Virtual Exhibitions

Orchestrating Art

How do music and visual art intertwine? What can be learned from these creative intersections? To further explore these questions, the 2022–2023 Spencer Museum graduate interns worked with local musicians to record musical pieces inspired by artwork on view in the Spencer’s reimagined collection galleries. Explore the galleries and listen to music inspired by Zen Temple of Techno, Donning Animal Skins and Braided Grass, Still Life with Violin and Engraving of Arcangelo Corelli, and more. You can also read short passages written by each musician discussing what drew them to their chosen artwork and how it inspired their compositions.

Items arranged on a table include a peeled lemon and an orange, a bowl of water, a gold-and-white goblet, a blue-and-white urn, a violin, and a portrait of a white man wearing a wig

Susan Miranda & Seolhee Snow Kim | The Wolves

Susan and I saw the two different wolves when we visited the Spencer Museum, and I was intrigued by the material and how they were placed. Even though they were two different artworks, I felt they shared a concept of illumination, and it inspired me to write music. I tried to possess the impression I had when I saw the sculptures and the impact that the material of those pieces might have on visitors in my composition.

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Susan Miranda, born 1985; Seolhee Snow Kim, born 1988

The wolves, 2023

Instruments in composition: Oboe and electronics

Konoike Tomoko
born 1960

獣の皮を被り 草の編みもの Donning Animal Skins and Braided Grass, 2011
Japan
mirror, wood, Styrofoam, aluminum
Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Art Acquisition Fund, 2017.0048.a,b

Long ago, the forested mountains of Japan teamed with wildlife such as the large Hokkaidō wolf and the smaller Honshū wolf. Both species of native Japanese wolves were exterminated in the 19th century when wolves became associated with rabies and Japan modernized their agricultural practices. This six-legged, mirror-encrusted sculpture revives the spirit and lore of the vanished Japanese wolf.

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A six-legged wolf covered in a mosaic of sparkling mirrors walks with its tail raised and mouth slightly open

Luis Alfonso Jimenez
1940–2006

Howl, 1986
United States
fiberglass, acrylic urethane
Museum purchase, 1993.0282

This fiberglass sculpture by Mexican-American artist Luis Jimenez evokes the lonely cry of a wolf howling at a full moon. Born in El Paso, Texas, Jimenez often used imagery like a howling wolf to explore the historic and contemporary collision of cultures along the border between the United States and Mexico. Howl resonates with the tensions between a humanized landscape and the wild.

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A skinny, red-eyed wolf with shiny fur howls as it sits on a glittery purple rock; its coat is brown, green, red, and blue 

Evelyn Rose Gurske | Kansas Flow

The piece I composed for this landscape was inspired by the freeness of water and the variety of emotion that is felt throughout the piece. I specifically chose this art because sunsets over a body of water have always been a safe space to feel multiple different feelings when other aspects of my life may not allow it.

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Evelyn Rose Gurske, born 2004

Kansas Flow, 2023

Instruments in composition: 12 string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, various electronics

Lisa Grossman
born 1967

Navigating, 2018
Lawrence, Kansas, United States
oil, canvas
Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund, 2018.0205

Lisa Grossman's smooth brushstrokes guide us along the meandering stillness of the Kansas River, as known as the Kaw, and into the orange hues of the horizon line at the top of the painting. Engulfed by the darkness of the land, the rays from the rising or setting sun glisten on the clear river water. Navigating offers a distinct aerial perspective of the river and is Grossman’s tribute to the land that sustains thousands of Kansans.

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A river illuminated by the orange hues of a horizon flows through the middle of a dark landscape

Carter Crosby | Time Tells Endless

I was really drawn to this art piece firstly because of its visually striking glow, but also because it is questioning our conception of time, which composers and musicians grapple with frequently. I wanted to create a piece with an organic feel that captured different perceptions of time based on some of the words inscribed on the clockface. While each gesture is only 5 seconds, using different musical techniques makes some of them seem longer or shorter to the listener.

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Carter Crosby, born 2001

Time Tells Endless, 2023

Instruments in composition: solo piano

Raqs Media Collective
Founded 1992

रात दिन दिन रात (Rāta-Dina, Dina- Rāta) Night & Day, Day & Night, 2015
India
stainless steel, acrylic
Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund, 2015.0148

Instead of numerals, this luminous clock measures the day with 24 words describing time and duration written in Devanāgarī script. From concepts of social change, such as “revolution” (krānti, hour 19), to the movement of celestial bodies with “eclipse” (grahaṇ, hour 7), the range of terms combined with the calm glow of the clock convey the variety of ways time can be represented and described.

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A circular, illuminated clockface with black hands features a ring of black Arabic numerals surrounded by 24 words in Devanāgarī script  

Grant Owen | Reverberation

When browsing, the painting immediately jumped out at me. I was drawn to all the little details within the island itself, and how remote it looked while still being magnificent. All the water around the island inspired the echoing effect and the artist's involvement with electronic music inspired me to also take a partially electronic approach. I wanted to create something that was ethereal and lively, because that was how the painting felt to me.

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Grant Owen, born 2003

Reverberation, 2023

Instruments in composition: Drumset, synthesizers, piano

Du Kun
born 1981

電音禪境 (Zen Temple of Techno), 2017
China
oil, canvas
Museum purchase: Gift of Hope and Marshall Talbot in memory of their daughter Tracy Lynn Mopper, 2017.0058

This painting depicts Julia Govor, a Russian-born electronic musician who got her start performing in a small military town in Abkhazia. Now based in New York City, she is an innovative force of electro and experimental techno music. Working in a series of large-scale portraits, artist Du Kun intentionally renders musicians as monumental structures based on East Asian religious temples. In doing so, he combines his deep love of contemporary music with his spiritual life.

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An intricate wooden temple shaped like a woman’s head is perched atop a rocky island nearly covered with green plants

Michael MacLaughlin | Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12, “La Folia”

This early-eighteenth century still life features a range of objects available to Dutch consumers thanks to colonialism and trade. Many of the items, including the violin and the image of Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713), an Italian violinist and composer, reflect access to (and, in some cases, exploitation of) cultures in the Mediterranean and beyond. To match this painting, Michael MacLaughlin, co-concertmaster of the Midwest Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City, plays an excerpt from Corelli’s Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12, “La Folia,” published in 1700. Corelli first presents a theme followed by a series of variations in a mix of tempos, meters, and articulations, requiring the violinist to use challenging techniques like string crossing and double stops. 

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Michael MacLaughlin , born 1989

Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12, “La Folia” by Arcangelo Corelli, 1700

Instruments in composition: violin

Dutch School

Still Life with Violin and Engraving of Arcangelo Corelli, circa 1730
Netherlands
oil, canvas
Museum purchase, 0000.0756

Light illuminates an arrangement of objects that includes a drinking cup fashioned from an ostrich egg, a blue and white porcelain jar, and imported citrus fruits on a silver tray. These luxury goods became available to Dutch middle- and upper-class consumers as a result of Dutch colonialism and trade power. While this painting celebrates the acquisition of these goods, it ignores the human suffering of the transatlantic slave trade that was intrinsically linked to their availability.

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Items arranged on a table include a peeled lemon and an orange, a bowl of water, a gold-and-white goblet, a blue-and-white urn, a violin, and a portrait of a white man wearing a wig
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