For the past several years, the Durham Symphony has commissioned artists to transform retired violins into breathtaking works of art. Raffle tickets are sold to supporters and the winning raffle tickets are drawn at our Annual Holiday Pops Concerts in December. Please select individual raffle tickets for each violin and when you’re ready to check out, click this button to view your shopping cart and pay for your raffle tickets:
2009-2010 Painted Violins
Buy raffle tickets for this violin:
I named the violin "Sofi's First Art Project". It's an interesting story. I had to think through what I wanted to do and decided that using sheet music underneath clear glass on the body would be interesting. I have an old book of Bach keyboard music and got that out to use. My 6 month old granddaughter, Sofi, was here when I began leafing through to find interesting music, and she joined right in helping me tear pages! She really had a ball. It was after I had collaged the pieces that I realized that this was her first art project! I cut the glass into regular shapes of rectangles and circles to echo rests and holds in the written music.The neck embellishment is made of strips of dichroic fusions that I have left over from other projects. I like to think that they represent the "colors" of sound that come from the strings.
Paula MacLeod is a mostly self-taught mosaic artist from Durham, NC. Paula has worked in mosaics since 1997, has taken numerous advanced workshops in the US, and teaches mosaic techniques for Jordan Hall Art Center (Cary), and ArtSpace (Raleigh). She has exhibited her fine art in juried shows all over the US and Ravenna, Italy. She is a recipient of the Durham Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant for 2000-2001, holds a degree from East Carolina University, has had work published in art books, and belongs to numerous art associations. Paula was featured on Home and Garden TV’s Crafter’s Coast to Coast in June, 2005 and as a guest on the PBS series “Paint Paper Craft” in 2007. Paula also takes commissions and teaches private classes.
Paula’s artistic approach to her work is to use glass as a painter uses the brush and paint. The result creates what she calls “living art that changes with the play of light”. To learn more, visit www.paulamacleodmosaics.com or www.flowersoup.com.
7 Photos
Buy raffle tickets for this violin:
Organic Violin is an example of the sort of visual illusion I attempt to create with both my tattoo and painting work, where depth and dimension are suggested through the careful use of texture and form. In this particular project I was aiming to give the piece the appearance of a grown object, something that might be carefully cultivated on a vine, then picked, cured to dry and laquered for longevity, like an elaborate gourd. It is meant to be both whimsical and serious, fun and contemplative. Like most of my art, there is no overt subject matter but an effort to create a sense of real content despite the lack of narrative elements. I found the small size of the instrument to be charming, and aimed to make it into an object that calls out to be held and examined.
5 Photos
Buy raffle tickets for this violin:
“The Symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything” Gustave Mahler
I just love to collage! I love to transform a piece of paper or an icon board into a real life scene…it may be an animal or a self-portrait, but I cut and paste my way to a realistic depiction of a real life scene. I rely on music to inspire the direction of my collages. With this thought, I looked at the beautiful violin given to me to collage. I didn’t know what to do! Then I spoke with a renowned violinist, Dorothy Kitchen, and she told me “the violin is beautiful. You must make it rich, luxurious…” So I tried to, I used hot pinks, blacks and a slick coating. I looked up what people say about the Symphony and found a wonderful quote which made the piece so exciting to me.
6 Photos
Buy raffle tickets for this violin:
Holding this defunct violin I realized this toddler-sized instrument needed a protective frame.
The chicken coop door that I had found I had moved with twice. It was time to combine it to an equally strange object. The mini-frame came from a high-strung artist. Perfect!
I dipped the violin in a concoction never to be repeated. Flashback! It now needed mod flowers. Itzhak Perman would remember. If you remember this era or simply want to replace his image with yours it is easily removable. The screen is perfect for droopy earrings. This montage goes in any room, as the wall color becomes part of the piece.
Please buy many raffle tickets; please support the Arts and particularly our Durham Symphony. Thank you, Emily
Emily Weinsten's Open Studio Gallery is November 7-8 and 14-15 from 10 to 5, at 501 Landerwood Lane in Chapel Hill, NC.
4 Photos
