What a great honor it was to work with Maestro John Gennaro Devlin and The Wheeling Symphony.  John is well known for his creativity with The Gourmet Symphony, The Go Symphony and The Interactive Symphony, to name just a few.  Click his name (above) and you can see all of his massive accomplishments and ingenious projects.  John is one of the few people I’ve met that are always creating  new innovations for the projects he has at hand.  At the height of the pandemic, I spoke with him and he suggested a collaboration to work virtually and in person to pair my art with his Valentines Day Gershwin Concert.  He had one of the few symphony’s that was able to keep on performing concerts on live television across the state and in offering in person concerts outdoors, etc.  It was such a joy and so great to see the artwork come to life on screen.

I spent approximately four months or so working on the art and listening to Gershwin’s I got Rhythm repeatedly as I attempted to personify it’s structural style and feel.

The night of the concert, I set up the laptop and enjoyed his entire presentation for the work and hearing the performance, live. I had already delivered the work, so the patrons could see it up close in the hall.

The piece was then auctioned off to help The Wheeling Symphony continue it’s phenomenal programing and opportunities.

Being able to work on this project as we were isolated and trying to manage the new Covid world, was inspiring.  So much had changed and this gave me a purpose during a chaotic time.  I am forever grateful to everyone at The Wheeling Symphony and am honored to have been chosen as their artist in residence during such a historic time.