SOUND ART
Led by Teacher Candidate Renee Silva, under Supervising Practitioner
Rita Obelleiro
at Philips Academy, Andover
Students in Art600, an Advanced Open Studio at Phillips Academy, learned a new medium, software, and sensory art experience in a two-day Sound Workshop. Starting with the medium's history, genres, and a listening session, 11th and 12th grade artists engaged in narrative structures in audio formats. Students worked with found or archived sound from both personal and online databases to create a 2-3 minute sound artwork using Adobe Audition. Choosing from soundscapes, podcasts, music, poetry and montage, students created a meaningful work of sound that expanded on or translated a pre-existing piece of art. A few artists were later inspired to expand on this workshop by bringing sound into other pieces in sculpture, installation, and video.
Scarlett Ruan
6x4to
I was mainly inspired by Aphex Twin, an electronic music artist. I only recently got into his music, and even so, I don’t listen to it on a regular basis. Still, I immediately thought of him when it came to making my sound art. I was inspired by his idiosyncratic, techno/ambient, and junk style and I wanted to emulate that.
Amelia Vinton
First Date
I want to create a story core type piece about my grandmother using tapes that my dad has recorded of conversations with her since 2020. These are audio recordings of her telling stories about her life that he’s been collecting so that they aren’t forgotten. The hope from my father is to have a 10-minute piece that could be shared with future generations of people in our family.
Kiera Harder
The End is Here
I was inspired by the song, “I Know the End” by Phoebe Bridgers, which has unique language relating to sound. Phoebe Bridger’s lyrics are quite poetic to begin with, and I thought it could be cool to take the sound imagery she uses and convert it into a soundscape. I thought it would be interesting to explore the connection between the lyrics that we hear in music and what we then associate those words within in our minds in terms of sound.
Carly Hopkins
This piece aims to confront a common and problematic thread in the film industry; the romanticization of female rage. While I thought this idea of fetishizing female rage and sadness (such as the concept of a single tear or a dainty weep) had passed, the newly released 2022 film Blonde did this exact thing. When women are angry, they get mad, and it can be an ugly, forceful, and empowering scene. Therefore, as the music in my piece attempts to drown out these loud, tormenting screams; I aim to mock Hollywood's lack of acknowledgment of female rage and anger.
Eliah Baez
I found inspiration in the legacy left behind by my grandmother, who recorded voice and video messages for each member of our family before her passing. I wanted to incorporate the sound into something that I could easily access, as it is currently all on cds. Drawing on the nostalgia inherent in the recordings, I added layers of sound that complemented and enhanced the narrative quality of my grandmother's messages. I would say this is narrative based sound.
Pema Sherpa
For her
I would always learn about the history of Chinese people in America or Japanese people in America, yet I never heard about Nepali people even though these units would be called “Asian history.” Being grouped into the broader term “Asian,” and not feeling Asian enough when I wouldn’t be able to relate to the stories and experiences of my Asian peers is something I am too familiar with. I want to expose people to experiences, specifically those of Nepali women that immigrated to the United States, that do not get discussed in academic settings because they aren’t deemed important enough.
Anonymous
Voicemails from mom
Ruby Flaherty
Maggie Qi
The Coxswain Seat
I’m a coxswain on the men’s team; this means I tend to adopt certain masculine mannerisms to better gain the respect of my rowers. Whenever I’m at practice or interacting with rowers outside of the
boathouse, I lower my voice and choose my behaviors accordingly to come across as more “manly.” Every time people listen to my recordings, the first thing they say is “I didn’t recognize that was your voice!” It can be very affirming from a gender perspective, an aim of this project. Rowing is a very repetitive, even monotonous action, so I matched up both the similarities within my race recordings as well as the different parts that require a more techincally advanced strategy on the fly to show the nuance involved in coxing.
Belle Brown & Carly Hopkins
CONSERVATION
I’ve never made video art before, or an installation, or used a ceramic wheel. I literally cannot articulate how happy I am with our project, “CONSERVATION”, and personally the creation of this piece and working alongside Carly has provided me with so much growth (at times it felt like we kept getting thwacked with obstacles, whether that be the weather, the room and setup, our own lack of editing experience, MANY failed pots, etc.). I’m so proud of us, this is my favorite project I’ve ever made, and I’m so excited to see all the effort we’ve poured into this come alive in video, physical, and audible form. Also, the meaning of this work (coastal conservation) means so much to both of us, and we were motivated to contribute to and excite conversation about coastal wellbeing. Carly and I were talking about how much we identify with this piece, we both inspired each other and are SO passionate about our subject, working with her was such an honor.
RENEE SILVA
Renee Silva is a visual artist and educator in the Boston area. Her painting practice exploring language, color, and queerness inspires emphasis of process, failure, and self-hood in her classroom. Valuing community, collaboration, deconstructed curriculum, and care, Renee is interested in how interdisciplinary experiences with other artists and her students cyclically inform her personal and teaching practice. She is currently Arts Faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. Her work and teaching portfolio can be viewed at www.reneesilva.com.
