Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Canvas to Concert: How Sophomore Quinn Bryant’s Paintings Inspired the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
News - Carnegie Mellon University: There is power in uniting past and present. It’s a power that Carnegie Mellon University student Quinn Bryant and composer James Lee III both wield — in their own work, as well as in their recent collaboration for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Their collaboration culminated in June 2024 with the world premiere of “Captivating Personas,” Lee’s four-part orchestral piece inspired by Bryant’s canvases, for the orchestra’s 2023-24 season finale.
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This piece first stuck out to me because the title mentioned a CMU student who “inspired” the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. After reading through the article, let me say that I was blown away. The composer, Lee, was looking to collaborate with the Baltimore community for an orchestral piece, and thus he discovered Quinn Bryant, who at the time was a senior in high school, and her painting “Power.” First of all, I thought the painting was absolutely gorgeous. The stylistic choices and attention to detail were insane. The article then delved into her reasoning behind creating the piece, having to do with her identity as a black woman as well as the identities of women from all different cultures over all of time. This was really moving to me, because I am a big advocate and believer in women’s rights and cultural connection. I was also inspired by her research methods, which included creating a playlist for each of the 13 women she featured in the painting. I would like to try this sometime in the future when I am working on a project! Most of all, it touched me at the end when the article explored Bryant’s anxieties when coming into CMU, which I am sure all of us face! But she went on to say that CMU is teaching her that she does not always be confined to one artistic discipline but instead that she can do it all.
I LOVE QUINN! I know her from outside of this news article, in real life, and I was so shocked but also not surprised to hear that she did this! If I had not seen this article, I would have never guessed that this had happened. I’m so so happy for her and honestly it makes so much sense that other professionals are being inspired by her work. She’s such a joy to be around and always so so hype! Looking at her paintings fill me with a sense of wonder, especially the one of the Chinese Woman, because I can tell she really put a lot of thought and effort into creating it. I’m really curious about how her work will continue to grow in different ways. Also, going back to the composer, I really want to listen to his composition and see how he was inspired by Quinn. All in all, this is a super cool article and I really enjoyed reading about Quinn and her creative processes as well as the composer’s creative journey.
I love how Bryant made playlists for each woman in her piece "Power" to help her create the women in the piece. Since the women are all from diverse cultural backgrounds, I can imagine Bryant creating playlists with music from the different cultures of the women, and I am sure that listening to and understanding the music of their cultures helped her to create her piece. This also ties into how music can change the human experience and the human mind; listening to certain music while working can make people more productive, and I wonder if there have been studies done or anything on the more artistic/creative influences that music can have on someone while they are creating art, specifically if different types of music can influence a person to make certain artistic choices with their art. I also wonder about the experience of her paintings being projected while the audience heard the music – I wonder, if prompted, if the audience would be able to describe any elements of the women in the paintings just from hearing the music.
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