Cross Sensory Art

What do experiences look like?

"As an artist, I am well aware of the synergy that results within the senses, and believe most artists are too." - Robert Castagna

What does this mean?

Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 16, 1866, in Moscow, Russia. His father was a tea merchant and his mother was a homemaker.

At an early age, Wassily exhibited a very special gift called synaesthesia cognate. This gift gave him the ability to hear colors and see sounds. This special gift was encouraged by his father who enrolled him in private drawing lessons as well as lessons in piano and cello.

But…he didn’t become an artist…He became a lawyer.

But…when we was 30 years old…he quit his promising career and dedicated his life to art.

Kandinsky felt that he could express feelings and music through colors and shapes in his paintings. For example, he thought that yellow had the crisp sound of a brass trumpet and that certain colors placed together could harmonize like chords on a piano. The shapes he was most interested in were the circle, triangle, and the square. He thought the triangle would cause aggressive feelings, the square calm feelings, and the circle spiritual feelings.

We are going to experiment with cross sensory art making. But instead of sound and art…we are going to mix taste and art.

You will be having two different taste experiences and brainstorming during the tasting on a handout.

You will take notes about how how your 5 senses respond during the eating. This will take a very quiet and focused class. We need to do this in silence so you can fully pay attention to your experience…not the experience of your classmates.

You will have two different tastes to experience and then compare and contrast. You will be making artwork based on your notes.