Late in 2016, violist Han Dewan invited me to join five other artists illustrating the score of the Viola Sonata of György Ligeti. Han texted me a very quotable tidbit the other day, describing the piece:

"I love the sixth movement especially. There's something ancient about the sound even though it's unmistakably new."

Han is a violist currently completing her undergraduate degree at the Blair School of Music in Vanderbilt University. This project contributed to her senior viola degree recital, to be performed on January 29, 2017. A livestream is available here. [EDIT: The panels will be live-projected onto a screen behind Han as she plays.]

I began experimenting on the first page, overlaying motif upon motif. Really, I was assembling my palette of elements. Lots of ideas...not nearly enough time and space to give each one room to grow. These were the tryouts. (College rewards the clever, so, since I'm a tried-and-true Vandy student, I began with self-irony. Pencil sketching just lends itself to wryness...)

Right at the outset, the project took a standstill. By testing out my range of possibilities, I had overcrowded the first page. I couldn't develop all these things at once, given my timeframe and the paper's physical real estate.

Plus, I wanted to turn right away from irony and cleverness. I'd rather be true to Ligeti's piece, Han's work, and the circumstances of this project's creation. A common thread in progressive spheres is "art with a conscience", so, paying my dues to modernist ethics, I started razoring away the dis-ingenuous-ness.

Page 2: I forbade myself from breaking the fourth wall. But the Blair School of Music peered in everywhere. Wall sconces and viol shapes and references to Musicianship I.

Those green and pink figures will soon take on a representative life of their own, deputizing for the music.

The third page introduced the second--and last--developing motif. My pencil technique is pretty limited, and plants are cute, small, and self-contained. They also tell a story. (See previous post "Experimenting with Gravity" for my best example of plant modeling.)

So, just for the analyzers, our cast of characters is this:

Color-pencil abstractions, green and pink figures busily "translating" the piece in real-time. This element is reactive--I let the symbols respond to the music's behavior. The language changes with every panel (monograms, voice-lead-ropes, flatlines, and others).
Plant and seed patterns, sketched in pencil and pen/ink, a narrative. This element is active--it imposes a story upon the music. The language stays the same.

Part 2 to be published on Sunday, Jan 29.