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Music as an Inspiration to Art

Rahdne Zola

Blog #17 of 19

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February 20th, 2015 - 08:35 PM

Music as an Inspiration to Art

Music has played an important role in my life, for nearly my entire life. As an energetically sensitive person, instrumentation, often more than lyrics, moves me on a deep, emotional level. Music also plays a vital role as a visual artist. I find that I am usually at my most artistically creative when I am channeling the energy of a musical piece. If I happen to “strike gold” with a piece/song/album, I will sometimes listen to it repeatedly during the creation phase until the piece of artwork is complete. During that process, the musical piece and artistic piece become forever fused. From that point forward, when I think of one (either the music or the visual artwork), I am reminded of the other, as they exist in symbiosis in my mind.

For me, music precipitates visual art. Artwork begins from a thread of a thought, feeling, or response to an event. If I find myself just pushing paint and scrambling clippings on the page, then I set it aside until the muse speaks to me. I have left pieces lie incomplete for weeks until I hear a particular musical piece. Then, as if that were the missing link that I needed to tie everything together, I know where I’m going with the artwork. This is what makes the process truly special for me, as the synergy between music, art, and spirit is sublime.

A recent example is a mixed media collage that I finished in December of 2014. I had some of the basic elements of the piece in place, but as a whole, the piece just wasn’t coming together. Then I heard the piece “Leaving the Darkness Behind” by Philip Wesley (do yourself the favor and go listen to it now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPh4rS-MJc – I particularly love the bridge that starts at 3.01), and from there all aspects of the artwork fell into place. When all was said and done, I was so moved by the musical composition that I gave my collage the same title.

Are you inspired by music when you create visual art? If so, what music inspires you? Do you have a go-to artist, album, or genre or are you inspired by different music for different pieces of art?

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Dianne Connolly

9 Years Ago

Kaitaia, No

Absolutely! I have a few favorites that I listen to but mostly something jazzy with an upbeat.