Originally posted on Jan 4, 2014 in the Telegraph Herald.
By Sandye Voight TH Staff Writer
This Light Shines on Indiegogo
A former Dubuquer who works as a freelance artist in New York City is organizing an online sale of real and digital candles to honor loved ones who died.
"This Light Shines" is an interactive digital art exhibition, thislightshines.com, organized by Luke Stoffel, a graduate of Hempstead High School. He was in Dubuque recently, visiting family members during the holidays.
Stoffel, who has a degree in graphic design from Iowa State University, has had several gallery shows in New York and also had several pieces in a Dubuque Voices from the Warehouse exhibition a few years ago.
The project is in honor of a friend who died a year and a half ago after contracting pneumonia. Ethan Adi Guidjaja, had been making candles to sell on etsy.com. Because he didn't have health insurance, he waited too long to get medical attention.
"I thought, 'I'm not the only person who suffers loss,'" Stoffel said. "The idea is to remember the person who passed on."
Stoffel obtained Guidjaja's candle-making supplies and decided to make commemorative candles in his studio.
His friend was a Buddhist; the project is inspired by the Buddhist belief in rebirth and reincarnation, symbolized by candle flames.
"To honor those we've loved and lost, we light candles at churches, on lakes and some send lanterns into the heavens," Stoffel wrote on the project's website."
The deadline for donating is Friday, Jan. 17. Candles will be mailed out in March. Each candle will come with a number. The purchaser can register the candle online on a map of the world and dedicate it to a loved one.
"The goal is 1,500 candles to light up the world," Stoffel said.
The project is being funded on Indiegogo: igg.me/at/thislightshines.
He is working with a computer technician in New York City to create a Tweet #shines4. The idea is that when you Tweet, a flame will blossom into a lotus flower online. The soy candles will be lotus-scented.
Update:
The project was completed funded in 2014 and candles were distributed to 8 countries. The website is now live at http://www.thislightshines.com
