Our February event – offered free to all in the Westfield community – delivered a beautiful mix of different forms of artistic expression as we explored the relationship between visual and musical art.
Dr. Thomson lecturing on Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition |
Our dynamic guest presenter, Dr. Barbara Thomson, led us through an afternoon that alternated seamlessly between lecture, live piano, recorded musical selections, projected slides of paintings, an organ performance…and finally a guided art-making experience that put our new knowledge to use.
WAA members & guests listen to Gunther Schuller’s Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee |
Dr. Thompson supported her discussion of the difference between Baroque and Romantic musical structures with notes both on paper AND on the piano. That was a terrible pun, wasn’t it? |
Following a short walk to the church’s sanctuary to hear Dr. Thomson perform Bach on the organ, many members stayed on to put their new learnings to use. Executive Board member Paul Federico led the group in creating images of musical instruments while listening to a range of diverse recorded musical selections. As anticipated, the music had a major impact on the resulting artistic compositions.
This unique presentation was a long time in the making, and we are grateful to the Westfield Foundation for providing the generous grant that made this presentation – and the use of this exceptional facility – possible.
We thank Dr. Thompson, the First Congregational Church of Westfield, and the Westfield Foundation for a wonderful afternoon of artistic education & exploration.
In this second installment of our Making Connections series, we will take a look at Art & Music with accomplished lecturer, concert organist, & musical director Dr. Barbara Thomson, of Mountainside.
It’s that time of year again…
Time to look back on the year behind, and ahead to the next, and celebrate the seasons with our members, patrons and friends both new & old.
As always, we will meet at Limani Grill (our favorite restaurant in Westfield!), where we have a special pre-fix dinner and a block of tables reserved. For information about the delicious $32 menu and to make a reservation, please contact our board member Avi at avikiriakatis@gmail.com
Come celebrate with us!