Bloomingdale’s ‘Lights Up a Young Mind’ This Holiday Season With Philanthropic Window Displays

New York, NY – To celebrate the season, Bloomingdale’s has partnered with a group of dynamic visual artists for their 2016 holiday windows. Inspired by this year’s holiday campaign theme, “light”, the artists were each challenged to create a one-of-a-kind chandelier that embodies their artistic expression of the word, “light”.

The eight chandeliers, which were commissioned exclusively for Bloomingdale’s, will be auctioned off to benefit the retailer’s long-standing holiday charity partner, the Child Mind Institute. The auction, hosted on CharityBuzz.com/BloomingdalesAuction, runs through December 20th with opening bids starting at $2,000. 100% of the net proceeds from this auction will benefit the Child Mind Institute’s mission to transform the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders.

In addition to the chandelier auction, Bloomingdale’s will continue to support the Child Mind Institute for the seventh consecutive year with their annual collectible Little Brown Bear by Gund. Actor Ben Platt, star of the highly anticipated Broadway musical, Dear Evan Hansen, welcomed the opportunity to partner with Bloomingdale’s for this year’s campaign. Platt posed alongside Bloomingdale’s Little Brown Bear who is dressed in a comfy gray hoodie offering “free bear hugs”. The bear retails for $20 with $4 from every purchase donated to the Child Mind Institute. Platt also made an appearance at the Bloomingdale’s Holiday Window unveiling on Monday, November 21 where he performed with members of the cast of Dear Evan Hansen to kick-off the holiday season.

The chandeliers:

• Reflections by Inma Barrero: Inma Barrero has been a full time sculptor since 2005 and works mainly withcombinations of modeled clay, twisted metal, found objects, glass and wood. Barrero’s chandelier titled “Reflections,” expresses the connection between us, our environment and the ever changing light. The chandelier begins with an antique convex mirror from which hundreds of pieces of individually handcrafted, unglazed porcelain are suspended using wire. Each piece shows the fingerprints of the artist and the shadows of these pieces repeat endlessly throughout the space.
• Aura by Erika deVries and Jonah Meyer: Erika deVries is an interdisciplinary artist in photography, performance, neon, video and handcraft. Her works, rendered in neon, are handwritten transcriptions dictated by children and family members which crystallize moments when language and meaning coalesce. Jonah Meyer has been a working artist all of his adult life primarily practicing as a sculptor and painter. The two artists collaborated on one chandelier titled “Aura” which draws on the concept of the levity and brightness of each individual spirit. Children ages 2-12 were asked to write the phrase “a lightness of being” and the neon fixtures were bent to match each child’s handwriting.
• MoonGlow by Abby Modell: Abby Modell is a widely collected and acclaimed glass artist whose works have been exhibited at numerous prestigious art galleries. “MoonGlow” is a modernist approach to lighting. Her one-of-a-kind chandelier is a collection of three chandeliers named Lunar Rocks, Cosmic Cylinders and Star Pendant. All three are made of hand-blown glass, translucent mirrored finishes, Swarovski crystals, fire polished glass and polished nickel hardware. The trio, auctioned as one chandelier, visually comes together as one through color, design and finishes forming a unique celestial lighting landscape.

• Luminescence by Sean Augustine March: Sean Augustine March began his career painting geometric forms which then led to creating geometric sculptures with dichroic glass. His chandelier follows his signature medium and focuses on the optical qualities of light, creating an immersive environment of sharp, repeated geometric shapes in vividly blending colors spanning the entire visible spectrum. The resulting chandelier, titled “Luminescence,” is a nexus of sprawling prismatic sculptures and incredibly vivid lamps.
• Brilliant by Susanne Bartsch: Since 1981, Susanne Barstch has channeled her penchant for creating coveted avant-garde fashion spectacles and has organized some of the most memorable events in New York City nightlife. Using neon lights, her chandelier titled “Brilliant” most closely resembles Leigh Bowery, a performance artist that Bartsch brought to New York in the early eighties while paying homage to all of the brilliant people that have touched her life.
• Sparkle by Allison Eden: Allison Eden specializes in hand crafted glass mosaics and has created a signature style of wild patterns, bold colors and almost impossible cuts by hand. She uses only recycled and domestically made materials, manufacturing everything by hand in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up in the idyllic beach town of La Jolla, California, Eden has been surrounded by the beach her whole life and used the calm beauty of the ocean as the inspiration behind her octopus shaped chandelier which is engulfed in a sparkling underwater world.
• Mirrors by Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos (displayed in the 59th Street arcade area): Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist. Her work investigates the definition and construction of identities, personal memories, culture and collective histories in the post-Internet age. “Mirrors”, her 8-foot long chandelier, is made of dozens of colorful neons hanging from a mirrored structure. The neons read common acronyms used in digital communication along with the full phrases they refer to. While the acronyms glow bright, the long phrases appear weakened, vacillating between bright and dull, fighting to remain on. “Mirrors” explores, in a whimsical way, how language is formed, transformed and simplified by technology in human communication.
• Let it Glow, Let it Glow, Let it Glow by George Kroenert (displayed in the 60th street arcarde area): A native Oklahoman, George Kroenert moved to New York in 1990 to work for the NYC Parks Department and later began taking classes at Parson’s School of Design where he earned an MFA in Lighting Design. Kroenert’s chandelier explores form and composition, balance and control, and chaos and beauty. Materials used include fiberglass rods, multi-colored cable ties, perforated metal disks, bolts and assemblies, cables, ballasts, wire and fluorescent lamps.About Bloomingdale’sBloomingdale’s is America’s only nationwide, full-line, upscale department store and a division of Macy’s, Inc. It was founded in 1872 and currently operates 38 Bloomingdale’s stores and 17 Bloomingdale’s, The Outlet Stores, in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. In addition, Bloomingdale’s has an international presence with a location in Dubai. Be sure to follow @bloomingdales on social media, become a Loyallist, and for more information, or to shop any time, visit www.bloomingdales.com.