Summer Reflections

I’ve just returned from a rather pleasant trip back to my hometown of St. Ives, down in (thankfully this time anyway) sunny Cornwall. Having a day free from projects and other commitments, I decided to do something that I haven’t done for some time, namely, to visit an art gallery. As I spend most of my time dealing with, performing, or composing music, I often overlook how wonderful exposure to other art forms is, not just for personal enjoyment, but also for artistic inspiration.
Nestled amongst the houses and flats overlooking Porthmeor beach is the Tate Gallery. A somewhat strange place perhaps to expect a major art gallery, but considerably more aesthetically appealing than the dilapidated old gasworks that could be found on the site during my childhood years!
The current exhibition featured is: International Exchanges: Modern Art and St Ives 1915 – 1965, and features works by Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Alfred Wallis, Bernard Leach, Jackson Pollock and David Hockney, amongst others. It was an enjoyable morning and whilst I can’t admit to admiring everything I saw, several works really stood out to me, all were quite distinctly different pieces but each really resonated with me, affecting how I might approach work of my own in the medium of music and sound.
This is the really wonderful thing about creativity, absolutely anything can potentially be a stimulant to your own imagination, and exploring the works of artists of other disciplines is a very fruitful and refreshing change for me. I suppose we must all pause and reflect periodically, making time to rest and experience others’ art.
For me, the highlight of the visit was seeing the sculptures against the backdrop of the main curved windows overlooking the beach, as in the photo above. Whilst being secondary to the actual aesthetic of the sculpture, I really feel that the combination of a piece of art against the backdrop of ‘nature’s art’ was a very powerful inspiration. Translating the idea to music and sound, it has guided me to experiment more with combining the sounds of the natural world with more traditional forms of composition, in specifically fixed and mixed media projects. A reminder, if you will, that art is all around us to be explored and combined!
Anyway, over to you: What exciting exhibitions or events would you recommend visiting this summer in your own, or other, disciplines? What are you looking forward to exploring?

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