South Carolina Artist Collaborates With Colorado Music Group To Create “Sonic Images.”

The water decides what is consequential. I reply with feeble attempts to control the humidity in my space, the temperature, to add water where needed, But in the end, we don’t decide the outcome. And that is perhaps the most miraculous part of the watercolor medium. It is alive, unpredictable, and occasionally precarious.

This painting is part of a collaboration with Nebula Ensemble, an award winning experimental music group in Colorado. The ensemble director paired me with composer, classical guitarist, vocalist, and singer-songwriter Sarah Perske. We met over zoom and discussed the creative processes.

Sarah suggested that we might start the work together with a “sound sketch.” I created a rough beginning in pale blue. The watercolor art took shape in subsequent layers, responding to Sarah’s musical replies. We passed musical sketches and watercolor sketches over Dropbox folders, and I recorded each painting session as the art took shape.

Sarah’s work aims to expand the boundaries of music-making through the integration of performance art and cross-disciplinary collaboration. She recalls: “As I wrote the music, I tried to match my composing process to Jamie’s watercolor process: allowing “accidents” to re-shape the direction of the work, and using improvisation to generate much of the musical material. The end result is a work that comments on the nature of the creative process while inviting the audience to participate in that experience.”