Light Artists Making Places

 Devil's Hopyard

A ship sailed from New Haven,
And the keen and frosty airs,
That filled her sails at parting,
Were heavy with good men's prayers.

New Haven is celebrating the 375^th anniversary of its founding.  L.A.M.P. ~ Light Artists Making Places, now in its 3^rd year, will join in the celebration with one-night of special events focused on light as art.  The theme of this year’s L.A.M.P. exhibition is the Return of the Phantom Ship of New Haven.  As the story goes, “Even the stern divines of Puritan New England in colonial days confessed their belief in the phantom ship. Cotton Mather tells of such a craft which was spoken of from the pulpit in New Haven. A new ship left that port in January 1647, for her maiden trip to directly trade with England, loaded with beaver pelts, wheat and other tradable goods.  The godly people of New Haven, not hearing the fate of the passengers or their investments after six months had elapsed, fasted and prayed that the Lord would let them hear what he had done with them, and to prepare them to accept his will. A great thunderstorm blew up one day in June, and an hour before sunset, a ship of similar dimensions to the one which left in January appeared in the sky over New Haven harbor’s mouth and sailed into the north wind for half an hour. (Toward, not away from, the thunderstorm).  Drawing nearer, she gradually disappeared and finally vanished altogether. Thanks were offered in the pulpits of New Haven that God had granted this confirmation of the fears of the townspeople.

L.A.M.P. is produced by 9arts with support from CT Office of the Arts, New Haven's Office of Art, Culture and Tourism and Projects 2K.  Established in 1993 by Joy Wulke, Projects 2K creates collaborative events that foster the fusion of art and science as a means of discovery and appreciation of the natural world. Project 2K is a non-profit corporation to create collaborative events that foster the fusing of art, science, and ecological concerns as a means of discovery, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural world. Projects for a New Millennium and its collaborators continue to aspire to extend presentations and educational programming illustrating a useful and wondrous philosophy of life, a worldview that celebrates our differences while recognizing the importance of our timeless common goals of peace and freedom in an environmentally sound world.

LAMP is New England’s premier light event and  this year will coincide with New Haven's Citywide Open Studios October 4, 2013.  For more about this event read Chris Arnott’s article Shine On in New Haven Living magazine. 

LAMP was founded in 2011 by Paul Mayer, owner of Café Nine, Margaret Bodell, Mary Schiffer of Art in Heaven, Robert S. Greenberg of ACME Furniture Co, and Lou Cox of Channel 1. Together these early art settlers in New Haven's historic Ninth Square formed 9Arts, a collective of artists, musicians, producers, merchants and volunteers. 9arts initiated the first annual LAMP event in 2011 with collaboration from Project Storefronts and Artspace’s annual open studios.