that daydreaming is an excellent way to see different parts of your brain working. I always thought that there was some magical recipe to creating art, in fact it’s not, it’s the most simple thing, what is in front of our eyes every day. By the age of 9, Bruce Munro knew that his future lay with art, having “a natural ability for it and less aptitude for other endeavours”. After studying art at college he worked in an art gallery in London and then moved to Australia for a 6 month working holiday that lasted 6 years; finally returning to live in the UK in 1992. He worked in commercial and domestic lighting design before taking the plunge into creating multimedia art. Munro is now a world-renowned Artist working with Light as his medium. He is best known for large-scale, immersive light-based installations, inspired by his interest in shared human experience. Munro knew that he had a sensitivity to the art and emotion of light. A sensitivity that was lacking in the work of many of the engineers and technicians Having kept sketch books throughout his life, Munro uses them to help conceive his ideas. Opening a sketchbook draws him back to the emotion and inspiration experienced at the time. It is from this memory that he extracts feelings of happiness or joy to create the narrative; connecting people with feelings and memory. Munro has exhibited in Art Museums, Botanical Gardens, Cathedrals and City environments around the world. Working with a team of 12 in his UK based Studio, and his clients, Munro insists that he is only part of the creation of the artwork. All images courtesy of Bruce Munro 14 IGNIS ” involved commercially with light at the time. He realised that he c