Primer, Pigment, and Saturation

I was in the M-A-C store (makeup, not computer, though I am an Apple gal to the “core”) the other day, and even though I had felt that morning I had put on “plenty” of makeup, the minute I walked into the store and saw how the salesgirls were madeup, I felt like I wasn’t wearing anything at all! It made me realize how many times they dip their brush into a pigment, into a color, and continue to apply. I have plenty of make-up at home, but I must continue to learn how to use it creatively! (And not look I walked out of “Jem and the Holograms.”). 

Granted, I think if I had their amount of makeup on, I’d feel like it was … time to apply for a “different” job (if you know what I mean …)

On a recent trip, my wonderful friend and traveling partner L.U. had introduced me to the magic of *primer.* I would have thought that it would make my face feel sticky, but if you buy the right kind, it’s such a luxurious feeling. 

I had forgotten that painters also need to “prime” the canvas before getting to work. It goes along with the idea that art making is not all about the actual brush “in the paint” or “on the canvas.” It’s also the set up, clean up, reflection, white space (in life), drafting, sketching, discarding, editing. And in this case, priming.

I captured this image while on a research project in Europe. There was a man “copying” a famous painting on the walls of the Louvre. Of course he was making his own art in the process.

Seeing any great works of art "in person” (this includes seeing a great live performance of any type - opera, theater, classical or jazz or anything, dance, etc.) is a profound encounter, one must prime ourselves for - like an Orthodox parishoner preparing for communion and worship. 

When “developing” photographs, saturation and hue are two important aspects. Because of my professional needs with Adobe Acrobat and InDesign for regular projects, I have no choice these days but to pay their monthly fee for the subscription. (It’s a business expense, and completely deductible off of a Schedule C). It’s been fun to get some pictures edited and chosen for projects, and also to play with the amount of color. Just a splash? Black-and-White? Self-selected editing of color? 

Or almost no editing at all - in “prime” form?

Preparation

I have thought so long that a piano should be, simultaneously, the substition and simulation of an entire orchestra. Organists might trump this in some ways, but pianists have a wide dynamic range through physical interaction with the keyboard. 

Twentieth-century composers became curious about color possibilities when a performer was asked to treat the strings with various things, therefore altering the sounds. John Cage asked performers to put nails, forks, tacks, felt, and various other objects in or on the strings. It would create colors closer to a gamelan, Indian drums, or an entire percussion section rather than a keyboard. 

Three of the pieces which I played recently in Germany called for "prepared piano." The composer will put some sort of key or legend in the music before the actual music begins. He or she will lay out a "map" of which notes to treat with which materials. One of the pieces called for some keys to be taped to the fallboard. Another piece asked for notes to be muted (and-or producing overtones) with some sort of putty. The putty in particular was easy because it was able to be removed quickly and re-used. 

I had not done a lot of music like this before initiating the "Albuquerque meets Darmstadt" project. Now, all of the sudden, I was immersed in the possibilities of color which the composers required. 

PHOTO: The inside of the piano while I was practicing "Pulstastung," a multi-movement work by my friend, UNM colleague, and amazing Darmstadt host, Dr. Karola Obermüller. 

Here is a further explanation from the "Prepared Piano" article on Wikipedia. Here is the link if you are interested - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prepared_piano

Although theoretically any object could be used to prepare a piano, in practical application preparation objects are usually expected to have certain characteristics:

• They are applied directly to the piano strings.
• They must fit in the desired location inside the piano.
• They (usually) should not move from their location during playing.
• They must be reversible (that is, when a properly prepared piano has been "unprepared", it should be impossible for anyone to tell that it had been ever been prepared; no permanent damage is done to the piano).

Additionally, most preparations will change the timbre of the string in such a way that the original pitch of the string will no longer be perceptible, though there are occasional exceptions to this.^[1]

Workshop

Zheng and I headed up to Santa Fe for my birthday a few weeks ago. Among the list of “immediate necessities” to see were Santa Fe Opera and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. 

Georgia O’Keeffe has been a fascinating artist to me for a long time. We studied her in high school, and I was interested in her flower paintings and “cow bones.” As an adult, I learned of her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, and therefore of his contribution to the photography and modern art world. 

I have long admired her independence, and her following her calling to explore the West, at a time when it was much more desolate and isolated than it is now. She pushed herself to try new things and to be “uncomfortable,” and definitely not follow the “normal expectations of a woman and housewife in the 1930s.” 

She walked miles a day, painting things that would have been considered “garish” or “not worthy of someone’s canvas.” She held her own with her headstrong husband, and invented modern American art in the process. 

I am constantly fascinated by how creative people work. What time are they the most creative? What do they need as “fuel” (food, drink), or supplies? Do they like clutter or do they need clean surfaces?

Georgia’s kitchen bookshelf and studio workshop are on display at the museum. Her artwork is also on constant rotation at the museum, which means that Zheng and I will have to go back and visit soon. 

PHOTOS: Her workshop and bookshelf!

 

The colors of "passage" ...

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation and hard work, learning from failure.” - Colin Powell

I am happy to report that I have passed my oral comprehensive exams. These happened at Eastman last week - I had a committee of four ‘doctors.' For the most part, it was a conversation about music. It encompassed score-identification (Scriabin solo piece), theoretical discussions, historical backgrounds, and pedagogical possibilities. 

While it was a rite of passage, it also felt like the beginning of a good-bye. This brought about, surprisingly, mixed emotions. The let-down, or the relief, after several months of intense preparation, was also very real. 

Two days after, I left Rochester, for my second journey back Stevens Point, Wisconsin. I'm here now for the final rehearsals and performances of "American Opera Triptych." 

This photo brings so many aspects together of what artists need, to prepare a performance, exam or opera. Everything needs different shapes, dimensions, sizes, and colors - just like the departments of an opera (direction, music, set, costumes, lights) or the facets of a complete artist (technique, sound, vision, communication, teaching, writing). The photo is from my bridal bouquet.

On being a Minority

Throughout my entire post-secondary education, and especially at Oberlin and Eastman, I've had many friends and colleagues from the Pacific Rim countries (mainly: China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) that have been co-enrolled with me.  I now know what it really feels like to be "minority," where you really are a stranger in a strange place.  And, I need to remember that Mandarin is *the* most spoken language in the world.  

Now, after being here for almost a month, I have an even deeper respect and appreciation for how they have navigated their own transitions, and how they have handled the travel back-and-forth on a student budget.  How they have handled the academic work at either Oberlin or Eastman (which is no joke for a native-English speaker!) is also even *more* admirable to me now that I've been here. 

This is the Chinese I know:

Thank you, Please, Hello, How are you, Panda Hat, receipt, sweetheart, I'm full, Fantastic, Yes, No, Square, Avenue, One, Two, Three, Wheat. 

Zheng has been pushing me to learn more Chinese, but when he says something, and I have to repeat it, it comes out in a way which is apparently hilarious.  

To the ears and mouth of a linguist, hearing Mandarin on the streets has been a beautiful inspiration.  Since China is the size of the US, and also has an ocean on one side of it, it faces similar linguistic-isolation issues that the US does.  Add to that the ten thousand characters needed to read a newspaper, four "tones" within the spoken language, and vastly different ways of reading (print looks very different from cursive), and you have a linguistic maelstrom that I now determined to conquer.  I hope to be returning to China sooner rather than later.

Ellen and I have been a "hit" here, I'm happy to report.  Our class at Renmin University this morning (http://english.ruc.edu.cn/en/), and our last one of the trip, was fun.  I also met two Eastman alumni who are working at this university full-time!  

Kunming, the largest city in the Yunnan province, also boasts about how many "minorities" live either within its city limits, or in a collective of representative "minority villages" just outside the city.  On invitation from Mari, we went and had a great time visiting various villages.  Each village had its own dress, architecture, food speciality, performance and religious traditions.  

The picture I'm attaching is a candid of two Miao women, in traditional dress.  It was an inspiration to see such color.