Synæesthesia - Vance Kirkland and the Colors of Music

Vance Kirkland (1904-1981), whose studio now houses Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, is known for his far-reaching, avant-garde sensibility and style (especially in his late “dot paintings” and “energy in space” abstractions). Kirkland was a music-color “synæsthete”. Like Franz Liszt and Alexander Scriabin, he heard sounds as color. He painted to music and often made his studio a concert venue for the performances of contemporary works. Kirkland’s cosmic vision is matched by the curatorial eye of Hugh Grant, the Kirkland’s director, who has brought together a nationally important display of 20th-century decorative arts. After a privately-guided, late-morning tour of the intimate museum, enjoy contemporary American cuisine artfully prepared at Palettes, chef Kevin Taylor’s imaginative restaurant located in the Denver Art Museum.

Saturday, January 16, 2010, 11:00 a.m.
$65 per person
Limited to 20 guests

HOSTS:  Fred and Laura Pardee