“Interpreting Paintings into Jazz” with the moving sounds of Dave Schulman’s electric violin
This past weekend, The Phillips Collection hosted its annual Jazz ‘n Fun Family Days, a prelude to the DC Jazz Festival (taking place June 9-18 this year) that welcomes patrons to enjoy music and art together at the museum in Dupont Circle.
On both Saturday and Sunday, museum-goers can enjoy performances throughout the museum, along with special programs for kids, including an instrument petting zoo, scavenger hunt, and art activities. It’s truly a treat for all ages!
The Kenny Rittenhouse ensemble jazzes up the Music Room
We enjoyed a few hours of art and music on Sunday. We got to watch the Kenny Rittenhouse Ensemble play a lively set in the Music Room. Then we joined “Interpreting Paintings into Jazz” in one of the galleries. There, David Schulman played electric violin inspired by different works in the room. He would have us look at a painting instead of watching him and let the music take us into the piece. It was fantastic! Owen was especially into it, saying the music and art together was “really emotional” and made him create stories in his head about the paintings. (I loved hearing that!)
Of course, we also spent time wandering through the rest of the galleries and viewing the art. There is currently a wonderful exhibit on display — Marking the Infinite showcasing works by contemporary women artists from aboriginal Australia</>. The pieces are both beautiful and an interesting reflection of their culture. I highly recommend checking it out.
The current aborgine art exhibit
So, even though the weekend event has passed, I still wanted to capture scenes from Jazz ‘n Family Fun Days in a post to highlight it for future years — and as a reminder of what a great off-the-Mall museum The Phillips Collection is in DC. You can read more about it in this post about one of our past experiences there. And you view more scenes from the event and museum in the images below.
Kids get front row seats
Hair to match the painting he’s playing to
We were instructed to look at the painting, not the musician
Van Gogh is the subject of this tune
It’s like he dressed for the art
A web of flies
Close up of one of the works
More aboriginal works
The Luncheon of the Boating Party always draws a crowd
