February Recap: Art & Music

Our February event - offered free to all in the Westfield community - delivered a beautiful mix of different forms of artistic expression as we explored the relationship between visual and musical art.

Dr. Thomson lecturing on Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

Our dynamic guest presenter, Dr. Barbara Thomson, led us through an afternoon that alternated seamlessly between lecture, live piano, recorded musical selections, projected slides of paintings, an organ performance...and finally a guided art-making experience that put our new knowledge to use.

 WAA members & guests listen to Gunther Schuller's Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee

We chose to host this special event in Patton Hall at the First Congregational Church in Westfield because the facility provides easy access to a grand piano, an organ, and space to create art.

Dr. Thompson supported her discussion of the difference between Baroque and Romantic musical
structures with notes both on paper AND on the piano. That was a terrible pun, wasn't it?

   

Following a short walk to the church's sanctuary to hear Dr. Thomson perform Bach on the organ, many members stayed on to put their new learnings to use. Executive Board member Paul Federico led the group in creating images of musical instruments while listening to a range of diverse recorded musical selections. As anticipated, the music had a major impact on the resulting artistic compositions.

This unique presentation was a long time in the making, and we are grateful to the Westfield Foundation for providing the generous grant that made this presentation - and the use of this exceptional facility - possible.

We thank Dr. Thompson, the First Congregational Church of Westfield, and the Westfield Foundation for a wonderful afternoon of artistic education & exploration.