Quinlan Arts Center and musical inspiration

Last night was the opening for the Quinlan Arts Center’s ‘Sound Off’, a juried exhibition of about sixty works of art inspired by music. In operation for more than 60 years, the Quinlan began as a sketch club in 1946 and has grown into a renowned regional arts organization. The exhibit will be up until August 13th.

The arts center is located on historic Green Street and while I didn’t get shots of the area, I found these lovely photos on Flickr by Robert Lz. Worth an hour’s drive north, just don’t go at rush hour.

Here are some shots from the opening. I spent some time talking to a few artists and one of the curators, art historian Ana Pozzi-Harris. The other curator, John Amoss, happened to be playing guitar in the band.

my painting Blues for Ravel, oil on canvas panel, 11″x14″. Inspired by Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, a late composition from 1923-27. He experimented with the jazz influenced second movement ‘Blues. Moderato’ and was himself influenced by American Blues and George Gershwin’s work.

My favorite piece in the show was Joseph L. ‘Doc’ Johnson’s Bango Drum. Mixed media. I talked to Doc at length about not just art, but his archaeological findings of early artifacts in the area. A  limestone kiln was discovered in 2007 near Gainesville and this comprehensive article defines archaeology and describes the challenges of protecting Early Georgia sites. This link offers information on the timeline of early human activity in the Southeast.

Another interesting work was Marsha Richter’s Garden Mandala Quartet.

First prize winner Hyoungsesk Kim and his painted plywood sculpture, Embryo.

The HoboHemians played backup to the crowd’s hum with Django Reinhardt’s Hot Club renditions and other bouncy tunes.

Parking lot sculpture.

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3 Responses to Quinlan Arts Center and musical inspiration

  1. Eeli says:

    Congratulations with exhibition! It looks very cosy opening, art and music fit so well together!

  2. laura says:

    Congrats! Your painting looks wonderful here! I need to go back and listen to “Blues” again, it’s been a while! What a wonderful inspirtation.

  3. V says:

    Thank you Eeli and Laura – the Ravel piece is quite modern and absolutely bluesy.

    I found out that he refused to give Gershwin lessons when asked, saying he couldn’t do anything to improve GW’s composing abilities. Now that’s quite a compliment.

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