USU's Art Museum Hosts 'Museum and Music: The Art of Improvisation'

LOGAN — The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University continues its “Museum and Music” series with “The Art of Improvisation: Indian Classical Music in the Hindustani Tradition.”

The event will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 2, in the museum on USU’s Logan campus. The event is free and open to the public and light refreshments will be served following the performance.

As part of a semester-long project, students will explore how ceramics and music both rely on moment-to-moment decisions to shape their aesthetic outcomes. The “Museum and Music” series aims to connect the visual with the aurally presenting music that relates to artwork in the museum’s collection. The concert will take place directly in the Museum’s galleries, and each concert is unique. Past concerts have featured jazz, hip hop, classical, traditional and other genres.

“The concert allows our audience to consider the overlap between the creative process of the musicians and those of the artists on display,” said Museum & Music Series Curator and Associate Professor of Musicology Christopher Scheer. “The musicians are experts in the Hindustani tradition of Indian classical music, shaping the music as the performance unfolds. This is not unlike the potter who, making a myriad of decisions in real-time, shapes the clay to their aesthetic goals,” said Museum and Music Series Curator and Associate Professor of Musicology, Christopher Cheer.

The concert is in conjunction with the current exhibition, “Unearthed: The NEHMA Ceramics Collection & The Woman Behind It,” on display through Dec. 16. This exhibition features approximately 292 ceramic works of art in the NEHMA collection of 1,500 ceramics.

“The special event is intended to be a casual, relaxing afternoon away from home,” said NEHMA Executive Director Katie Lee-Koven.

“Museum and Music” is presented in partnership with USU’s Department of Music and the Caine College of the Arts, with generous support provided by the Caine College’s differential tuition.

NEHMA is located on the USU Logan campus and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Visiting the museum is free of charge, and NEHMA offers free visitor parking in the lot behind the Russell/Wanless Hall.

For more information, see the museum’s website.