“Music and art are the guiding lights of the world.” – Pablo Picasso
Art is the language that gives voice to the feelings and emotions that seem otherwise impossible to articulate. Some artists will take a chisel to stone or a pen to paper or a chord to keys. Some will even mix mediums and entire art forms…like painting and music.
Stuart Yankell, Bruce Marion and Matt Sievers are a few such artists who’ve found a special harmony between art and music.
Bruce is a pianist and painter, but when he’s making art, he is the conductor. “When you’re creating a painting, it’s a lot like conducting an orchestra where you’re balancing the levels of instruments so everything works in harmony,” he said
Whether painting his iconic joyful bears or an abstract painting, Bruce works to balance strokes, colors and textures to create a captivating symphony. He also brings his creative spirit to his classes where he invites students to experience the joy in art. Perhaps slightly untraditional, Bruce’s classes include dancing, humor, and of course, music.
Stuart grew up playing saxophone at Berkeley Jazz School. While he loved music, he chose to pursue painting for its versatility. He said, “I find painting to be a realm where I can bring joy into peoples’ lives.”
And that he does through the celebratory themes he paints including scenes of gathering, singing and dancing. While music is certainly a subject in Stuart’s painting, he is largely influenced by the process––almost like a composer building up to the joyous crescendo captured on canvas.
Matt learned to paint under the instruction of his father who is a painter and music lover (and long-time artist at Celebration of Fine Art, Gregory Sievers). While Matt was learning proper techniques for sketching and color theory, he was also being introduced to great musical influences like The Beatles and The Moody Blues whose albums would play in the background––also compliments of his father.
Consequently, music and art are intertwined for Matt and his vibrant landscape paintings carry strong elements of rock music. His paintings include many layers, starting with a steady base and followed by varied strokes and subtle unexpected details, much like the sounds of The Beatles tracks he still listens to while he paints.
“The little details are accented by the big bold marks. That’s where my music theory has really influenced my exploration of painting tools,” Matt said. “I don’t want it to all be one mark where it just seems like one guy with a guitar but instead all of these instruments working together for musical chaos that’s just magical.”
As these artists’ studios are filled with notes and melodies, they capture inspiration with their brushes and bridge both worlds to create, what Bruce would call “a visual symphony.”
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