Catherine Parker (1926-2012)

During the late 1990s, Catherine Parker painted landscapes and abstractions that responded to music she found compelling. Contemporary British composer John Tavener creates music that is religiously inspired but can be perceived as spiritual in general terms. He incorporates choral with orchestral sections that sound ancient and infinite, the kind of music associated with Eastern contemplation and the cosmos. The structure of his composition, Wake Up…And Die, is a palindrome to convey the concept that life and death are metaphysically synonymous; one leads back to the other and the cycle begins again. [“Palindrome” is defined as a word, line, or verse that can be read the same backward as forward. The most famous example is the phrase, “Madam, I’m Adam.” Visual palindromes are articulated in art through symmetry, repetition or mirroring.] Parker’s Response to Tavener (Wake Up…And Die) is a stirring painting. Quivering rhythms illuminate the left half of the composition, while an immeasurable unknown balances the right. She was riveted by the cello passage that quickly descends a chromatic scale in a repeated motif that penetrates bone deep. --Nancy Weekly