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2005 PEACE of ART AWARD
Every year Peace of Art, Inc., issues an award to the best student essay about Peace of Art. Students may choose to write about one individual piece or about the Peace of Art collection as a whole. This educational program combines the visual arts with the written word of students.
On November 12th, at the Massassoit College, Professor Janet Tooker and the Akillian Gallery director Ellyn Moller arranged the presentation ceremony.
Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, creator and founder of Peace of Art, presented the Peace of Art award and the best essay award to two students of Professor Janet Tookers class Art History of the Western World.
The Peace of Art award was presented to Erin Walsh who wrote about
"Peace of Music"
The best essay award was presented to Greg Marathas who wrote about
"Virgins with Lamps"
Peace of Music
by: Erin M. Walsh
When visiting the Daniel Varoujan Hejinian exhibit at the Akillian Gallery on the Massasoit Canton campus, I was astounded at the magnificence of all the pieces of art in the collection, both as individual works and as a whole. Though similar, all the pieces are very different and provoke many different emotions. During the time I spent in the gallery, I recall feeling fear, sorrow, hope, distress, and exhilaration among other things. One piece that specifically caught my attention and continued to draw it back throughout my visit was one entitled Peace of Music.
Peace of Music depicts a woman casually, yet lovingly embracing a man from behind while he plays a guitar. The right hand of the woman is cradling the mans right hand while it holds the frets of the guitar. The left hand of the woman rests gracefully on the mans left arm. The faces of both man and woman look serene and blissful, with the womans head resting gently on the mans. The mans knees are bent, the right up in front and the left one underneath him, supporting him.
The lines, done in ink, seem to flow in from all sides, giving the work a sense of full composition and symmetry. The sinuous lines seem to float through space before intertwining in the middle near where the guitar rests in the mans hands. Circular curving lines surround the heads of the pair, creating what appears to me as a halo. Shades of dark and light are even throughout the contours, and seem to be done in pencil and/or conte.
I noticed that though the lines segregate the parts of the human form, the hands and feet of the pair are emphasized and whole, giving the piece a sharp reality within abstraction. The faces of the pair are also seen in full, but seem to be depicted in a more symbolically naturalistic fashion. Varoujans caption for Peace of Music states; Life is a symphony with high and low notes. Two people are united to each other with the strings of life. When they hit high notes they dont grow apart. When they hit low notes they remain together. They are connected with the beat of their hearts.
Before even reading Varoujans notes, written below the piece, I felt a sense of union from the work. It seemed to me that the pair was linked from both the music they seem to be creating and that of their hearts. Being a musician and a lover of music, I understand that a similar harmony exists within love and the creation of music alike, and that without the harmony of the pair, such union could not be accomplished. I also felt a sense of serenity when looking at Peace of Music. I could almost hear the bittersweet music resonating from within the piece, songs of love and life and a compassion that few get the opportunity of experiencing. I could see that, though the man is holding the guitar, the music is being made by both, and without one or the other, no harmony or heart would exist in the piece.
Through line, value, composition, and a naturalistic symbolism, Varoujan not only creates a sense of movement, but also musical vibration that draws ones attention to Peace of music. This piece teaches that something as casual as an embrace or a musical instrument can provoke a deep emotional connection; that even a piece void of physical color, in the eyes of the beholder, through technique and symbolism, can actually reverberate with color, and sing a vibrant song of peace.
