This month my first guest is China Blue, a multi-media artist based in Rhode Island whose work centers on the intersection of art and science. She has a new music album out from a project using sounds from the NASA Cassini mission, Cassini's Dream.

Over its 20 year mission, Cassini sent back over 400 gigabytes of raw data including over 400,000 images of Saturn, her rings and moons. There have been a few limited experiments insonifying information about Saturn. Voyager 2, an earlier probe that explored Saturn in 1981, recorded unusual tiny collisions with the craft, that when translated into sound revealed the “pings” to be impacts with dust and ice particles outside the ring system. The Cassini team used this method to listen with greater accuracy as Cassini swooped around the rings as it orbited the system. Cassini’s passenger, the Huygens probe, used the Doppler shifting of radio waves to let us listen in to winds on Saturn’s moon before landing in a dried propane river bed. Cassini’s Dreams is a musical interpretation of the experience of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft for over 20 years.

This unusual multi-disciplined project was created by China Blue, with Lance T. Massey, an award-winning composer and Seth S. Horowitz a Neuroscientist who applies the science of how the brain processes sound to music. The work was realized through the support of NASA RI/Space Consortium and Canada Council of the Arts.

More about China Blue here: www.chinablueart.com/ http://www.chinablueart.com/
Cassini's Dreams is available at http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/chinablue5

During the Second half, I am in conversation with Curator Debbie Hesse from The Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven about CIRCLING LEV: The Art and Life of K. Levni SinanoÄŸlu the art exhibit that recently opened up to celebrate the work and scope of influence of artist Levni Sinonoglu, who passed away unexpectedly in 2016. The show runs April 15–May 24, 2018

The exhibit showcases the artwork of Levni SinanoÄŸlu, alongside works by William Bailey, Gideon Bok, Turner Brooks, Paul Clabby, Denzil Hurley, Clint Jukkala, Joshua Marsh, David Pease, Katy Schneider, Gina Ruggeri, Joel Werring, and Pawel Wojtasik. The exhibition was co-organized by Debbie Hesse, Clint Jukkala, and Pawel Woitasik

Levni SinanoÄŸlu was an influential artist, teacher, and community member who had an enormous impact through his own work and his generosity as a mentor and collaborator. A New Haven native, SinanoÄŸlu was a significant figure in the New Haven and Yale art communities. In addition to maintaining a thriving artistic practice of his own, SinanÄŸolu curated exhibitions, wrote essays and press releases for others and worked at the John Slade Ely House Gallery, now the Ely Center of Contemporary Art, where the exhibition will take place. The exhibition highlights SinanoÄŸlu’s approach to art making as that of a spiritual traveler, and explores important themes that reoccurred in his work throughout his life. These include his use of imagery such as ancient temples and symbols, inspired by his travels through the Middle East; artistic influences including Philip Guston, Paul Klee, Metaphysical Painting, and Persian miniatures; and painting as a thought practice, manifest in Sinanoglu’s “thinking table,” a table of objects, akin to a rock garden, that SinanoÄŸlu would continually curate and keep in his studio for inspiration.

see here for more information: https://www.elycenter.org/exhibition-calendar/circling-lev

Hesse is also in the throes of working with students from her class on Museum and Curatorial Studies at Albertus Magnus College, on a second exhibit. The exhibition is co-curated by students Annie Dunne, Shelby De Luna, Zachery Hart, and Emily Hartlett. Loaded : Artist as Activist runs April 30 through May 4 at the Margaret L. MacDonough Gallery at Albertus Magnus College. There will be a special reception on Wednesday, May 2 from 4:30-5:30 and 6:30-7:30 pm in conjunction with Fearless Forum: A Celebration of Arts and Academics on the occasion of the inauguration of incoming College President Marc Camille.

The show features works by artists Rita Valley and Margaret Roleke complimented by posters from recent March For Our Lives and other contributed art from the community relevant to the past year’s protests. Together, the exhibition will explore the role of artist as activist and activist as artist.
The Margaret L MacDonough Gallery is located at Albertus Magnus College 831 Winchester Ave New Haven, CT 0651
http://www.albertus.edu/student-life/gallery/macdonough-gallery