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Synesthesia: Art and the Mind
McMaster Museum of Art
September 18 – December 20, 2008
This exhibition featuring the art of known synesthetes, David Hockney, Joan
Mitchell, Marcia Smilack, and Carol Steen, and works by artists thought to
be synesthetic including Charles Burchfield, Tom Thomson, Wassily Kandinsky,
and Vincent van Gogh, was co-curated by Carol Steen, artist, New York City;
and Greta Berman, Professor of Art History, The Juilliard School, New York
City. This show was made possible by Carol Podedworny, director, McMaster
Museum of Art, and Dr. Daphne Maurer of the Department of Psychology,
Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University.The exhibition catalog, Synesthesia: Art and the Mind can be ordered from ABC Art Book Canada. $20.00, 62 pages, 11 color reproductions.
http://www.abcartbookscanada.com/mcmaster.html
Amy Ione and Ellen Levy have written reviews for Leonardo, The MIT Press, about the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind exhibition held at the McMaster Museum of Art, and the Invitational Workshop held on September 25, 2008 in conjunction with the show. The workshop participants included artists, art historians, art professors, scientists, and synesthetes.
Amy Ione's reviews of Synesthesia: Art and the Mind at the McMaster Museum of Art can be found at:
http://leonardo.info/reviews/nov2008/ione_exhibition.html
Synesthesia: Art and the Mind, exhibition at McMaster Museum of Art.
Carol Steen images courtesy Carol Steen, © 2008, shown with permission. van Gogh image, courtesy McMaster Museum © 2008, shown with permission. Charles Burchfield images from the Estate of Charles Burchfield courtesy D.C. Moore Gallery, NYC, © 2008, shown with permission. Photo credit Jennifer Pettiplace.
Invitational Workshop Panel for the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind exhibition at the McMaster Museum of Art. From left: Greta Berman, co-curator; Carol Steen, co-curator; Daphne Maurer, Conference Host; Carol Podedworny, director McMaster Museum.
Hockney images courtesy David Hockney: The Garden from L'Enfant et les Sortileges, 1980; Act II, Scene VIIA, Trial by Fire from Magic Flute, 1977; Act II, Scene III; A Moonlit Garden, from Magic Flute, 1977; © 2008 David Hockney, shown with permission. Kandinsky image, courtesy McMaster Museum © 2008, shown with permission. Photo credit Carter Jones.
Ellen Levy's commentary on the Invitational Workshop at the McMaster Museum of Art can be found at:
http://leonardo.info/reviews/nov2008/levy_invitational.html
Participants at the Synesthesia: Art and the Mind Invitational Workshop. Front row, Charles Maurer and David Shore
Invitational Workshop participants. From left, Patricia Albers, Greta Berman, Carol Steen, and Marcia Smilack.
McMaster Museum of Art
Concert at Church
September 26, 2008. The lecture A Colourful Appetite for Music: How the Brain Connects Music to Colour and Pleasure by Steven Brown and Daphne Maurer and illustrated by live performers, was presented at the Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario.
Central Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Central Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Saturday, September 26th evening presentation.
Sean Day performing his original compositions following the Banquet Dinner.
Current Books
Cretien van Campen
The Hidden Sense Synesthesia in Art and Science is now available.
For more information please go to the MIT Press website.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11303
Author website: http://www.synesthesie.nl/
On February 2, 2008 PRI's Studio360 broadcast a radio program on synesthesia entitled, "Synesthesia for the Rest of Us". The program was hosted by Kurt Andersen and created by producer Michael May. V.S. Ramachandran, Richard Cytowic, Debra Ginsberg and Carol Steen were featured.
Synesthesia for the Rest of Us
Synesthesia causes people to hear music – or see letters or numbers – in color. Neuroscience is beginning to unravel what’s going on in the brains of people with this cerebral phenomenon, but hasn’t yet explained why the genetic mutation exists. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UC San Diego, has a theory, as he explains to producer Michael May.
Download MP3
Synesthesia Bringing Out the Contours
Features recent paintings by Carol Steen.The article, written by Frances McDonald, was first published in
Australian Art Review issue 11, July-October 2006.
Synesthesia Bringing Out the Contours pdf
http://www.artreview.com.au