Hilda Appel Volkin with two of her sculptures that appear in the Lightworks art exhibit in the university’s Burris Hall Gallery.
Las Vegas, N.M. — New Mexico Highlands University presents the Lightworks art exhibit in the Burris Hall Gallery at 903 National Ave. through Sept. 6.
Lightworks features the unique three-dimensional metallic light sculptures by well-known New Mexico artist Hilda Appel Volkin, whose studio is in Albuquerque.
“Working with various kinds of light sources has been a continual source of inspiration in my artwork,” Volkin said. “I have combined dichroic — two-colored — film together with formed Plexiglas to create three-dimensional artworks. By bending and forming these materials, multiple forms and colors are visible.”
Volkin said that in exploring the dynamic properties of light, she has discovered that art and science can work together in a variety of creative ways. Her pieces use fluorescent Plexiglas and LED lighting.
Splitting a beam of light into two beams with differing wavelengths creates dramatic, eye-catching dimensions infused with diverse colors. When the viewer looks at a Volkin sculpture from different angles, new colors appear.
Volkin’s contemporary abstract work has appeared in art exhibits throughout New Mexico and beyond. She has received numerous commissions to create sculptures and wall panels.
Her work is in permanent collections of the Albuquerque Museum, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Cleveland Museum of Art, Bank of America, Carrie Tingley Hospital, Massillon Museum in Ohio, and many corporate and private collections.
Volkin graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and earned her M.A. from the Harvard School of Education. She has taught art at the University of New Mexico and directed the Los Alamos Art Center.