Last Tuesday, February 20th, the Art Collections hosted a unique opening reception for our current student-curated exhibit, Interplay: Music and the Escalette Collection.

This exciting exhibition is a collaboration between the Escalette Collection and the Honors Program, and is part of Chapman University’s Interplay partnership with the Pacific Symphony. Students in Professor Susan Key’s Honors class “Sound and Spirit” selected twelve pieces from the University’s Escalette Collection and then explored the piece’s themes of spirituality alongside musical selections that expressed similar spiritual qualities. The artworks on display are accompanied by personal reflections from the students about the interplay they discovered between art forms. Also available is a Spotify playlist, “Sound and Spirit,” that includes all musical pieces paired with the artworks on display. The playlist can be listened to using a free Spotify account, and is also available on-site at an iPad kiosk.

Students Ben Bond, Cailin Grantham, and Cala Gin discuss the exhibition with Art Collections Director Lindsay Shen and Professor Susan Key.

At our opening reception, these ideas of spirituality, music, and art were discussed during a panel discussion that featured students Kaitlyn Abdo, Ben Bond, Cala Gin, and Caillin Grantham, as well as professor Susan Key and Art Collections Director Lindsay Shen. In between discussions and personal reflections, guests enjoyed musical accompaniment by Pacific Symphony musicians Cynthia Ellis on flute and Cristina Montes Mateo on harp. The duo performed two pieces: The Fog is Lifting, op. 41 by Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) and Suite en Duo by Jean Cras (1879-1932).

The panelists listen as flutist Cynthia Ellis and harpist Cristina Montes-Mateo perform.

Interplay: Music and the Escalette Collection is on view through July 13, 2018 at the Henley Galleria in Argyros Forum. For a free exhibition catalog, stop by the Art Collections Office at Moulton Hall 158, located in the building courtyard across from the new mural.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by The Escalette Permanent Collection of Art, the Chapman University Honors Program, and the Art Department. This exhibition is part of Chapman University’s Interplay partnership with the Pacific Symphony. Featured image: John Divola, A-Cyclone. Dye transfer photograph, 1987. Gift of Taco Bell. Escalette Collection of Art, 2010.2.3