“The closest analogy to how I experience both the act of painting and a finished work of art is music. While I am painting I feel like music is streaming through me on to the paper. It is difficult to say whether I am playing the music or the instrument being played. My experience is the reverse of music, however, because the performance is done privately in my studio while the completed score in its entirety is what I show the public. There is another interesting distinction between the two media for me, as well. Music is played in a line, it is linear, but it creates an atmosphere that continues after it has been played. A painting is a whole piece of music sounding all at once and which the viewer replays by looking at it. As the eye wanders around a painting the colors, forms, textures and their relationships are ‘sounding’ within the viewer creating an experience or mood or atmosphere.” — Lucette Bourdin, 1954-2011
As one of many enthusiastic admirers of Lucette’s music, I am delighted to announce a new tribute website at https://lucettebourdin.com.
My hope is that this site will act as the online hub that Lucette’s transcendent music deserves, and attract new listeners.
“One of the highlights of my experience in ambient music has been meeting and working with other artists, especially those whose work inspires me. Of these artists, one of the most inspirational and accomplished is Lucette Bourdin…
“As accomplished at visual art as she was, Lucette was also a master of the ambient music genre, producing a wide ranging collection of albums that can only be described as masterworks. Lucette saw an interesting duality between the two forms of art, where the practice of one reinforces the practice of the other.” — Darrell Burgan
(Darrell was Lucette’s collaborator on the albums Samhata and Prasantih, and released 10 of her 25 albums on the Earth Mantra netlabel.)
Highlights of the site are a Memories page, to which listeners are invited to submit their experiences of Lucette’s music; a complete Discography; and a Video page including all of Lucette’s videos, along with other artists’ work set to her music.
Our Painting page is fairly minimal at present, as we have only her book The Color of Sound and digital copies of her album covers. We are requesting any information that visitors can share about Lucette’s work, particularly that housed in galleries.
Lucette’s music was a wonderful discovery, as I wrote in my 2011 blog Lucette Bourdin: Simply Playing, a Transcendental Quest.
“Consider a moment: artistic output of this magnitude – so many albums, on such a high level of quality, sincerity, depth and playfulness – would be impressive over a 20- or 30-year career. That Lucette accomplished all this in less than eight years – starting from scratch and self-taught – simply beggars description…
“The seriousness (and, at times, the playfulness as well) is in the quest. And it was a quest – I’m convinced that with any truly committed artist, it’s never merely about self-expression. That’s not enough. If the titles alone don’t give it away, listening to one piece each from any three albums is more than enough to make it clear: Lucette was in search of the Transcendent. Nothing less. I take that to be the true end of artistic endeavor, and I believe Lucette was straight on course.”
Lucette was definitely a kindred spirit, and I honored her as such in my blog Intrinsic Beauty: Music As Transcendent Quest (1 of 6).
Please pay the site a visit, and spread the word to your music-loving friends!