The film is positioned behind glass and illuminated from behind by fluorescent lights. First Light is a 12' x 14' installation window commissioned by the Photonics Center and will be formally unveiled during a ceremony on November 13. Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower. But O'Donnell is not illustrating Thomas' poems. The art of poetry and vice versa Aware of the boundaries between, and the confluences of, science, religious doctrine, and the practice of art, O'Donnell says his art is akin to the nature of poetry.
Science is precisely about empirically measuring and proving the objective world.
And religious thought can be divisive. Literally drawn in light, First Light was created by using a mouse stylus and Photoshop software, and the computer filtered the light without interference by O'Donnell. He made no attempt to simulate the effect of a brush on canvas. According to O'Donnell, it is possible to use and celebrate new technologies without overglamorizing them. Shawn Burke, deputy director of the Photonics Center, says that the reason to celebrate photonics in particular is because of its interdisciplinary nature.