Artist Highlight: Grace Engel

We would like you to meet our lovely friend and collaborator, Grace Engle. She made the INCREDIBLE poster for our upcoming Notes on Fiction concert at the Center for Fiction (Thursday, Feb. 11th at 7:30). This concert has not only been a great opportunity for us to bring a story and music together, but also to work with an artist on creating a depiction of this magical world that we want to immerse our audience in. Feast you eyes on this and some of the other pieces that Grace is sharing with us!

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you are up to!

First off, thank you so much for not only approaching me for collaboration, but also for these fun questions!

I've been interested in art my whole life but I only got serious about it in the last few years when I went to an artist residency in Missouri. I spent a year there working on technique and learning from fantastic peers. Through the opportunities offered me by my residency, I was able to open up my Etsy store and actually get some income for my weaving and ceramics. 

Now, I'm working as a Wilderness Recovery Guide in Asheville, North Carolina, and experimenting with my art in some exciting new ways! It really fuels my life and brings a level of joy to each day that nothing else ever has.

How does your collaboration with andPlay fit into your body of work/other collabs that you have done?

I was so thrilled when I heard details about the Notes On Fiction performance and immediately had a lot of ideas running through my mind for the poster. I love working on pieces like this because I was given a few parameters about content, and then told to just run with it and let my inspiration take over. It's really great for me as an artist when I feel like I have a lot of flexibility in a commission and that my developing style can come through naturally. 

A lot of my work is figurative but I deeply enjoy drawing flora and fauna, especially when I can get dense with it. I wanted to bring a youthful aspect to the piece and drew inspiration from some of my favorite illustrators, such as Tove Jansson. I'm really excited about the finished piece and I wish I could attend the concert!

What has been inspiring you lately?

Two things leap to mind; Goauche painting and Pat Perry. I've been using watercolors for years but only got into Goauche recently. It's so much fun to play with and it's a really versatile medium.

Pat Perry has been a favorite artist of mine for several years. I look at his art on a daily basis. He's a role model to me in many ways, since he started going to school for art and then decided to quit and just draw on his own. I used to feel like my art could never live up to my own expectations since I didn't attend an art school, but looking at Perry's independently-developed body of work has been a constant relief and inspiration to me. He is truly committed to his craft. 

Favorite 'nobody-is-watching' snack?

Anybody can watch me eat, and that's a fact. I've been eating dried mangoes like it was nobody's business lately. I will also admit that a lot of chocolate goes into my body on a real frequent basis.

What have you andLiked this week? (Anything from a book, movie, tv show, music, podcast, etc.)

I'm living in a Steinbeck world right now! A few months ago, I read The Red Pony which started this domino effect of me only reading Steinbeck novels. I just finished East of Eden and I was incredibly impressed by it! 

Follow Grace on her instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/_phlox_/

and check out her Etsy shop (Maya carries her pencils and pens around in one of these incredible pouches, and cannot stop showing it off!)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SHOPHLOX?ref=hdr_shop_menu

the andPlay creation story....

While Maya and I (Hannah) survived blizzard Jonas in our separate boroughs, we thought about our upcoming concert on Feb. 11th at the Center for Fiction (more about that concert next week, but in the meantime you can read our interview with Sugar Vendil here).  This year, we had a goal of having more andPlay + concerts, meaning concerts where we branched out beyond the duo to perform with our extremely talented and fun friends.  So far we jammed with Concert Black at the New Music Gathering (video here) and will eventually have a concert with flutist Martha Cargo on February 17th (our first one was thwarted by the blizzard!).  

Funny short snowman I found in Inwood Hill Park the day after the blizzard. 

On February 11th we will be performing Franco Donatoni's "About" for violin, viola, and guitar with our good friend Jordan Dodson .  Jordan is not only an incredibly talented guitarist and a goofy guy to hang out with, but was also present at the birth of andPlay!  You can read a little more about our beginnings in our interview with Sugar, but we shared a Fire Island residency with Jordan in 2012.  It was at that residency that we decided to officially become andPlay -- though we did not have the name picked out yet.  If I remember correctly we might have played a trio or two with Jordan on that concert as well (and were both promptly seduced by his tangos, along with the rest of Fire Island).  

This is all to say that we are so thrilled to be working with Jordan again and to be tackling this Donatoni trio!  

This is the selfie we sent to Jordan once he had listened to the Donatoni and said he liked it!  

andLiked this week: Marrakesh Carrot salad from the Joy the Baker.  I offered a bite to Maya and she almost ran away with the tupperware.  

Composer Highlight: Paul Kerekes

Oh boy! I can smell that crisp snow smell in the air! Don't let it deter you, though, we are going to have a rip-roaring good time tomorrow night playing music by all of the composers you met this week including  <----- this guy! You can probably say it with me at this point, but the show is with the always lovely Martha Cargo on Saturday, January 23rd at Spectrum (121 Ludlow St.) @ 7 PM!!

---

Tell us a bit about your piece. 

I've always loved the sound of melodies overlapping or swirling around within small spaces.  Sometimes it plays a trick on your ear, making the two instrumental parts sound as a unified whole, or as an imaginary instrument if you were to listen with your eyes closed.  In my piece, I wanted to explore this type of musical interaction and find different ways of expressing these tightly interwoven textures throughout the three movements and across the instruments. 

Did you have any particularly invigorating or difficult times writing your piece for andPlay?

Writing for duo is hard!  Or at least I think it is.  But it really made me focus on things I wouldn't normally do in a piece for larger ensemble where there are more voices to generate fuller harmonies.  I spent a lot of time on the counterpoint between the parts and found it really invigorating (in a nerdy composer way) to trace the movement of each part and how they crossed paths.  

What music has most recently inspired you (to dance, sing, be a better person, etc.)?

Hmmmm I'd say Naked City - John Zorn and The Yellow Shark - Frank Zappa.  I've been really inspired by the spontaneity of their music and have been incorporating some of that vibe into my own stuff.

You are stranded on a desert island. What snack do you bring?

Graham crackers.  In a zip lock.

Lastly, do you have a fun fact that you have learned recently?

Mantis shrimp!  They're incredible.  Look 'em up. 

If you want to know more about Paul and his music check out his WEBSITE!

Composer Highlight: Brian Petuch

The news is ABLAZE with talk of snowmageddon 2016 that is supposed to happen this Saturday, but worry not! As long as we can get there (and let's be real, we will believe the hype when we see it) our show is STILL HAPPENING (Sat., Jan. 23rd at Spectrum @ 7 PM). You should definitely come too, because this guy (Brian) will be there and we are playing his incredible piece, The Pequod for andPlay + electronics. Can't wait! Now see what Brian has to say...

---

Tell us a bit about your piece. 

The Pequod is a reference to the ship in Moby Dick. I read Moby Dick last summer for the first time while on the coast of Oregon. The immensity and dark Pacific coast only made the book more real to me. While reading I contemplated the scope of the Pequod’s journey on the vast sea, the scope of Captain Ahab's futile quest to conquer Moby Dick which led to the Pequod's inevitable demise. It was both beautiful and terrifying. I came to see it as a futile quest to conquer mortality in an unforgiving and impartial world. That's essentially what I was trying to express with this piece. I didn't start the piece with the Pequod in mind, but as I was writing it I was also reading Moby Dick so I eventually made the connection about what I was doing. The entire title of my piece is "The Pequod - On Infinite Blueness", I arrived at from a wonderful quote in the book that summarizes my sentiments.

"Ah! how they still strove through that infinite blueness to seek out that thing that might destroy them!"

Did you have any particularly invigorating or difficult times when writing your piece for andPlay?

I've been writing very energetic and fun sounding pieces recently. To make a switch to something brooding, introverted, and intense was a challenge. Usually my music has a very overt rhythmic drive, but The Pequod is freer. For that it was much more difficult. It was also a relief to work on something I found artistically fulfilling. I'm happy with it and I hope everyone can take something positive from it!

What music has most recently inspired you (to write, dance, since, be a better person, etc.)?

I've been on a big Bach and Ligeti kick recently. That comes in cycles. And I always listen to Stravinsky. I guess I've prematurely grown into my old man form. Also I've been digging that band Death Grips. So maybe I haven't reached maximum elder status just yet.

You are stranded on a desert island. What snack do you bring?

Hmmm. Are we talking about a snack for survival? I'd probably die there pretty quickly so I'd bring the most delicious thing, chips and spicy salsa.

Lastly, do you have a fun fact that you have learned recently?

All this talk about chips and salsa made me hungry so I googled it and found out that the origins of salsa go all the way back to the Incas!

Check out more from Brian at his website and soundcloud!

http://www.brianpetuch.com/
https://soundcloud.com/brianpetuch