Events
Exhibition: Glass Heart
Exhibition: Glass Heart (bells for Sylvia Plath)
Saturday, May 4, 2013 - 11:00am
Jenny Olivia Johnson, Assistant Professor of Music Composition and
Theory, debuts a Davis Museum commission, Glass Heart (bells for Sylvia Plath)
. Johnson's work is linked to synaesthetic experiences, in which certain sounds
evoke particular colors in the mind. Inspired both by Sol LeWitt's 1991 series
of etchings, All Combinations of Red, Yellow, and Blue, with Scribbles, and the poetry
of Sylvia Plath, Johnson has created an interactive musical instrument that will
share the gallery space with LeWitt's prints. The instrument consists of seven
glass bell jars fitted with microphones and lights. A touch triggers a sound
sample of a new composition written by Johnson and featuring Plath's poetry,
and causes the lights of the glass hearts to dance to the sound. Johnson's
work, a daring foray into the potential of intersecting emotional undertones
among distinct pieces of literature, music, and visual art, is linked to synesthetic
experiences, in which certain sounds evoke particular colors in the mind.
The exhibition is curated by Elaine Mehalakes, Kemper Curator of Academic
Programs.
Glass Heart (bells for Sylvia Plath) is supported by The Mary Tebbetts Wolfe '54
Program Fund.
