Associate Professor of Art Ella Gant and 15 students participating in the spring 2013 New York City Program started the semester with a visit to the studio of visual artist Spencer Finch '85. 

Finch graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in comparative literature from Hamilton, and followed this with an M.F.A. in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989. The first retrospective of his work was assembled at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., in 2008.

Finch works in a wide variety of mediums, including watercolor, photography, glass, electronics, video and fluorescent lights. Using a colorimeter, he measures the light that exists naturally in a particular location at a specific time, then re-constructs the luminosity of the location through artificial means. The resulting light installations address issues of memory and perception.