Translate Images to Sound
Me First
This is the first Buddha Board video-painting done without listening to Peter’s music. Instead, Peter responds to my work. With the experience I had recently gained painting to music, here, I try to paint at a somewhat rhythmic pace. The speed of my hand is influenced by my memory of Peter’s music. With the two splashes of water beginning the sequence, I imagined a dramatic musical opening, which Peter definitely delivered. In the future, it might be interesting to think of more ways I could deliberately influence his music.
Underscoring Painting
I believe this is the first example of me improvising to Jeremy’s painting rather than the other way around. So the first time I’ve EVER done anything like this at all. I’d call it underscoring painting, as you would underscore a movie (which I have done.) In an abstract setting such as this, my musical mind is forced to think quickly, try to shape musical images out of the visuals.
About the Artists
Jeremy Harrison recently retired from teaching art at The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts where he was on the faculty since 1988. His teaching included drawing, painting, printmaking, and digital photography. He earned a BA from Kenyon College in 1982 double majoring in studio art and religion. He earned his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1985 majoring in printmaking and minoring in drawing. Inspiration for his landscape images comes from his experiences in the wildernesses of Canada, the Adirondacks, and Maine. An experienced canoeist, he helped lead a six-man, 800-mile canoe journey across the Canadian tundra to the Arctic Ocean. He continues to canoe and hike in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Adirondacks while making paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs as often as possible.
With a deep jazz-and-blues core, Peter Saltzman has produced a broad career in the music industry as composer, pianist, singer-songwriter, and author. Various ensembles have performed and recorded his work globally—the Czech National Symphony Orchestra recorded his orchestral dance suite “Walls” (1996), and the Dallas Black Dance Theatre performed “Walls” during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The Dallas Morning News reviewed Saltzman’s music as “powerful stuff.” His second album, Kabbalah Blues/Quantum Funk (2000), earned critical acclaim for its jazz/classical/pop fusion, hailed as “ambitious, richly layered, wonderfully accessible.” Saltzman studied jazz at Indiana University (Bloomington) and composition at Eastman School of Music. He was an adjunct professor of music at Columbia College Chicago, where he taught music technology and piano. His concert works are published by Oxford University Press; his film and television works are published by Wild Whirled Music. Saltzman’s music has been licensed for television shows, jingles, and industrials, including My Name is Earl (NBC, 2006).
