A little background...Meet the Pianists

Documentation of a journey into learning how to listen.... For this project, I met with 9 Pianists in New York and drew the distance between their hands as they played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Each positive line represents one of the pianists. There are Ten lines (one being my line, created by listening to a recording by ear) that make up the landscape of the mural. At each meeting, I set up a space where I could see the pianist's hands and I drew (like a blind contour) onto roll paper. In preparation, I drew staff lines on the paper so that the lines could show how they moved up and down along the keys.

Each meeting started with a presentation of my work and the journey that lead me into their homes and studios. I then listened to the stories of these musicians journey's. I am so grateful to have been given a chance to work with such talented and spirited individuals. I hope that our collaboration continues.

The Moonlight drawings were photographed and uploaded into Illustrator where I colored them and converted them into one continuous line. I then layered the lines to create the composition and added the negative space between the lines. The image was printed on 20 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11" paper. On the 130' wall, we measured out 20 sections and made 12" horizontal separations. I then divided each section (about 6 1/2') into 4 and began the upscale of the lines. It was a surprising feeling to have a free intuition to the way the lines flowed...I know these lines!

Some of the pianist came out to paint their line on the mural. I loved this full circle journey!

Melina Faylor

Isaac Wynn