Tulle Falls

Photo by Jonathan PJ Smith

Lightworks IV was going to be happen in the central park area of Isla Vista, California and organizer Kim Yasuda, was looking for artists to participate. I went out there with artist Kym Cochran to scope the lay of the land. Kym, a theming artist by trade, has a passion for water features. She suggested a video waterfall. And thus, Tulle Falls was born.

Traditionally, waterfalls flow into ponds. At first. we thought projected black and white koi would look cool. As the idea matured, we realized wild pond creatures from the local mountains would be better.

I frequently hike in the mountains behind Santa Barbara and had crossed certain streams numerous times. It turned out, I didn’t have the faintest idea what was actually living in them. The variety was stupendous. The star of the show proved to be a water bug with a mat of eggs laid on his back by the female of the species.

Photo by Jonathan PJ Smith