Technical Artistry

As I sat entranced, listening to a wonderful performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, I began to think about the parallels between a musician's dexterity of hand and that of a visual artist drawing or painting. Rosa Torres Pardo, the young pianist, was playing with the Baleares Symphony Orchestra. Slender and unaffected, she had an amazing power and delicacy of touch on the keyboard. Her command of the keys was sure and exquisitely balanced, her fingers performing a wonderful ballet up and down the long stretch of keys.

RosaTorres-Pardo, pianist

Meanwhile, the Orchestra's violinists, violoncellos, brass and percussionists all demonstrated their skill of hands and arms in similar fashion. Phillippe Bender was conducting and his hands were part of this same fascination I was experiencing as I found the parallels with visual artists.

Pianist Rebecca Davis

Violinist Hilary Hahn

Orchestra conductor Philippe Bender

When you draw in silver or goldpoint, for example, you need to have an exactness, a sensitivity of touch, an understanding of how to move your hand as you make the marks to obtain the desired result. Just like striking a piano key in a certain fashion to obtain the desired sound, or drawing your bow across a violin.

Drawing Hands, M. C. Escher (1948)

Painting, in oils, acrylics, watercolours – the brush strokes or palette knife's motion all make different effects and renderings on paper or canvas. It is all in the motion of the arm and use of the fingers - the touch, in essence.

Parshat-Veetchanan- Silverpoint Drawing, Sherry-Camhy

Carol Prusa drawing her Dome sprhere in acrylic, silverpoint, silver leaf (image courtesy of the artist)

Finding unity in our creative endeavours always delights me. Every working artist celebrates the passion that inspires and moves him or her. With our arms, hands and fingers as universal tools in these creations, developing dexterity and command of technical vocabularies is an ever-important part of being an artist. No wonder every musician, ballet dancer, visual artist and conductor practices and practices to improve as an artist.

Music in Lyrical Colours: Erdmute Blach's Art

Every time I go to an artist residency, there are so many rewards beyond actually having the opportunity to create art pretty well full time.

Yesterday I had one such reward: listening to a talk given by fellow resident artist, Ermute Blach, about her work.

Erdmute comes from Germany, initially from East Germany before unification, and now she lives in a small town, Rostock. But her art is anything but small town. Despite her quiet demeanour, her work is powerful, lyrical and arresting.

We have a lot in common in our attitudes to being artists, the first being that each of us started life in fields other than art. In Erdmute’s case, she has a degree in mathematics. Yet, to my way of thinking, the discipline and logic of mathematics lead very readily to one of the main sources of inspiration for her paintings and drawings: music.

Blue Note, acrylic, Erdmute Blach (image courtesy of the artist)

Erdmute uses the nuances and layers of compositions – mainly music written by contemporary composers now – as the means by which to express her love of form and colour. She works directly with musicians, including Portuguese musicians, and composers, sometimes in live performances.

Untitled, acrylic, Erdmute Blach (image courtesy of the artist)

Her acrylic paintings are bold and direct, expressing very clearly the rhythm, content and passion of the pieces of music she is evoking. Interestingly, she does not listen to the actual music as she is painting; she often knows the score already, but it plays only in her head as she works.

Untitled, acrylic, Erdmute Blach (image courtesy of the artist)

Blue Note, acrylic, Erdmute Blach (image courtesy of the artist)

Triptych, acrylic, Ermute  Blach (image courtesy of the artist)

Another love which inspires her painting is poetry. She has created artist books of poetry and had them published by one of Germany’s major art book publishers, Edition balance. The Frankfurt Book Fair and the Leipzig Book Fair have been recent venues where her art books are on display.

Here at Obras Portugal, she is using her residency to create a large body of work inspired by the Portuguese Alentejo landscapes and world. These works will be exhibited next years, 2015, in the nearby wonderful city of Evora.

Erdmute Blach - exhibited acrylics

So Erdmute is again responding to the sights and sounds, the rhythms and intervals; already on the walls here in the studio, bold colour is singing.

A delicious reward for me, listening to Erdmute talk of her work, thoughtfully, seriously, passionately. It makes me glad to be a fellow artist.

Art and Music

I had been missing music in my life recently.  Then, oh joy, our hi fi system was repaired, and all of a sudden, music flows over and around me again like balm, like electricity, like sustenance.

Ludwig van Beethoven told us, "Music is the mediator between spiritual and sensual life." How right he was! For everyone, but, I suspect, especially for artists.  I cannot count how many times I have read of artists or heard artists saying that they always create art to the sound of music. I find that the type of art I am trying to do dictates to some degree the music to which I listen.  Gregorian chants or early choral music go beautifully with silverpoint drawing, while watercolours are far more eclectic! Life drawing too works marvellously to world music with a driving beat.

Different kinds of music, different rhythms.  Think of two wonderful artists who depicted music-making but who themselves made art that pulsed with rhythm - Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.

Romare Bearden, Out Chorus, 1979-80, etching and aquatint (Image courtesy of the Romare Bearden Estate)

#55 Saxophone Improvisation - 1986, Romare Bearden

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), The Seamstress, 1946 (Image courtesy of the University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery)

Jacob Lawrence, Play (1999); silk screen(Image courtesy of the Lawrence Jacob Estate)

Each of these amazing artists leaves an impression that they were marrying the music they heard with the images they saw in their mind's eye. Just as Alton S. Tobey described as he wrote, "There is a kinship between music and painting - with the same words used to describe both, as when a musical composition is said to have colour and a painting to have rhythm."  

Indeed, for me, music is art in real time, art is music in real time - but oh, it is nice to have the opportunity  to marry both together again.