Shared Sensibilities
THE
POWER OF MUSIC ROLLS ON
by
Taryn Plumb
Black ink dances up and down, left and right, intertwining in loops, ridges, curlicues, arcs, waves and pirouettes. Dark solitary streaks bob frenetically or lackadaisically and flatten out. Clusters of lines bunch tight together and then release in varied contours.
Interspersed
between them, following their own systematic patterns, are
punched-out holes, rectangular voids of space: short… short…
short… pause… long… long… pause. Snippets of verse also
accompany at random, beginning, ending and drifting off in
mid-thought.
“…had
our share, we’ve known the meaning of sorrow, blossoms of…”
“…reason,
Jeannine, I dream of lilac time, your eyes the beam…”
Billowing
out more than 20 feet, the roughly foot-wide scroll, “Dream in
Lilac Time” by Lewiston artist Gail Skudera, is a physical
manifestation of lyric and melody. On display at the Bates Mills
complex in Lewiston through October 30, it is one of more than two
dozen works that interpret, manipulate and alter vintage rolls from
self-playing pianos.
As
part of “The Piano Roll Project: Shared Sensibilities,” 30
artists painted, drew, wove, sewed, wrote, cut, tore and incorporated
collage and repetition as a means to meld abstract and geometric
patterns, pastoral scenes and contemporary themes with the enduring
power of music. Crafted of continuous rolls of perforated paper, a
few measuring as long as 40 feet, they are spread throughout the
second floor of the 19th century Bates Mill Complex. Some entwine
multiple supportive posts in the rehabbed industrial space; others
span their full length along walls and beams; a few drape and dangle
from the rustic ceiling.
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