Nostalgia -" A sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past."
My Manifesto -
"Music has a powerful impact on our lives, evoking emotions and unlocking memories. Inspired by this, i've created a collection of mixed media collages based on songs and lyrics, offering a way to explore deeper connections through art." - Stardust Acrylic Art
So let's tap into our relationship with music and see if you too can connect.
Songs play such an important part in our lives, as babies we listen to lullabies, to family members singing to us, we recognise voices and sounds and the familiar nursery rhymes allow us to feel safe and loved. Certain songs are attached to events and special occasions, songs with deeper meanings, a wedding song, a song during the birth of a baby, a couples 'our song' or a song to say goodbye. When we hear these songs throughout our lives something very special happens, the parts of our brains leading to those vivid recollections and those significant moments from our past are triggered and linked through memory recall, we are transported back to bygone times and emotions can kick in. We can re-live the moment and its all triggered by a song.
For me, one of the connections are the memories of searching through mum and dads vinyl record collection, a treasure trove of musical influence, I can remember feeling so grown up as I played those records from the 1960's over and over on the big wooden radiogram in the living room, 'Lipstick on your collar' by Connie Francis, 'Speedy Gonzales' by Pat Boone and 'Sealed with a Kiss' by Bryan Hyland to name but a few. When I hear these songs now the joy comes flooding back.
Vinyl is amazing!
Do you remember that special feeling of playing vinyl on your record player? The look of it, the smell of it, the tactile feeling of carefully handling it as you removed it from the sleeve and delicately placed it on the turntable. Then of course the satisfaction of the sound of the needle as it was placed on the groove, that initial pop sound as it was lowered followed by the crackle on the lead up to the intro...I loved it!
Sometimes, as we skipped songs to reach our favourites we would unknowingly cause a scratch meaning that the record would jump or skip a section of the song, this would then be there forever and etched out a pattern of our listening experience or journey, telling our story of that particular vinyl. The connections are always there.
We would engage with the album cover, seeing the album art for the first time for me was massive, the lamination, the colours and images, the track listings on the back and of course that gorgeous inner sleeve with extra hidden gems like handwritten lyrics, unseen photos or a free poster or postcard...those emotional memories will stay with me forever...and don't get me started on etched vinyl and picture discs! Pure treasure!
The warmth of vinyl with its rich sound plays such a huge part of many of our lives , looking after our record collection was so very important as we built upon our relationship with it, nurturing and cleaning, cataloguing the artists in A-Z order or genre order, carefully cleaning and de-fluffing the stylus, it was all such a great, multisensory, tangible experience.
Connecting Art to music
As I searched my own past for emotional connections, memories and times of joy it became apparent that music has played a huge part in my life, so, this is when Stardust Acrylic Art and my music inspired collage collections were born. Through the depth and richness in my work I want to transport my audience back to a familiar place, I want them to hear the song and visualise a time, event or a person and connect to those emotions felt, I want lyrics to become wonderful, melodic brushstrokes and stories to be relived. As my art is viewed I would like the viewer to connect on a deeper level and see their own personal story shine through with those nostalgic memories.
Music truly is wonderful isn't it!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I hope that it inspires you.
Christine
If you would like to find out more about Stardust Acrylic Art and view my art please head over to my website at www.stardustacrylicart.com
or email me at info@stardustacrylicart.com
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