Chromosphere: The Color Theory Podcast
Episodes
Reflections: Primary Colors and the Art of Persuasion
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A reflection on teaching primary color concepts; thoughts on persuasion and the Pantone Color of the Year. Resources:Aristotle, On Sense and the Sens...
Yellow
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An episode devoted to the color yellow.Resources:The St. Olaf ChoirLooney Tunes: Elmer Fudd - Kill the WabbitDay Glo CompanyDavid Briggs. Beyond Colou...
Reflections
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A reflection on the past 4 years of the podcast.Matthew Midwood - WebsiteEd Charbonneau - WebsiteShedd Aquarium, Chicago, USA - WebsiteThomas Young - ...
A Sherlock Holmes Color Theory Odyssey
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More background on competing histories of color harmony, and a reprise of episodes from Season 1, Color Theory Wars parts 1 and 2.Emily Noyes Vanderpo...
Turquoise and Yellow: Measuring the Gap in My Knowledge in Parsecs
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guardian website: Do you see blue or green? This viral test plays with color perceptionColour Literacy Project: ResourcesScience How Stuff Works: Eart...
A Mary Gartside and Emily Noyes Vanderpoel Project
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sharing a project I designed based upon Mary Gartside and Emily Noyes Vanderpoel's color methodologies. Try it for yourself, or with a class.Link...
Color and Emotion
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Color and Emotion, the topic of a 5-week online course I have designed and will be teaching in March/April 2025 for the Continuing Education Departm...
Camouflage
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 4! Lost and Found: Abbott Thayer and The Study of Camouflage. Martin Stevens Dazzle Camouflage. WikipediaNeuroanatomy, Retina. Navi...
TV Party Tonight
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The final episode of Season 3. A reflection on the past three seasons.The Book of Colour Concepts, Alexandra Loske and Sarah Lowengard, Taschen 2024Co...
Interview with Gamma Jeanne: I Love Blue
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Interview with Gamma Jeanne; a departure from our more in-depth discussions of color theory. Jeanne's career as an artist spans over nine decades...
The Eclipse: Purkinje Shift Reprise
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
CNN online article: Wear red and green to experience the Purkinje effect during the total solar eclipseSend us a text
Interview with Luanne Stovall: A New 21st Century Color Literacy Paradigm
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Luanne Stovall is an artist and color theorist with an MFA in painting from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. She att...
Interview with Suyao Tian: A Journey into Color
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with artist, Suyao Tian exploring her process as a painter and her personal approaches to using color. Please find more information rel...
Interview with Jon Reischl: Memory, Perception, and Experience
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Jon Rieschl. Please find additional resources to this episode here.Jon Reischl is a visual artist and designer specializing in mix...
Interview with Sebastián Wilson: The Mystery of Color
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sebastián Wilson is a photographer living in Santiago, Chile. He studied architecture which has a clear influence on his work both on the graphic sen...
Interview with Dr. David Briggs: Understanding and Applying Colour
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. David Briggs has been teaching classes on colour for more than 20 years, and currently teaches colour, drawing and painting at the National Art Sc...
Interview with Jeremy Szopinski: Abstract Landscape Painting
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I interview painter Jeremy Szopinski who is a good friend and longtime studio mate. For more information about the podcast and Jeremy's artworks,...
Mary Gartside and the Colour Ball: A Correction
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The final episode of Season 2; includes a correction to the Mary Gartside episode from Season 1. The first version of this episode erroneously stated ...
Focal Points and the Roots of Abstraction, part 1
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Part one of a reading of an essay I am writing, Focal Points and the Roots of Abstraction.Human color vision adapts to the changing environment in man...
Red, White, Gray, and Black
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are nearly all the cars and trucks in your area either red, white, gray, or black? Discussion of red colors pairing to neutral colors as a color schem...
No Science and No Math
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A review of a listener letter.Send us a text
Color Theory and the Grocery Store
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A walk through the grocery store in search of the analogous split-complementary color scheme as well as other palettes.Send us a text
Harmony part 3: A New Canon
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Part 3 of 3: The final installment, A New Canon, places the work of color theorists, Mary Gartside and Emily Noyes Vanderpoel in historical context so...
Harmony part 2
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of 3. In this episode, I read the middle portion of an essay I have written, which could become a chapter in a future publication. (Read in t...
Harmony part 1
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Part 1 of 3. In this episode, I read the beginning of an essay I have written, which could become a chapter in a future publication. (Read in three ...
Primary Colors part 3
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 2! This episode features a correction on the first episode of Season 1, followed by the continued investigation of how red, yellow,...
Green: Are There More Greens than Any Other Color?
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The final episode of Season 1. I explore whether or not there are more variations of color within the hue of green; more than those of the other hue c...
Telescopes & Color Theory
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of the impact of telescopes on the development of color theory. Also linear & aerial perspective in relation to depth and space, and ...
Emily Noyes Vanderpoel
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of the work of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and her book, Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color, of 1903. Discussion ce...
Purple: The Color That Doesn't Exist?
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of additive spectral color mixing and how our perception of purple may be the result of our minds experiencing a negative green. Send us a...
Afterimages & Complementary Colors
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of how afterimages occur when the cones of the retina tire and weaken due to overstimulation, allowing other cones to briefly play a more d...
Color Theory Wars 2: The Philosopher (Schopenhauer) vs the Poet (Goethe) and the Physicist (Newton)
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of Arthur Schopenhauer and Phillip Otto Runge's ideas about color vision and color harmonies, and how they may have impacted the teach...
The Birefringent Michelangelo
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of the speed of light, polarization, glare, mirages, and what any of that has to do with Michelangelo. (See cangiantismo and shot silk.)Sen...
The Purkinje Shift
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Discussion of how our perception of blues and greens remain strong in low light, and how that may have impacted the use of lapis lazuli (and other blu...
Homer and the Wine-Dark Sea
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Homer repeatedly describe the color of the ocean as wine-dark in the Iliad and the Odyssey? Could the sky have been purple or violet in the da...
Color Theory Wars 1: The Poet (Goethe) vs the Physicist (Newton)
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Zur Farbenlehre (A Theory of Colours, or, A Doctrine of Colours) of 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe worked to dismiss Newton’s findings of the...
Chromostereopsis: Color Depth Perception & Focal Points
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Also known as vibrating colors or scintillating colors. Discussion of the chromostereopsis effect will explore how colors are perceived in 3-dimension...
Value Contrast & Focal Points!
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Given the properties of color (hue, value & chroma), do value contrasts work to form the most effective focal points? This question is addressed...
Unique Yellow: How Perception Shifts the Color of Sunlight with the Changing of the Seasons
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever noticed that the color of sunlight changes throughout the year? It is thought that this is due to our shifting perception of a color kno...
Is Indigo the Pluto of Hues? - Sir Isaac Newton and the Visible Spectrum
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text
Black Plastic
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is black plastic recyclable? Check out the World Economic Forum for more information on how it is recyclable, but rarely recycled. This episode focuse...
Mary Gartside and the Colour Ball: A Correction
09 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A prior version of this episode erroneously stated a connection between Mary Gartside and the writing of Johann von Goethe. This new episode was recor...
Primary Colors part 1
03 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Correction: An earlier version of this episode incorrectly stated the Jacob Christopher Le Blon was the first to identify cyan, magenta, and yellow as...
Primary Colors part 2: Optical Mixing
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text