This past Friday, I got to join Tali Farchi and Royce Deans for ArtPrize at Purple East in Grand Rapids, MI. It was a seriously cool evening with the opening reception happening on the main level and The Looking Box (Royce and Tali’s submission for the event) in full swing on the 2nd floor. What an honor it is to play and have these outstanding artists interpret my music in paint. It was also awesome to have my husband Joe involved. He’s becoming quite the percussionist and even played a bit of piano.
a little hammered dulcimer action
First of all – Tali is my favorite redheads and she even let me ‘try on’ her hair. (I’m almost convinced it’s how I should go. What do you think?) She’s here all the way from the Netherlands and is a superwoman as far as I am concerned. I commented to both Royce and Tali that what they are doing at ArtPrize is endurance painting. They are on their feet – creating new, finished paintings EACH day. A new painting for every performer that comes in… which is often in 90 minutes or less. And they look great! (both the paintings and the painters!) As a runner, this gives me pause. I’m kind of a wuss compared to them! But on to the show…
My opening songs were power-packed – looking free and expansive from Tali’s point of view as she began with broad yellow hues (see video). I watched and wondered what would happen when I hit the more introspective material later. It was fascinating to see how the change in tone refined the painting. The joy is an undercurrent. What do you see in her painting?
by Tali Farchi
Royce commented that there was so much going on in his head he just had to throw it down in order to sort it out later. (I said throw down, not throw up). So now that this is clear, I have to tell you that his comment is remarkable to me because that is very much analogous to how Stone Bright Solid came to be. If you’ve read Anatomy of an Album, you know there was a lot of sifting and sorting of very emotional themes in my life at the time. As you can see in this photo, it got sorted out for Royce! The light rectangles that worked their way into the painting later in the evening could even be seen as a nod to the magnetic lyrics and packaging of the CD. But that’s just me. What do you see?
by Royce Deans
If you are registered to vote for ArtPrize, show Tali and Royce some love! Vote Here!
FINALLY… a shoutout to Clayton Damren and his quirky entry “Beauty Pageant on Pluto”. I love these colorful light-up beauties and there is something so over-the-top about them that makes them endearing. AND Clayton and his wife are such sweet people! He was so matter-of-fact about the finds that went into the project – particularly the unique ”ladies” on these ladies. I told him that I’ll never be able to look at a candy dish the same again and that I’d probably be sending boxes of potential candidates I find at garage sales. Like my pose? I’m obviously trying to get nominated. VOTE for Clayton here!
Yeah – I’m a contender.
I caught some other entries I thought were cool and posted photos. Let me know what you think!