New art exhibit at El Camino ‘breaks the silence’
Robert Hilton demonstrates how to play one of his hand crafted instruments for visitors during the SOUNDS community opening on Saturday, Sept. 10. Hilton demonstrated a number of his instruments and said he gets his inspiration from African and Indian instruments. (Delfino Camacho | The Union)
CLANK!
Fsshh! Fsshh! Fsshh!
CLANK!
Art galleries are usually quiet.
THWAANNG!
BRRRrrr! TIK! TIK! BRRRrr!
THUNK!
But this is no average art gallery.
Welcome to SOUNDS, a new art exhibition currently on display at the El Camino College Art Gallery. The exhibition seeks to explore a connection between humans and sounds by featuring works by various artists.
The exhibition had a general student reception on Wednesday, Sept. 7, and a wider community opening Saturday, Sept. 10.
Michael L. Miller, Director of the Art Gallery and the little-known Anthropology Museum, and Interim Curator, wanted to ensure visitors hear SOUNDS before seeing it.
“As a kid, I had a ‘museum’ in my bedroom. I was always interested in museums,” Miller said.
Miller describes himself as both an artist and a scientist and has the credentials to prove it.
Miller has a degree in both fine arts and geology. He worked for 10 years with the California Department of Energy and an oil company before returning to school to chase his passion for art.
Carrie Lockwood, a gallery assistant, credits the show’s inception to Miller and his dual interest.
“It’s Michael’s brainchild,” said Lockwood. “He’s fascinated with scientific things, and so he was inspired by this idea that he had read about. [Humans] physiological reaction to sounds … and so we wanted to explore that kind of idea.”
Miller said SOUNDS originated with his interest in science and insistence that the human experience is as important as the art hanging on the walls.
“My interest in curating is more about collaborating with artists. I like artists who engage the audience and not just the visual, but also sound or smell and [taste] because it makes a much richer experience,” Miller said. “I wanted to break the silence of the gallery.”
As you crack open the gallery door, you can already hear it.
On the left steady thumping beats echo from artist Tom Jenkin’s mixed media piece, “Electric Sticks.”
The art project consists of three electronic and wooden contraptions designated as “sticks.” Powered by simple 9-volt batteries, the “sticks” bang against the table they sit on, the resulting thumps sounding like a three-handed drummer.
On the right, decorated rattles created from bullwhip kelp shake almost non-stop. Entitled “26 Roadtrip Rattles,” the art piece by Peter Rice and Jesus Gutierrez features handcrafted instruments with an accompanying audio recording.
Every few minutes, whistles pierce the air, originating from an untitled video installation by artist Susan Silton. The video showcases an example of Silbo Gomero, a centuries-old whistling language.
Visitors who would usually whisper to each other and monitor their volume laugh and talk excitedly. The waves of various noises almost beg visitors to participate and make their sounds.
However, not all the artwork on display is audible.
Plenty of sculptures and paintings silently sit or hang in the gallery, but even the silent pieces engage with sound.
Artist and activist Fatemeh Burnes, who also teaches at Mt. San Antonio College, is a painter. Although you can’t hear her pieces, Burnes insists that all art, even paintings, is a conversation, “it’s a dialogue.”
“As a painter, I do create spaces, These experiences that you enter, if you choose to,” she said. “My project up front, all the grids, is called Crossovers. Each piece is about the different borders in the world.”
One corner of the Crossovers grid, with its rusty colors and harsh lines, reminds one of bangs and scrapes. Another portion has spring-inspired colors and swirls of lines.
(Delfino Camacho | The Union)
Burnes said she hopes her work illicit sounds from the viewers.
Appropriate for SOUNDS, artist Robert Hilton specializes in handcrafted instruments, many of which are created from scratch. Visitors flocked to his gallery section, eager to take a close-up look at the one-of-a-kind instruments.
Specializing in “strings,” many of the displayed pieces look similar to artifacts seen in fantasy settings. Some parts are made of wood, looking raw, natural, and jagged. Others have metal infused with the wood, inspired by a “junkyard” design.
“I was a music major a long time ago, and I was so unhappy in the music department because they really [only] dealt with Western and European music,” Hilton said. His soft voice a sharp contrast to his boisterous instruments.
Hilton says he gets a lot of inspiration from traditional African and Indian instruments, as they provide sounds western music tends to avoid.
“Most musical instruments are based on some subsistence behaviors like stringed instruments that grew out of the bow,” He said. “Flutes grew out of people eating birds and having hollow bones. So I really like to see how those things grow.”
(Delfino Camacho | The Union)
Hilton hosted an Artist Talk in the Art Gallery on Sept. 13 and said he hopes students take advantage of the resources available at the Art Gallery.
Miller echoed Hilton’s sentiments and said he wants students to know that this is their art gallery and to feel welcome.
“Come on in. I’m usually sitting at the front desk. I like to greet everybody myself,” he said.
SOUNDS will be on exhibition at the Art Gallery until Sept. 22 and is free for all guests.
