Isaac Howard and Professor Peter Everett, Visual Arts

I sometimes fall into patterns where I continue to make art even though I’m not really interested in what I’m doing, simply going through the motions of art making. I generally find my way out of these slumps when I re-examine what is important to me, what my curiosities are, and what simply sounds fun to do. The ORCA grant I received allowed me to begin exploring the relationship between art, space, and sound. These dimensions are an area in art that I have always been passionate about. Working on this project has given me a new direction for my art.

In my original proposition, titled Analog, I wanted to use analog music recordings as an additional medium to give context to a series of drawings. The drawings would be of friends in lazy or daydreamy states, and each drawing would contain a track of music that would be accessible through headphones. As I worked on this project, I noticed various factors that didn’t contribute to the potential of this work. I took some liberty to work within the purpose of proposal, but change those elements that would limit the overall effect of the exhibit. I found that the music that I began making had an ambient feel to it that, when played out loud, created its own environment. For this reason I decided to have the music played through a PA system within the venue space. I thought this decision would intensify the dreamlike, floating nature of the figures. The sound now serves as a literal space, which the figures occupy.

I have completed eight drawings with average dimensions of 44″x 30″ and have composed seven tracks of music to be played with the drawings. The only other change from the proposal was the proposed title and the method of recording. Instead of using analog tape recorders, I used a computer with an analogue to digital converter. The music is recorded through a microphone analogously and then converted to digital information. This type of recording allows each track to sound clearer than analog, which compresses the sound when recording multiple tracks. This feature was important to me because each song had many tracks that were layered on top of each other, but sound fidelity wasn’t lost.

Working on this project was revelatory to me. It has fueled my interest in music composition and excited my imagination in the possibilities of connecting the visual with sonic world. I have not yet determined where to show the entire show, but I am looking in to the possible venues. Overall this project has increased my awareness of the importance to committing myself to a series of work and has helped me become a more dedicated artist.