Join us for an inspiring afternoon where visual art and live music meet in meaningful dialogue. Art and Music Through a Creative Lens invites audiences to explore how artists and composers tell stories — and how we, as viewers and listeners, interpret them.
Presented as part of the Interpretations XI exhibition at WHAM Community Art Center, this special program features the Central Arizona Flute Ensemble (CAFE Flutes) performing four live musical selections that correspond to four works of art in the Arizona Art Alliance exhibition. As each piece of music unfolds, audiences will study the related artwork, experiencing the powerful juxtaposition of image and sound.
Facilitated by art historian and Humanities Scholar Dr. Julie Codell, the program will guide attendees through a thoughtful exploration of how meaning is created across artistic disciplines. Together, presenters, musicians, exhibiting artists, and audience members will consider the many connection points between visual and musical expression, including:
- Subject and narrative
- Location and setting
- Mood and emotional tone
- Attitude and stylistic choices
- Texture and structure
- Historical era and cultural context
Through discussion and reflection, the program will build meaning, create dialogue, and offer insight into how artists and composers express their ideas — and how audiences process, interpret, and respond to them.
“I look forward to discussing the relationship between visual art and sound, and how images and music are perceived differently. There is a rich historic and cultural context for us to explore.”
— Dr. Julie Codell, Humanities Scholar and Art Specialist
Following the Awards Presentation at the Exhibit Reception, CAFE Flutes will bring the gallery space to life with a range of musical styles designed to complement and illuminate the selected artworks. Audience members will not simply observe — they will participate in the interpretive process, discovering how music can shift perspective, deepen understanding, and enrich visual experience.
This event is a collaboration between Central Arizona Flute Ensemble (CAFE Flutes), Arizona Art Alliance, and WHAM Community Art Center, and is sponsored in part by a grant from the City of Surprise.
Free and open to the public.
Come experience art in stereo — where sight and sound converge to tell new stories.
Dr. Julie Codell
I look forward to discussing the relationship between visual art and sound, and how images and music are perceived differently. There is a rich historic and cultural context for us to explore.”
I have a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature/Comparative Arts; an MA in Art History, an MA in English and a BA in English. I have authored, edited and co-edited a total of 19 books and special topic journal issues, and authored 54 book chapters, 51 articles in refereed professional journals, 13 encyclopedia entries, and many book reviews and book review essays.
I will offer several humanities contexts for this program. I will consider the history of art in analyzing the formal properties and images in the works of art chosen for our discussion, indicating historical sources, symbolic and philosophical meanings of images, associations with the history of color and spatial relations in the compositions, interpretive analyses of the works, and any relevant information on the images such as relevant historic and symbolic iconographic meanings.
This is a free event, sponsored by a grant from the City of Surprise in collaboration with the Arizona Art Alliance.
