Music – Page 20 – aRT iN mUSIC

Our House 2nd images

Published on 01/27/2024 by Scott Von Holzen

*This is the second image of the music box project, Our House.*

The following is the background story of the song, Our House.

Here is the YouTube video of Graham Nash’s story of “Our House“

Wikipedia image of the house shared by Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell from 2022

Since I was lucky to find an image of the original “Our House.” I wondered what it looked like on Google maps. I found a area timeline from 2023 and although it was not apparent at first, there it finally was. This newer image from Google Maps shows major changes to the house. The address 8217 is visible on the fence to the right. My curiosity about this music does not differ from all the other artworks I have painted. If I am to spend weeks on each project, my understanding is to go beyond the music.

How I choose the colors is a process that varies between artworks. If possible, I look for videos on YouTube of the music being preform by the original artist and important covers. This includes the original artist’s official video and any live performances of the music. I also do an internet search to learn the history of the song, and any helpful details of its story, which, for this music, included the design of the original album release.

I must say the official video of Our House surprised and disappointed me. It is only a couple of years old. The original release of Our House was on the album Déjà vu, 1970. But it gave me the colors seen in the 2nd image of Our House, and therefore another connection between the music and the artwork.

*This is a still image from the official video I used to pick out the colors for this project, Our House.*

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H First Image Our House

Published on 01/26/2024 by Scott Von Holzen

Here is a different first image of the project Our House. This came about because I wanted a new look and saw the hanging wire as an opportunity. That coated steel wire is now part of the artwork. This will add to the industrial constructed look. *Leaning up against the wall is Our House’s companion artwork Just Breathe.*

Throughout Rembrandt painted on rectangle pieces of wood or stretched canvas, which in his time was common practice. In my time when I began turning sheet music into art, starting with rectangle canvases placed on their long side made sense. A rectangle shape for a musical artwork was a good fit, reminiscent of a sheet music staff. And that worked as long as I thought that painting sheet music was the plan. But sheet music only plays a small part in what is music, and to grow this art I needed to find a better representation of what I think of music as a multidimensional experience. That thinking lead me to the creation of this art’s first 3D artwork, Sweet Little Angel by B B King in 2015. Currently, adding LED lighting is opening up another musical dimension. That brings me to this to visual step forward with this first image of Our House.

My latest artworks I am working on are Our House, seen above, and a companion work, Just Breathe. Their widths are only twelve inches wide. The incentive to go smaller comes from the recent challenge of fitting the three artworks of the Beatles Triptych into our car to travel to the Chippewa Valley Museum Winter Art show. We got them all to fit and well cushioned from each other, but the stack was high enough and the trunk door, as well as our seats, curved enough that we lost length as the pile grew. We had to move the seats up. It was good that this show was local. I made a second trip with Zombie, the fourth work in the show. That got me thinking what if I have a distance drive for an exhibition and I needed to take as many works I could fit in the car in one trip? One solution is these two recent works. They will fit in the same space as one of the Beatles’ work.

This was the first moments when I realized it would be possible to power together a stereo system and an artwork’s LED lighting, using my standard green momentum button.

Just Breathe, sung by Eddie Vetter.

This is the draft music for the music box. Just Breathe.

Live version of Our House from a long time ago.

This is the setup draft for the music box, Our House.

Here is the exhibit information and a few pictures I took after hanging my work at the very large exhibition room provided for our group show, EmptyWallsArt at the Chippewa Valley Museum.

*Three group members: far left Ray Kaselau, then Aubrey Hogan, and on the far right Jeff nelson. Pedestal sculpture by Don Gaber*

*Group Member Terry Meyers metal sculpture. On the right side of the image a few of the very nice works by guest artist Susanna Gaunt*

*The Chippewa Valley Museum Winter Art Show featuring our group members from EmptyWallsArt and three guest artists*.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H The Beatles Triptych

Published on 01/12/202401/12/2024 by Scott Von Holzen

Golden Slumbers music box

Carry that Weight the music box

The End the music box

I signed Golden Slumbers on December 15th and the others on the 17th. The surprise is that I started and completed all three works in a month’s time. This entire process came into focus when I had in stock three 36 x 48 inch background canvases. The close musical relationship also helped. I could then use the same overall style and color plan tweaked for each artwork. By following the same designs of the previous 2023 artworks, I saved considerable time and effort. This then allowed me to build all three artworks together through each stage of production. The last motivation to complete these three works as quickly as possible was the drop off date of early January. Even though I completed all the preparations for this triptych for the upcoming exhibition, I have a surprise.

The curator, Christy from our group EmptyWallsArt, for the upcoming exhibition has limited wall space for eleven 3D artists that will be showing. Eight of the artists, including one new member, are from our group, EmptyWallsArt. The host then required the addition of invited artists. This was a hard search in this area for me and, Christy who signed up three guests artists for the show.

Christy also informed me she wants to ensure that “all the artists have a fair amount of room since the exhibition wall space was limited.” Right away after reading that, I knew my Beatles triptych would not fit: I requested wall space of a bare minimum of twenty-four feet. I then offered alternatives directing her to my portfolio on the EmptyWalls website. I did not want to break apart the Beatles triptych. Between us we chose three other artworks.

The JS Bach work chosen I understood because of its narrow width. The other two where each about the same size as the Beatles works, but they added variety in color matching well with the Bach piece. I did update the Bach the stereo system from a 2 watt to match the systems in the other artworks. But, again to my surprise the plan changed.

This happened when I emailed Christy and told her the reason I created The Beatles Triptych was to show them in the upcoming exhibition. I then suggested another option that I was good with. I would show only two works: the center piece of the Triptych, Carry that weight, and Zombie. Finally, I would display two small photos of the other two Beatles artwork, one on each side of Carry. Well, Christy responded she did not want any photographs of artworks. She then asked for the dimension of the Triptych and Zombie. Her response after receiving the information was she would find the space to display the three Beatles works together. She also added Zombie, but that work would be displayed in a different location in the gallery. At most I wanted the Triptych, but Christy went out of the way in found space for a four. I thanked her.

Scott Von Holzen

Scott Von Holzen

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