The beauty of nature on a 140-foot canvas

“The Tender Hand of the Unseen,” an immersive video installation that was featured on the Daniels and Fisher Tower in downtown Denver, was the work of Molly Valentine Dierks, a Department of Art and Art History assistant teaching professor who is also a sculptor, interdisciplinary artist and self-described “nature geek.”

The artwork—which was projected onto the 140-foot canvas of the building—mimics the movements of large flocks of starlings, which take flight at twilight to dance in undulating, ever-shifting shapes.

In describing the work, which was part of the Night Lights Denver program, Dierks wrote, “The work is my way of confronting a socially fractured landscape, where screens more frequently mediate our understanding of self … overshadowing more embodied connections to each other and the natural world.”