Vero Beach High School student Elisha McKenzie was so moved by British abstract painter Christopher Le Brun’s music-inspired artworks on display this season at Windsor that he composed his own musical interpretation. Six weeks later, at the exhibit’s closing reception, he was invited back to perform his piece for a gallery full of art patrons.
McKenzie, 18, an aspiring artist who plays multiple instruments and hopes to attend Savannah College of Art and Design, visited Le Brun’s exhibit, Composer, in late March when the Gallery at Windsor invited the monthly salon of Vero artist Barry Shapiro. Shapiro recently resumed his popular salons that began when he owned the since-closed Lighthouse gallery downtown.
Shapiro had first met McKenzie two years ago when he interviewed the student for a video for the Youth Guidance program. The two crossed paths again while Shapiro was painting a mural downtown and McKenzie offered to help.
“Elisha’s interest was sparked by the artist’s musical connection,” says gallery manager Laura Kelley, who says the student’s inspiration to compose is part of a “ripple effect” that comes “any time we can bring students here.”
“This is a visual show but it has a musical influence,” says Shapiro. “It really impacted Elisha.”
Le Brun’s exhibit linked art and music by showing that, as the accompanying literature explained, “under the hand of the painter and composer the raw material of noise becomes sound, visual chaos becomes form, and matter aspires to art and music.”
That message came through loudly for McKenzie. “For me art is just visual music,” says the high school junior, who hopes to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and major in digital art and design with a minor in painting.
Hearing that in addition to painting and drawing, McKenzie played guitar, keyboard, violin and harmonica, Kelley saw an opportunity to open the studio again for an evening of experiential arts.
At that second event, McKenzie returned with two fellow students for a private tour and jam session. Gallery docent Pamela Carner shared Le Brun’s background and discussed the collection, and afterwards, students took self-guided audio tours, watched videos and browsed through an illustrated catalog.
The students saw the connection between painting and music and immediately began to discuss what key each painting would look like if colors were musical notes, and each brush stroke was a musical arrangement of color and texture.
“The name of this exhibition is Composer, and it’s the link the artist sees between music and art. Just like a musician uses notes in a composition and musical instruments in an orchestra, they complement each other. Le Brun is composing on canvas with layers of color,” explained Carner during the student tour.
Discussing the paintings, “Bax,” “Middle C” and “Note,” the students made comments about the “bright compositions,” “major key” and “upbeat tempo” while debating what notes the colors represent.
“Le Brun inspires me. It’s not chaotic; the abstract part of it is actually really profound,” says McKenzie. “Like in his ‘Middle C’ painting; the concept of the red is the centerpiece of the painting which is also the centerpiece of the piano. It draws in much of the same tension.”
After viewing the art, the students spent some time improvising on their instruments – violins and guitar – to get a feel for what they were seeing. “It’s really nice for the young people to improvise or respond. Christopher Le Brun talks much about the sound of looking, and I think that’s pretty profound,” says Kelley.
During the closing party for Le Brun’s exhibit, McKenzie played original piano and guitar music inspired by Le Brun’s work to a gallery filled with an eclectic group of artists and art patrons. While Le Brun transcended the canvas and allowed the music to take on color and shape, McKenzie did the inverse, as his music took on the hues of Le Brun’s compositions – comparing, for example, the colors red and orange to the musical notes C major and A minor.
Local sculptor Cathy Ferrell was in the audience when McKenzie played; she had attended the artist salon with McKenzie and was so impressed that she returned for his performance. “What you have here is genius. He’s beyond anything that I’ve ever seen and to have the opportunity to grow and learn like this is incredible.”
“Each season we look forward to opportunities to introduce young people to art,” says Kelley, who took over as gallery manager at Windsor last year. Kelley, who has been involved in art education for two decades, believes exposure to the arts is imperative to the development of future artists and patrons. Last year, students from Saint Edward’s School and Indian River Charter High School visited the gallery and sketched and wrote about their reactions to the art.
The Gallery at Windsor will reopen in September with a new exhibition.
