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Project 06

Luminism Shadow Box

Interactive backlit artwork combining visual design, CAD, fabrication, sensing, circuits, and Arduino control.

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The finished shadow box standing on a bench, showing a colored two-point perspective city drawing in its frame. — The finished shadow box with the LEDs off: the two-point perspective drawing in its frame.

The drawing lit from behind, with blue and green light revealing a hidden ringed planet in the sky. — Backlit: LEDs behind the drawing reveal a hidden ringed planet in the sky.

Type: Interactive illuminated artwork
Core tools: SolidWorks, hand fabrication, Arduino
Systems: Mechanical + electrical + optical + software

From the build13 photographs + drawings · choose one to enlarge

Pencil rough draft of the two-point perspective city corner. — Rough draft of the two-point perspective drawing, built with a T-square and ruler.

Black pen linework of the two-point perspective city corner, lines running to two vanishing points. — Pen linework for the final two-point perspective drawing.

Completed worksheet of pen and ink and colored pencil techniques. — Shading and coloring practice: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, blending and layering.

Monitor showing the SolidWorks exploded assembly of the shadow box layers and frame. — SolidWorks exploded assembly of the shadow box on screen.

Unfinished mitered wood frame lying flat, with a hole drilled near each corner. — The raw frame after assembly, drilled near each corner, before staining and painting.

The finished frame seen from the back: dark stained outside, white painted inside edge, diffusing paper across it. — Stained outside, white-painted inside: the finished frame from the back, with diffusing paper laid across it.

Empty rectangular wooden frame, black outside and white inside, lying on a butcher-block bench with a small drilled hole near each corner. — The same DPEA shadow-box frame in another build: black outside, white-painted inside, with a drilled hole near each corner.Photo: Lindsey Rios, DPEA ’24

Overhead view of an Arduino Uno wired to four small LED breadboards and a light sensor. — Practice circuit: an Arduino Uno driving four LED boards, with a light sensor as input.

Inside the frame in the dark: an Arduino wired to small breadboards with glowing blue, green, red and white LEDs. — The final circuit powered inside the frame: the Arduino and individual LED boards glowing over the white interior.

Inside a white-walled frame, an Arduino board with red and black wires running to many small coloured breadboards, each holding an LED and resistor. — The same DPEA shadow-box circuit in another build: an Arduino Uno-style board wired to LEDs on mini breadboards with current-limiting resistors.Photo: Lindsey Rios, DPEA ’24

Top-down view into a black frame with white inner walls: a blue Arduino wired with red and black leads to small black breadboards holding LEDs. — The same DPEA shadow-box circuit in another build: Arduino-driven LEDs on mini breadboards spread across the paper-lined back plate.Photo: Kate Brecher, DPEA ’26

Monitor showing an Arduino sketch that reads a knob and a switch and lights LEDs with if/else statements. — Arduino exercise: a knob and an on/off switch turning LEDs on one by one with if/else logic.

Monitor showing an Arduino sketch with fade-up and fade-down functions for LEDs. — Arduino sketch that fades LEDs up and down in a “shining stars” pattern.

Component directory8 parts · choose one to isolate it in the model

CAD + Frame Engineering

Fabrication + Magnetic Retention

Optical Behavior + System Integration

Hardware + other components

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