Page 147 - Lighting Magazine January 2019

Manha an native Linnaea Tille , Ph.D., founder of Tille Lighting Design Associates in New York City, is known for her artfully thought- ful Minimalist, yet spectacular,
landscape lighting design of parks, public art, and spaces worldwide. Her work is as ethereal as it is ef- fective; as memorable as it is moving, but perfectly subtle and subliminal in its presentation. For Tille , nature, balance, and place are always paramount in the conversation between structure and the public.
Mike Brannon: Along your journey, have you found it di cult to express to a client a vision of what’s possible with lighting and what its value can be to them?
Linnaea Tille : It’s mixed. We’re in a bit of a niche market, working more with landscaper and cul- tural landscapes, and working between art and landscapes. By the time they get to us, people have a sense that [lighting] is a critical element. In the last few years I’d say that clients are much more sophis- ticated, with many of them having already worked with interior lighting designers. But I do think it’s a challenge to make that leap to visual possibilities. We [rely] more on sketching rather than doing too much verbally. I think the other thing is we’re very good listeners. We get them talking about how they want the landscape to feel and not tell us about solutions.
MB: What made you choose lighting as a career?
LT: I was back from college and helping my sister with lighting in the theater, but I was also studying philosophy. Someone gave me a script and asked if I could put all this together [for the theater]. I was so taken with how tin cans, essentially (1950s Fresnels and wire) – and this equipment which was so prosaic and ordinary – that once you learned how to associate it with a play and actors and emo- tions, you could be so poetic. I thought, “Oh, I could do this! I could enjoy this!”
That carried me through and out of theater quickly because I was not interested in using lighting in situations where people were in a chair looking forward. I was much more interested in us- ing lighting with people who were living [an ordinary day]. I went through my apprenticeship working in interiors and then decided I wanted to work within the public realm. That’s when I went back to school to get a degree in Psychology.
MB: Well, there’s certainly poetry, philosophy, and psychology involved in lighting and how it supports a subject in an environment. You were recycling some of your previous abilities.
LT: Exactly. It all came together. And there was a certain kind of training that you got in philosophy and psychology in asking questions and looking critically at things that comes into play all the time in lighting.
MB: What has been your inspiration?
LT: For me, it’s always been about sensibility. If I’m looking for inspiration, I might start at galleries and museums. I’ll start looking at paintings and artists who are important to me. I grew up with [installa- tion artist] Robert Irwin. I’ve always felt connected to [artists] Paul Klee, Robert Ryman, and particu- larly the Minimalist school. If I feel I can’t nd a thought, I go up to Dia: Beacon and spend a few hours there looking at what they’re doing. It’s o en some combination between sculptural elements and interventions and certain painters. [editor’s note: Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries on the Hudson River is the museum for the Dia Art Foundation’s collection of art from the 1960s to the present.].
We did this piece for the North Carolina
oppositE pagE: Tille teamed up with artist Karin Tehve for the “This Way” project under the Brooklyn Bridge.
bElow: The “Any Angled Light” project for the Bear Canyon bicycle/ pedestrian bridge in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
coMMercIal projEct
January 2019 | enLIGHTenment MagazIne 145