MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: JEFFREY BOYNTON

Jeffrey Boynton is a long time member, contributor to and integral part of the Studio IX community. His membership has seen him explore nearly every amenity and avenue we have to offer — and he just keeps growing (and going!). He and his partner, Samantha (Lane), have just completed another chapter of their work together and it seemed like the perfect moment to reflect upon how it all started, here at at Studio IX that is. Thank you, Jeffrey (and Sam) for all you bring to this community. Love to you both.

Enjoy.

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES: JEFFREY BOYNTON | April 2019

Studio IX:                    So Jeffrey, tell us who you are and what it is you do?

Jeffrey Boynton:          My name is Jeffrey Boynton and I design lighting and I hold space for becoming more aware of embodiment…how we embody ourselves in this existence. i5 Lighting Collaborative, which does the lighting design and then After Before Productions, which is the partnership I have with my beloved to teach 5Rhythms, a global movement meditation practice... I have no idea which to talk about.

Studio IX:           This is probably a good question to get into that weaving. What are you passionate about?

JB:                I'm passionate about the way that we experience and see things. Light is critical to that as is our sense of being in a body, which shapes our experience of how much we can sense from our environment, how much is available to us. On one level,  I shape space through light and what we see, and on the other, I explore what is hidden versus expressed in the body. The way we move through the world.

Studio IX:      Let’s go off script for a second, how did those two things evolve? Let’s start with lighting. What’s the back story of how you came into it?

JB:               It started in theater and in high school. I got interested in theater and I got instantly interested in the technical aspect of it, which to me was very artistic but more craft-like…like these highly complex tools to produce light and dim in and out of scenes but the ability to create something that had a real attachment to the story and attachment to emotion for the viewer, that really appealed to me. So I thought I wanted to design the devices and I went to school for electrical engineering and then realized, I just want to be part of creating these experiences. So I started designing lighting for theatrical productions, for music events and then ultimately for dance, which then led me into experiencing more choreography and then actually being in dance pieces myself.

Studio IX:                               And where was that?

JB:                  Most of that exploration took place at Arizona State in Phoenix, AZ.

Studio IX:       And then the other entity.

JB:                The 5Rhythms?

Studio IX:       Yeah, how did that evolve?

JB:                 I discovered that in New York City. I was involved in a lot of dance theater, a lot of authentic movement, contact improvisation, different ways of moving and being with oneself and others through embodied practice. It was not so much about performance at that point. It was more about knowing oneself through movement. And when I moved to New York City, I found 5Rhythms and just started going once, twice, three times a week and it was a way to get below the words and just flush through all the busyness of the city (in 2001) and a new career. At the same time I was stepping into this career in architectural lighting, which was a transition point for me.

Studio IX:        If you could sum up 5Rhythms in an elevator pitch. How would you describe it?

JB:                  5Rhythms is an exploration of the way that energy moves in the body and the philosophy can be captured in five essential rhythms of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. Each of the qualities that resonate in that journey and together form a Wave.

Studio IX:        Can you share a memorable story from your work? One that stands out to you? A pivotal moment. A great project. A personal epiphany?

JB:                One thing that stands out is how scattered my interests are, but how they're always tied to some basic curiosity about how things are. For instance, I've been posting a series of pictures of the view from my office. The idea of the office being the place where we do our work and how many different environments that is for me, how many different connotations it has.

Studio IX:      Depending on the day, or your sate of mind, or the light in the atrium? Something like that?

JB:                More like it's the lighting booth at the Lynchburg's Academy Center for the Arts one day, then it's here and I'm looking out through the atrium to the sky and the following day, it’s the dance floor at Fry’s Springs and then last night it was a site visit. It's fascinating to me right now, how many different places I do my work, how it doesn't really have a boundary or container. That it has many containers. 

Studio IX:      I like that.

JB:              I enjoy seeing something created, something’s that ephemeral, that won't be there for long. I've always loved that about the theater, but then I also have this love of architecture, where I'm building something and defining something that will hopefully be around for a very long time. So permanence and impermanence at the same time. There's a lot of paradox.

Studio IX:     Yeah. There does seem to be a connection between lighting design and 5Rhythms in that regard. Something that's a medium & experiential. You're not building something solid but creating an experience through the senses, through the body,..

JB:                And after 18 years of practice, 5rhythms has really become a primary philosophy, a spiritual practice for me. One that informs the design work and the way that I do business. Because it’s a philosophy, I can apply what I know in the body to what I see in the world & thereby how I am approaching a project. 

Studio IX:     Where do you see yourself and your work in the next five to ten years? 

JB:               I have no idea. (laughter)