I chose to focus on the music itself rather than the meaning/story behind it. When listening to St. Matthew Passion I repeatedly got the sense that the music was a wave crashing over me. When I listen to music I tend to try and ignore the lyrics and explore what it makes me feel. I took the mental images that were being formed in my mind by the music and I put them to paper as fast as I could. I tried to show the way I imagined the music.
Project Bach 2012
Click the thumbnails to view the artworks at full size.
Jacki Stiles
Jahna Vaughan
"Agnus Dei"
For this piece I was inspired by the rise and fall of the notes in Bach’s ‘Passion of St, Matthew’, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. The image of sheep’s wool invokes the lamb of God, and the notes match the intricate, constant changes.
James Wells
I have created this piece with the intention to look old, and as if it could have been created in the past using old world methods. It's a testament to the biblical times. The line work I used to create the character was made with the intention to show pain, passion, and complexity.
Jaymes Thompson
"Contemplation"
My inspiration lies in the slow, contemplative notes of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. In between the high crescendos my mind saw a more contemplative view of Jesus.
Jessie Wu
"Pain"
This piece is portrays the feeling of pain, both emotional and physical.
Jingni Chen
My concept was to demonstrate what passion is for me. These characteristics (inspired by aerial acrobatics) are determination, power, endurance, and strength. As I listened to the music, I connected to a sense of life and "breaking free".
Jordyn Brenner
I decided to take one of the more monumental moments of the story, where Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek, and combine that with my strange love for drawing plump people. I wanted to include cherubs somehow in my piece so I took the characters of Jesus and Judas and made them cherubs...and they were surrounded by other fat baby cherubs looking on.
Jorge Rosario*
My St. Matthew Passion piece drew inspiration from the geometry of the composition and Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb. With that in mind i tried to make a composition based more off of color and texture, using the golden ratio representing Sebastian Bach and the lamb as Jesus Christ. The golden spiral envelopes the lamb just as Sebastian Bach's Saint Matthews Passion is composed around the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Josh Lind
My concept was a derivative of the iconic sacred heart of Jesus. I wanted to do a play off the religious symbol of the heart and the way I view religion in America.
Julia Varady
This piece was inspired by the Easter cross, which is symbolically draped around the cross bar. The reasoning for the dilapidated cross is that, in my opinion, Christianity is not as powerful as it once was, but the music, which was inspired by Jesus's story, is still pure and beautiful.
* Selected to be displayed in Symphony Hall during Bach St. Matthew Passion concerts March 30 and April 1, 2012.
