Audio inspired by visual art

Visitors to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) on Jan. 19 didn't just look at paintings - they listened to them, thanks to UTD students enrolled in a sound design class.

Last semester, students in Professor Frank Dufour's sound design class chose works of art on display at the DMA and designed sound to accompany them. Their projects were presented during a tour of the museum.

At each piece of art that had been chosen by students, the music and sound they had created for it was played on portable speakers.

Humanities graduate student Jeff Senita created an audio piece for "Cathedral," a splatter painting by Jackson Pollock.

He played and recorded musical instruments, and also recorded the sound of popping popcorn and fireworks.

The audio was mixed with sounds from nature to evoke the feeling of a forest, which he said was, to him, the first cathedral.

"I concentrated on the texture of sounds," Senita said.

Dufour said he enjoyed the entire process of working with the class, beginning with each student's explanation of why he or she selected a particular piece to work on.

"I think you learn about the relationship between time and sound when you're designing for something that's timeless, like a still image," Dufour said.

As the tour paused before one painting, the tour guide asked spectators what sounds the work brought to mind. Visitors tossed out ideas like rushing water, dogs and birds for a pastoral painting.

Then, the student's sound design project was played and the audience could compare the different interpretations of the work of art.

Nicole Statzma, head of learning partnerships with schools and the community at the DMA, led the tour and visited the sound design class several times last semester to help with the project.

"We wanted to make sure there were different abstract works, and we wanted to throw in some non-Western works," Statzma said. "We thought these would present more of a challenge."

An abstract sculpture that looked like a big egg on a glass tabletop inspired a few different ideas from students, from upbeat electronic music to sounds of chiseling to slow, contemplative music.

ATEC graduate student LeeAnn Harrington designed sound for a piece of Mayan art.

"It was really interesting to design the piece from just looking at a picture of the art, that was the first level," Harrington said. "Tonight, the communal sharing with art and people brought it to a whole different level of experience."

ATEC graduate student Albert Rovira said he was concerned that his project could not be heard clearly in the museum setting, with people talking in the background. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the experience.

"When you mask some of the sounds, you create another sound work," Dufour said, commenting on the background noises in the gallery.

Dufour said he plans to include this project in all his future classes.