Tag: ART

S_V_H Shenandoah image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
This image shows the final canvas background and the layout of the flow of the musical notes.

This image is to test to see that all the music will fit in the space of this background. What I expected fits and the spilling over of the music is part of the design. Different from the first image, the two sections of this artwork are now offset. The background shape is typical of my later works, minus the Amazon canvas print. I would like to see less of this type of background, but I have lots of extra canvases to use up, and they offer a firm backside for these artworks in order to store them upright. Also, the length of this final artwork should be under five feet. This size is a lot easier to travel with, and a good size for some upcoming shows where large works are unnecessary.

Next up is the pretty and ascetically pleasing painterly part. I am going to take the bluish colors from the commercial Van Gogh print Almond Blossom Tree, and create a cover version of the Van Gogh painting out of the three primed canvases. Although the Amazon print of the Almond Blossom 1890 is darker than the online image from the Van Gogh Museum, it has more contrast. Being a photographer, good contrast appeals to me. Even the online image from the Van Gogh Museum would certainly not match the actual artwork seen in person.

Here is a version of this traditional folk song by the United States Air Force Band:

This song’s attraction to me is its harmony and the reflective mood of the music, and not the words. In fact, I made up my own words to go with my cover music. How I will use them, or not, in this artwork is still unclear to me.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Shenandoah

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
This first image is the layout for the music box Shenandoah.. In the lower middle is an Amazon purchased print, 16 by 24 inches. This is the second in a three artwork series featuring a commercial reproduction of a Vincent Van Gogh print. Why am I doing this? That is another story. On both sides of the print are the speaker boxes. The larger top canvas, I will probably paint a cover of the Van Gogh print.

From early January 2006 to today, March 2023, all my music artworks have been personnel. Everyone of them represents an extension of who I am. I share this understanding with all the other music lovers who cherish a deeply held secret that wraps around them everywhere, everyhow, and every meaning of why, their music.

Shenandoah is a traditional folk song dating from the early 1800s. Here is the reason, or actually here is the sound, of an emotionally moving rhythm, a scrupulous harmony, and a nostalgic melody, that even without the words or ornamentation, ozes to the surface the deepest, most hidden emotions. Few to no songs written today come close. Shenandoah is in the elite class of great American songs.

Shenandoah – United States Air Force Band

Here is the actual version of Shenandoah that first caught my attention. Where the Air Force band vocal version is the best I have heard, here is the best instrumental of Shenandoah.

I started developing the cover music for this music box on March 10th using the notation software Notion 6. When the artwork is finished, I will then transfer this draft to the software, Studio One, to complete the final audio. Since this music is out of copyright, here is the entire draft music box music for Shenandoah.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Everglow Final Image and Music

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
Everglow ≈ L63.5″ x L43″ x D9″ Streched canvas, wood, metal, commercal prints,

The Everglow project started on January 29th with the composing of the cover music. It was finished on March 6th when signed. Then on the evening of March 7th at the Chippewa Vallery Museum (CVM), I did a public art presentation about Everglow to a not so full attendance of 5 paying people. Another artist and friend, Jeff Nelson, and our wives, were also presented. This art talk coincided with a tour of our group, EmptyWallsArt’s, currently on exhibit in their main gallery.

Part of my 9 page 25 minutes plus performance was my definition of what is art. Here is that description along with the lead up.

“Often over the years, I have read, searched, and found many legitimate meanings for “what is art?” But none of them felt definitive and easy to remember.
That changed in a serendipity moment.  ChatGPT is a new search engine that instead of giving links to different solutions, ChatGPT answers a search with words. I thought I would give it a test. Into its search box I typed this question: Is there a word to describe a word that has many different meanings?
The quick answer from ChatGPT was this: Yes, the word you are looking for is “Pull lis sa mus” A polysemous word is a word that has multiple meanings or senses. For example, the word “bank” can refer to a financial institution, a sloping landform near a body of water, or the act of tilting to one side.
Wow, I thought. That word describes the word Art. That lead to an awakening and my own memorable ever evolving definitive meaning of what is art versus what is craft. The current version of Scott’s definitive answer to What is Art is dated March 7th, 2023.
All art is craft
Not all craft is art.
The difference is,
 art was and always will be
an ever open revolving door
of perception.
While Craft is an
aesthetically pleasing product.“

(I always knew that putting what I do down in words was always worth the effort. That means the time spent putting together my presentation at CVM would enhance this arts documentation. That is why when a new thought of what else I should have said, or better clarified at the public reading, pops into my head, I have added a supplement to that presentation. Obvious everything is subject to be rewritten. These additional comments follow directly after my art definition.)

The question then becomes how to tell the difference. That is subjective, of course, for in my definition of What is Art I summarized it with one word ‘perception.”  To clarify  here are more words on the subject of What is Art. All creative people that first express their talents are creating art and therefore truly are artist. It is only later that as their skills develop and they realize that what they have created can now be sold for money, that is when part, or all their creatively, becomes transformed into creating a product to meet the demand. If the main focus of the artist becomes, what do I need to produce that people will buy, they and their art then becomes a product and therefore craft. Nothing wrong with craft. For aesthetically pleasing products sell at prices comparable to art. But the creator and their product no longer can be defined as Artist and Art.…………………………..(to be continued)

This YouTube video offers unedited commentary on the Artwork Everglow. The Music Box cover plays at 5:04.

My final thoughts on this project starts with I like the size of this artwork. I can remove the two speaker boxes and therefore easily travel with the artwork in our SUV, a Toyota RAV 4. I also like adding the two Amazon prints to the artwork. The biggest surprise was how lively my color looked on my two versions of those two Van Gogh prints. On their own I thought the prints were fine, but now being a part of the artwork, they look kinda dull. I like the movement of this artwork’s notation flow from behind the canvas to 9 inches out from the wall. Finally, I like my musical composition. I am getting better with the arrangement, mixing and the sound, which points me in the right direction.

Scott Von Holzen