International pianist and synesthete, Dr. Svetlana Rudenko, used my art, “And, But and Not”, as a basis and inspiration for her musical composition, and then as part of her research resulting in a paper she delivered last week at Trinity College Dublin Ireland.
“Ameriques by Edgard Varese” 34″x40″ sewy based on the work of this French/American composer. His piece “Deserts” was the first avant-garde piece of music I ever fell in love with at age 20 and it changed the trajectory of my musical listening life. “Ameriques” is my synesthetic hand sewn response in silk over linen, with metallic and hemp floss and metallic and cotton thread.
If you want to listen, here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq8SKwi-ycE — in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
Living in the northeast US, I get to truly love autumn! I love the smells, the colors, the cool temperatures and the winds that blow over the hill we live on. I especially the love the sounds of leaves crunching under foot. This piece is based on that sound.
Regarding the black circles, my synesthesia inspired art is always a dance between my mental visual images of sound, and my interior self-talk emotional, or cognitive understanding of what I am experiencing. Perhaps it is because I am a Gemini that I hold these two tensions, or maybe all syns do this. When I make art, I don’t worry that it is a “photo” of exactly what I “see”/hear, but it is usually some variation of the remembered pattern of what that sound looks like. I just take the trip, create and not worry about the outcome. As I reflect, I suspect the black circles reference the cyclical seasons, the oncoming apparent death of flowering plants and trees, and the unknowable “Mystery” of death.
Archival inks, Canson Aquarelle Rag paper 8″x10″
22″x22″ Hand sewn silk on silk with cotton, metallic and chenille floss and thread
This is my emotional/synesthetic response to the Miles Davis favorite, “SO WHAT”.
“Eleta J. Caldwell and Rodney M. Gilbert Memorial Gallery, So What Curated by Jo-El Lopez
Whether inviting to the eye or to the ear, what is the purpose of art if not to evoke? So What, the opening track of Miles Davis’ — and jazz’s most famous — album, Kind of Blue, dares to answer that question. While deceptively simplistic in structure, So What’s sophistication lies within the measured ease of its three soloists. In the case of So What: A Visual Interpretation, curator Jo-El Lopez makes a similar statement about what happens when a group of ten visual artists are given the same piece of music to examine and reimagine? In this exhibition, each artist’s work independently represents a cross section of styles, political platforms, and purpose. And with Lopez’s curatorial approach, as well as Newark’s world-renowned WBGO Jazz 88 Gallery at the helm, the show presents itself as the perfect unification of visual art and interpretation of sound.”
On display October 5th – November 17th, 2018
“Throb and Swagger- The Sounds of Newark” #10 10.5″x16.5″ Canson Arches Aquarelle Rag Paper, Enhanced Giclée Archival Print Edition 1/1 Printed for the Newark Public Library
This work is about the vitality, creativity and resilience of Newark New Jersey. My print captures the dynamic energy of the city.
In the spring of 2016, I was invited by Matthew Gosser, (curator and teacher at NJIT’s College of Architecture and Design, involved with the historic preservation of many of Newark’s landmark buildings,) to create art based on my personal experience with the Queen of Angels, a historic church on Belmont Avenue, now Irving Turner Blvd.
I spent a couple hours exploring what was a nearly completely demolished church, with most of my time seated and listening to the ambient sounds of the community. I took notes and made sketches from overheard conversations of passersby, and the ambient sounds from traffic, airplanes and nature. These sounds deeply influenced my emotional response and drawing, and was the basis for this work of art
“Birdland – Maynard Ferguson” For the first horn player I ever had a crush on. Those high sweet tones set my 13-year-old heart on fire, and at 72 years of age still does!!!!!
