A Beginning
Blogging is new to me. I often read other artist blogs, but have never done one myself. So here I go……….
One of the things I really like about artists’ blogs is when they share their work and how they did it. Why did they made certain pieces? Why did they choose certain materials? I’m going to take you through Drawing My Journey -Through Music and Marks in these upcoming blog postings.
Reich_Desert Music
I have a solo exhibit coming up in October of this year at the University of Redlands. I thought this would be a good way for me to share how this body of work was developed. I have been working on this concept for over fifteen years. The thrust of the idea is the visual interpretation of contemporary chamber music.
Join my journey, in this blog.
Where this series began.
University of Redlands_Memorial Chapel
It all started in 1965 at the University of Redlands in my History of Contemporary Art class. In those days “contemporary art” was Andy Warhol …………
Andy Warhol_ Marilyn Series
Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Sol LaWitt………………, Judy Chicago, Roy Lichtenstein, and others.
Sol LaWitt_
My classmates and I were all having difficulty wrapping our heads around_ “what is contemporary art?”. Our professor, Dr Vernon Dornbach, presented us with a challenge. He knew there was a recital of contemporary chamber music at the University’s School of Music that evening. He said to go to the concert and listen, close our eyes, and visualize a painting. We were to come back to class the next day and describe our experience. I was blown away with what I experienced. I vividly saw a painting… actually, more like marks in a drawing. I’ll never forget how I felt. I saw marks, smooshes, smears, dots__ gentle and bold.
It wasn’t until many years later that I heard a piece of music… Schoenberg’s Six little Piano Pieces… in a concert at UMass-Amhurst, that I experienced the same feeling. Up to this point in my life I had many professional twists and turns, I wasn’t creating art at this time. However I was ripe for focus and I rushed back to my studio to explore this renewed drive. I got the music CD and went to work.
My Cape Cod Studio
So began my journey of the Visual Interpretation of Contemporary Chamber Music.