As a composer I love working with other artists. When I studied music at Chichester University, many years ago, my degree was not only in music, but in related arts. Therefore, I have always found it exciting to collaborate with other artists.
I met artist Tania Harris through my membership of the Matt Tommey ‘Created To Thrive‘ mentoring group. Tania is an amazing artist from Texas US and agreed to paint in response to my latest album ‘At The End of The World’ . Tania is an acrylic painter who loves to create from observing the beauty that surrounds her. She does abstract and representational art that is designed to speak to your soul. The Slide Show below illustrates her work created in response to my music.
Artist Tania Harris – Biography
I am an acrylic painter from Fort Worth, Texas, but I have been drawing, painting, and dancing as a way of expressing myself creatively for as long as I can remember. I obtained my B.A. in Art and Spanish from Greensboro College, in Greensboro, N.C. in 1999 but did not pursue art, or even identify myself as an artist, until joining Matt Tommey’s ‘Created to Thrive’ mentoring group three years ago.
I have been married for 18 years, have 3 lovely, sweet and energetic children. Even though life has taken me on lots of different paths, I have always been most comfortable with myself when I am creating. Visit Tania’s Facebook Page
The Colour of Music -by Artist Tania Harris
I believe music has colour. I recently collaborated with a fellow artist and musician, Paul Noble. Even though we live thousands of miles apart, God brought us together to collaborate through music and colour.
What is exciting for me, is that this collaboration of music and colour has been very different from how I usually create. I hear music in my head while I paint – even when none is playing! Music inspires me to paint. Music is essential in my creative process and often opens the way to understanding in ways nothing else does. It’s as if the music fuels and shifts the flow of the colour and the movement. It changes the atmosphere, which is why art and music are so important in releasing the kingdom of God into the world – especially in today’s cultural climate.
The Creative Process
To paint to Paul’s music I discovered a fresh approach which I found interesting, as I approached it with the mindset of tuning into the music. I aimed to plug into the flow of the music, to find what the music was saying and express it in such a way that is true and pure to the feeling, mood and color of the music. I really had to make a focused effort to tune out my own normal routine of creating and focus on the expression of the music and then interpret that into form and colour.
It’s a balance of tuning in and tuning out; flexing your creative muscles; a shrinking of your head and thoughts. It’s unique because of the nature of it, drawing from a place of trusting yourself and leaning into another person’s creative work of art. It is vulnerable, real, and sometimes revealing, as you are really creating with God and responding to another person’s art simultaneously.
How Music Evokes Emotion
Art and music have this ability to reach places in our souls easily. The beauty of the colours, shapes and sounds, evoke emotion and touch you in a way that bypasses words and thinking.
The harmony of music with art is extremely powerful, as they work together to convey a message without words. In the pieces I did, I felt that it needed to be abstract and even light in shape, so I could stay true to the very heartbeat of the music. I felt the softness of the notes and the strong places that were – to my mind – more clear in shape and colour.
Listen to a track from At The End of The World that inspired Tania or click on image to purchase album or button below.
The blue tunnel-like shape in my largest acrylic piece, repeated just like the chorus repeated. The way I would use my brush stroke mimicked the beat as I let myself intuitively follow the ups and downs of the notes. The dynamics of the swells of sound influenced my choice of color, stroke and shape. I could feel the breath between the notes, the pensive, wandering places. The light strokes and colours to me represent the breath and thoughtful places in the piece. There are many delicate, subtle, and yet bold places – just like within the music. Additionally, there are layers, even things that wouldn’t be noticed unless one is looking, listening carefully to the sounds and colours released through the art.
Conclusions
What else could we, as the body of Christ, accomplish if we were to work together and believe for greater things through our cooperation in our spheres of influence and creative abilities? The world would look different and we would reach more people and live more abundantly – as Christ intended. We have a tremendous opportunity to reach people through the vehicle of our art or creative abilities – and the time is now!
These are amazing! What a great collaboration. How beautiful is the connection between the music and the colors and brushstrokes! Both of you are so talented. I feel a peace and a lightness in my heart when I listen and look at these. There’s also a depth there, like being in the middle of a long but fruitful journey.