eQuilter Blog

Creativity is often interdisciplinary. While some try to keep different art forms separate and distinct, others are inspired by the possibilities of melding 2 or more art forms.

Humans naturally try to divide their world into polarized segments… light and dark… good and bad…art or craft…etc. It is how we try to simplify and understand complex situations.

Imagine the excitement when classical music and athletic but graceful dance were first combined. (Ballet) The multiple layers of artforms in Opera (vocal and instrumental music, acting, costumes & sets) allowed us to be submersed in an alternative reality, long before virtual reality was possible.

Our Boulder university is considering creating a new School of the Arts, combining theatre and dance, art and art history and film studies departments, plus staff from the CU Art Museum and Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

In yesterday’s local paper, it was reported that “….students are already thwarting departmental boundaries by blending all sorts of artistic disciplines into projects, degrees and performances.”

I like to mix up the creative inspiration and creative expression (Images In = Images Out) so they swirl together like a chocolate/vanilla ice cream cone.

When I look at things through a camera lens, or try to paint something with a brush and pigment, I experience the source in a new and different way. This week I was able to photograph our Boulder Philharmonic in concert, which was a fantastic experience. I have long been inspired by Max Oppenheimer’s giant painting at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna – of Gustav Mahler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. No online photo can do this piece justice, because it is HUGE, and the details get lost when it is shrunk down.

However the visual stimulation of my photo session, combined with the live music, and the memory of Oppenheimer’s painting, got my creative juices roaring this week.

How do you layer different creative inputs, and different artistic disciplines, to make something new?

I have to brag a little bit about our middle child Sam, who is 18 yrs old and graduating from high school next month. He plays saxophone in the jazz band at Boulder High, and applied to go to Music School at CU here in Boulder next year.

He auditioned for the CU Honor Band and got first chair. Then he auditioned for All State Band on a day he was sick with stomach flu, and got first chair, first alto sax.

Then he decided to audition for a merit scholarship to CU Music School, practiced 3 hours a day for months, and he just got the official letter offering him a full ride merit scholarship! Woo hoo! We are so proud of him!

Music runs in our family. Sophie plays violin, Mason plays sax too, Paul plays flute, and I am a cellist. Music scholarships run in the family too. I got a scholarship to CU Music School in the late 70s, before I went to Design School. (FIDM) Paul’s dad got a music scholarship with his trumpet, after his service in Europe during WWII. My mom plays piano, and her dad played saxophone in California dance bands during the 20s. (His mom was a California impressionist painter.) Our house is always full of music, and we look forward to even more music in the family now!

I don’t play professionally anymore, but I am on the Development Committee for the Boulder Philharmonic. (Fundraising group) Attending live music performances is one of the ways I keep the creative juices flowing, and another way to support the Arts in our community. I get some of my best ideas while listening to symphony concerts!

You may ask, how did I end up having a career as a musician, then an artist and designer? Nobody ever told me I couldn’t make a living as a creative person. Nobody told me to choose a more “practical” major in college. I am very lucky that I grew up in a creative family, and I pass on that same advice to my kids: Do what you love and see where it takes you. Paul’s mom was an expressionist painter, so he also grew up surrounded by color and creativity. We have fun sharing our mutual appreciation of art and design!