Shhhhhhhhh. We are listening to the sounds in an artwork. Pay attention to what you see because these clues will inform you of what you hear.
A CityScape is a good place to start listening. So many individuals and families live close together. This painting is busy but not too loud. The rooms, houses, and apartments are on top of each other but in a harmonious way. They seem to fit together, everything belongs in this cityscape. Rooftops, windows, fire escapes, and doors, you don’t need to see people hear conversations and imagine folks going about their business. At the same time, the colors and shapes in the artwork make me think that laughter is floating in and out of the homes. It looks like a close community, everything works together like a well-oiled machine, and since we are listening to the artwork, a well-composed musical score.
Let’s have a conversation. What music do you think fits with this artwork? Can you picture the CityScape as a cover to the album for the music you selected?
The sounds of a city have quite a different meaning in this artwork titled, Endurance. 26 homeless youth in Seattle were asked to stand on a street corner without speaking for an hour while the artist videotaped them. The street sounds must have felt extraordinarily loud and busy engulfing the youth vulnerably standing muted but not invisible. The sounds are familiar to the youth who participated in this project, they are on the streets themselves, homeless. But the silence during their hour must have felt extraordinary long, they had to have the strength and bravery to stand alone among the city sounds, moving past them, at times not noticing them at all.
Let’s have a conversation. Each youth who participated in this project dedicated their hour to the memory of a friend who died from life on the streets. What self-chatter or internal conversation do you think went on in the participant's head for that full hour? Where do they gain their resilience to endure their time on the corner, on the street?
This artwork looks like sound. The artist used oil and charcoal on paper to create the windy movements and lines that dart in and out of focus. She must have worked quickly with her materials, maybe whipping off sections and re-applying swift lines. It's not quite artwork.
Let’s have a conversation. Look again. Can you see two figures? One is floating sideways on the right side and the other is sort of standing with his head bent, and their heads are touching gently. Could the sounds be the personal energy between them?
Sounds are a bit tricky to figure out when someone is holding their breath. The sculpture of the girl shows her eyes tightly closed, her cheeks filled with air, and her lips pierced together. Nothing is getting in or out, at least for the moment. When you hold your breath, your ears kind of clog up, the pressure closes them slightly, sounds become muffled. Does she not want to hear something someone is saying to her?
Let’s have a conversation. A child sometimes holds their breath after a fight or when they have been scolded. Does this girl carved out of stoneware look upset? Is she trying to block out the sounds around her?
Sounds can be seasonal, like in this digital print. It looks quiet and still but if you have experienced fall weather you remember the sounds of leaves crunching beneath your feet. And the sounds of the leaves falling gently, fluttering to the ground. The artist filled the bench’s natural floor with the golden color of fall, and we, the viewer in turn fill the image with our memories of the season. Either walking in or raking leaves, it’s a sound that stays with us.
Let’s have a conversation. Our personal backgrounds always come with us while viewing art. From hearing the crunch of a leaf on a walk or feeling the crunch while jumping into a pile of raked leaves. Our memories fill in gaps where the artist leaves off.