The Empire of Light is that groundbreaking chapter of Snowden’s vision that explores visible light phenomena. Each sculpture of the collection advances Snowden’s meditation on light: Angstrom is a scale enlargement of the smallest unit of light measurement; Lumino and Lumina evoke prisms of the rainbow; and Photon is a portrait of the smallest particle of visible light. In Lightwave and Lightsurge, we encounter enhanced wave formations that dramatize the flowing liquid qualities of light that gather in the tripartite compositions of Halo and Nimbus to celebrate reflected coronas of radiance.

In Lightspire, we meet visible light ascending skywards through a slender pillar of rays. M.L.Snowden’s ability to transform inert bronze into a moving figurative evocation of light is significantly felt in the composition of this bronze. Here, the immaterial streamlined quality of curving light rays reverberate all along the anatomical planes of curved feminine arches. Multiple rays of light, conceptually evoked in the rising line of demi-wings, echo in every part of the sculpture that has been created through the energy of the sculptor’s touch.

A core meditation of M.L. Snowden invokes the realization that when viewed at a reduced quantum micro-scale, the human body, as well as geological substance, which includes the sculptor’s clay and bronze, all begin to exhibit the “wave and particle” structure of light. Indeed, it was Louis de Broglie, winner of the Nobel Prize, who delineated the wave and the particle as integrated expressions of matter. Undulations, “S” curvatures, and waves are inseparable from the central feminine particle of Lightspire that seems to jettison sparkling radiance aloft.

With lithesome grace as well as a vivid sense of immediacy that is felt through every nuance of the sculptural technique, Lightspire’s wonderful portrait seems enclosed in the embers of a textural crown that melds and connects in an upward ascent. The sheer energy of the sculpture creates the illusion of wind that seems to rise beneath the almost 250 pound weight of the sculpture, making the compositional elements appear almost weightless.

The sculpture achieves an important synergy between activated negative space and articulated mass. Through Snowden’s orchestration of negative space within Lightspire’s fluid arcs, the sculpture pronounces shadows under lighting sources that extend its visual impression. In the words of a noted critic, “The smooth and almost liquid lines of Lightspire create a feeling of joy. Shadows from the sculpture cast onto walls and seem to celebrate Lightspire’s form. The portrait breathes an almost scented radiance that captures the senses, returning the viewer’s eye to ever more closely study the work. In this sense, the sculpture is like a light in a room that magnetizes one’s attention onto the extraordinary. And there is no doubt that hundreds of hours of handwork have gone into smoothing the surface of the historic Fournier patina, imparting a platinum luster that remains unequaled in transforming Lightspire’s bronze into a vision of light.