Kaitlyn Mongeon, Untitled, Colegrove Park Elementary School
Mass MoCA

For me, "freedom" tastes like chocolate. It feels like silk and it's the sensation of running through a jungle. To me, this painting is freedom because every line is different and everybody is different. We can be who we are.

Josh & Seth Larson of Something Underground "To Be Free" (Music)
Mass MoCA

This painting felt like a smile. It felt like sounds of the jungle and biting into watermelon on a bright sunny day. Seth: My first impression was: “Everybody is tangled up in such a beautiful way.” Josh: I felt a sense of freedom from the painting. Of knowing no bounds but also a feeling of connection points. The black dots were about feelings of separateness but the reality, when you pull back and look from afar, is that we’re all part of this beautiful interconnected tapestry. We’re part of something bigger, but get caught up in the illusion of separateness.

Andile Ndlovu "Untitled" (Dance)
Mass MoCA

If the song were a sensation, it would be silk. I started thinking about freedom and the lyric "like the water soaked up by the roots of a tree" and "go with the flow and you'll know what it means to be free." I used two objects, one to represent inflexibility: a briefcase which is a solid object that you can pick up and move: it has no supple movement. That is the rooting of the tree. The second object represented freedom: the jacket which flows and changes shape. You can’t control how it flows but you get to participate in its flight. When I was dancing, I thought: "Flow like water…. from one gesture to the next... be a river. Keep moving even though you might not trust where you’re going. Have faith that you may break through and in breaking through, find freedom." The message of my dance is "find a way to be rooted and also free."

Elise Paschen "Tanka: Flight" (Poem)
Mass MoCA

I watched this dance without sound. To me, it felt like swirling gyres, like a blue sky with cumulous clouds on the horizon, like a crisp autumn morning. I was mesmerized by the exaltation of the dancer's movements and imagined how he fantasized about taking flight, going on a voyage. I was fascinated with the props he used – the jacket and the old-fashioned travel luggage or valise—and how these props played a part in the narrative I constructed—someone dreaming of flight but ultimately, staying put. I thought about starling murmuration. When starlings gather at dusk to roost they often form a huge flock that shape-shifts in the sky as if it were one swirling, liquid mass. The movements of the dancer reminded me of those patterns or movements the starlings make in the sky.

Laura Hendricks "Untitled" (Photograph)
Mass MoCA

If the poem were a sensation, it would be silk. It would smell like a rose garden. It would be a calm day, no wind, clear skies. I immediately thought of all the different times I've purposefully pursued the unknown, but hopeful, path. I interpreted the poem to mean that this life has more to offer than just our small perspectives, schedules, routines, etc. I went to this site several late afternoons in a row to see what the setting sun would do to the mountain and sky. On the day when the colors of the sky and mountain reflected the essence of the poem, I photographed the scene.  The sky represents the beautiful unknown. It's massive and a little bit daunting but in the end intriguing because of its changing nature. The sliver of earth reminds you that although your own personal world can feel big and all-encompassing, reality is that you'll never be done growing, flying, exploring, learning... but only if you choose to. 

Kim Klopstock of Lilly & The Rose (Food)
Mass MoCA

If the photo were a texture it would be rocks, ice, silk. It would be hard yet light at the same time. It would be a perfect day: cold, crisp, yet warm and bright. Invigorating! I wanted to create an intense experience that conveyed both hard and light. I used a raw sugar for grittiness, white chocolate for both the rock AND the cloud (hard and light) elements.  I used a very dark cocoa powder to represent intensity and fleur de sel to acknowledge the natural and historic beauty of our mountains.

Ozzie Weber, Monster Got a Date, Greylock Elementary School
Mass MoCA

If "joy" were a color, it would be yellow. It would be light. It would be a bright sunny day. In response to the word "joy," I made a monster that finally got a date.

Carly Simon "Tender Touch" (Music)
Mass MoCA

If the painting I interpreted were a color, it would be yellow. It would be sun trying to shine through the mist on a London morning. It would be weightless. If it were a sound, it would be a carnival in a distant town. If it were an object, it would be a diary found under a mattress. The painting for me is the smell you find in an old closet where your mother’s bridal dress is hanging. I wrote: “I am a girl, going to a ball in a gown that’s been hanging for years in the hall. In an old garment bag, that once was my mother’s. It smells of sweet roses at the end of the summer.” At first the painting was about the sadness that comes from hiding and low self esteem but in the end it became about trying to find the sun within.

Alison Manning & Jesse Keller (Dance)
Mass MoCA

In the song we felt a warm fall breeze. It felt light, like the colors yellow, orange and red. It brought up a memory I have of running through my grandmother’s fields in the fall. To capture the essence of the song we used both flowing and still, thoughtful, frozen shapes, danced inside and out, chose to dance in a home instead of a studio and chose outfits that felt fun, relaxed, beautiful & free.

Rose Styron "Reach High" (Poem)
Mass MoCA

I interpreted the dance without music. If the dance were a color, it would be yellow or orange. The line "will dance, will fly..." is the essence of the dance for me. The narrative it created was about an imagined or well-loved friend whose memories come to dance with you on a sunny morning. I remembered my own daughter, Polly, dancing from the time she was 4. She would fling her arms to the sky and dance wildly. Memories of watching her move fill me with joy and this is what the dance refreshed in me.

Susan Swartz "Spring Muse" (Painting)
Mass MoCA

The poem felt windy & light. I imagine if it had a taste, it would taste like rainwater and smell like grass. My first impression of the poem was the sensation of waking up to the morning light, eyes closed, hands reaching to the sky. Wind and raindrops against my skin, warmth turning to coldness and back to warmth. The peacefulness of self against the calm and wildness of nature. Time well spent with loved ones, senses engaged, and memories flowing. The poem uses language to express both the power of being alone and the always present need for connection to place and to each other.

Jim Krivda “Dewy Mimosa” (Perfume)
Mass MoCA

The painting felt like the essence of bright sunshine. To me it was a field of grass and wildflowers in the spring. It felt so cheery. Instantaneously I thought of dewy green cassie-french mimosa. The fragrance came together very quickly.

Cristina Todesco (Set Design)
Mass MoCA

All the art as a collection in this chain made me think of the playfulness and exuberance I felt as a girl. The kind of play that's adventurous and pure: riding my bike all over town for fun, riding with no hands, jumping off the dock into the ferry's wake or off the high dive into my dad's pool, letting the waves take me backward and forward in the ocean... for hours. I imagined myself in a nest of all of these sensations. Saturated in all of that purity, I embraced color and texture and set out to create the essence of exuberance, the color yellow, the taste of honey, sunny days, sand, water & spring grass.

Christopher Eichorn, Untitled, Colegrove Park Elementary School
Mass MoCA

If "joy" were a flavor, it would be cotton candy. It would be pink and light and smell like lemons on a sunny day. It would be confetti, balloons, night mist and starlight in the night sky. My painting is a starry night with confetti over it. It gives me joy because it reminds me of bright colors in the world.

Susanna Hoffs & Chris Price "Cannonball" (Music)
Mass MoCA

This painting felt filled with laughter, sun and humidity, children giggling, surf rolling in and out, the smell of citrus and the ocean, the sparkle of heat evaporating, the taste of strawberry fruit roll-ups and ice-cream dripping. Susanna: The painting was of pure joy. I saw uninhibited exuberance. Chris: I thought about summertime and the community pool and being 9 years old running around doing cannonballs. I thought about water and the 4:00 or 5:00 pm magic hour after a long day outside. it’s almost dinner time but you don’t want to go inside! Not just yet. I created a water synth pad that kept rushing in like a wave. We layered sounds in a way that would suggest many things being blurred together, like a collage where at first you see only a blur but then you see the details. There is a sparkling sound that reflects sunlight on water. There is a base note that runs through the music that is the dark that one needs to feel in order to appreciate the joy on the other side.

Karni Arieli & Saul Freed of Sulkybunny “a love poem to our boy” (Animation)
Mass MoCA

This song reminded us of summer. If it were a color, it would be pink or rainbow colors. It was filled with love and happiness. The song was like a treasure box filled with childhood trinkets and magical things collected and coveted. It reminded us of pink lemonade spilled over Raspberry Pop Rocks. We thought of jumping and running and floating. I pictured flares of light that come through a tree. We imagined rock pools, which are like treasure boxes themselves, and the song inspired us to make our elder child a love poem. We created an imagined world. A world that might be seen through a child’s mind and eye, juxtaposing the darkness (the pebbles and blackness in the film) with the joy (the magical sherbet creatures). This is the reality of love: you never know what it has in store for you.

Ben Taylor "Untitled" (Poem)
Mass MoCA

The film was exhaltant, like silver, like wearing water. I thought about cyclical harmonies circling around each other. I let the film happen to me and then wrote before I could think. Looking back, the film spoke to me about our essential oneness and the recognition that there is no actual human when you reach out far and deep enough to find connection. All you really find, the farther you stretch outward, is yourself. The you that is inseparable from everything. My poem is the individual me (represented by the boy) talking to the part of me that has no individuality because it is not separate from the everything. The magical creatures on the shore felt like my guides, there to make sure I knew I didn’t have to be afraid and that if we were meant to find each other (God and I) we would.

Heather Day "Sing" (Painting)
Mass MoCA

If the poem were a color, it would be fuchsia. If it were an emotion, it would be joy. I thought about a box of Crayola Crayons. It felt so colorful, more colorful than my usual work. It was pouring rain in San Francisco as I sat in my studio reading the poem. The words immediately evoked a sense of hopefulness in me. It had the playfulness of hiccups but also reminded me of a storm clearing—or that feeling after a heavy argument gets resolved. There was a wash of relief as the poem closed, like the recovery from an emotional disagreement. My painting captures the physicality of the poem—breaking down composition into playful moments that break boundaries. The storm’s release is that glimmer of yellow in the middle. As I looked at the painting, the last line of the poem came to mind: “We were not so very different. You and I.”

Patricia Choux "Indigo Iris" (Perfume)
Mass MoCA

The painting was happy, uplifting, strong & full of character but also soft and tender, with what I saw as a little star and a patch of pastel colors. If it were a weather, it would be sunny brightness just before the sunset. If it were a material, it would be copper and linen, opposite textures blending together. It felt like a star between earth and other planets. I used the blue, the vibrant white and the feminine warm brown to inspire me. I used iris, a flower with personality, and infused some woody, spicy elements. I used carrot seeds as a top note to translate the bright yellow/white.

Brynna Bloomfield
Mass MoCA

The sensation I got from all the art on this chain was "YAY!" I could see in every piece of art, from the painting to the perfume, this desire to return to one’s self and one's origins. I thought about babies playing peekaboo and the joy and the thrill and the YAY! they get when you appear from behind your hands again and again, when they get to see you as though for the first time as though it were the biggest, most delicious, unexpected, unlikely surprise. That kind of joy is flight. You can't hold that kind of yay longer than a second at a time. I wanted to recreate that Yay! That "YAY!" you can return to again and again just like you once did in peekaboo.

Kendall Martin, Untitled, Clarksburg Elementary School
Mass MoCA

If "fear" were a sound, it would be a high pitched scream. It would be a thunderstorm and smell like rain and would be red, red everywhere. Dark and fast. And the feeling of not wanting to open your eyes. My painting is like a war story. In the background there is smoke and blood from the bombs and killings. In the foreground there is a woman crying.

James Taylor "Bolthole" (Music)
Mass MoCA

The painting felt heavy, like a windy, overcast day. If it had a flavor it would have been dust or grainy yeasty bread. I thought the black circle was an overwhelming psychic state of depression taking up more and more space and crowding out joy or that alternatively it could be an emerging strength and clarity coming out of the confusion and chaos. I focused on that dark patch. It felt central. I heard it musically as a low D, then an octave above that, then a 5th a 3rd and a 2nd. To translate the painting into sound, the volumes were also important. That horn sound states itself and then starts to waiver. It moves up a whole tone and back. All the tones are moving parallel. You feel this tone come at you, like that circular dark patch, and then the rest of the music surrounding carries the listener to the background chaotic part of the painting where things are falling apart.

Jeff Cirio, Brooke Naylor & Whitney Jensen of Cirio Collective "Untitled" (Dance)
Mass MoCA

We thought the song felt like wood or smooth brown leather. If it had a scent it would be coffee. It evoked fear. We envisioned one of those big herds of animals out on a prairie. The first movement the music inspired was a stretching action through the ribs and then a deep and intense contraction like being hit with an arrow. We wanted to make sure to express the music's largeness, its ebb and flow.

Fan Ogilvie “The Next Wound Will Leave a Scar” (Poem)
Mass MoCA

I interpreted this dance without music. It felt like the essence of the ocean and rain showers. If it had a flavor, it would be saltines. My first impression was that the dancers were warming up and preparing to accept what was coming their way, good or ill. It seemed to be about youth's passage into the next stage of life and the inevitability that that journey will leave a scar. In adolescence, there is the sense that much happened in childhood that can’t be remembered or altogether forgotten. Those early wounds are painful and mysterious but made even worse by their blurriness as the past haunts our consciousness again and again without clarity or assurance. Those old memories remain blurry and blunt like a dulled knife.

Jamie Diamond, Untitled, (Photograph)
Mass MoCA

The poem reminded me of clouds before a storm. It smelled bland and felt cold and wet and like Iceland. I was thinking a lot about families falling apart, in particular a turbulent relationship/marriage in despair. I was staying at my in-law’s house at the time I received the poem; they live in the countryside of the U.K. and I was taking long walks and reflecting a lot on family histories and lineages. It was bleak and complemented the feelings emanated from the poem. I wanted to use a generic language of domesticity: wallpaper, stairs, pictures, objects, mementos...I like that the space wasn't of anything specific yet conjured up all the emotions I was looking for. The interesting part for me was my intervention in post-production when I began to disrupt the harmony and clarity of the domestic space, the beloved memories a home showcases began to breakdown. The pixels permeate and abstract, like a virus, suddenly those crisp and harmonious memories fade and become enveloped by the poor structure of the image. The pain absorbed by the family is present and the abstract battles the representational.

Jim Krivda “Gris” (Perfume)
Mass MoCA

The photograph felt overcast but not too dark. If it had a taste, it would be plain oatmeal. It would feel like wood planks and smell a little dusty. It reminded me of my Great Aunt Irene’s house near Pittsburg, PA., specifically the attic. The essential ingredient in my fragrant reaction that reflects the painting for me is Ambergris. I titled my fragrance “Gris” which is French for grey.

Andrew Myers "Coffee & Cream" (Sculpture)
Mass MoCA

If the perfume were an emotion, it would be sadness. If it were a weather, it would be rainy. It reminded me instantly of my grandmother, who is amazing, and of drinking coffee with her. She is getting older and it makes me really sad to know she won't always be around. I created a bouquet of tulips wilting in a coffee pot with screws. The coffee pot is me, a structural, harder person and my grandmother is the soft, pretty (but getting older, unfortunately) wilting tulips.

Janie Howland
Mass MoCA

My first impression of this chain was dark, stormy blue, melancholy & longing. I had the feeling of being underwater, like there was a heaviness and darkness from above keeping me under. I also felt like there was a sense of reaching out for something. An emotional coming together and pulling apart like waves or like arms that can’t quite connect. Sadness is a heaviness that presses down on us. I really wanted to create a space where people have to lie down and look up at the art.

Gisella Hildabrand, Untitled, Greylock Elementary School
Mass MoCA

"Fear" is sticky. It is large rocks. It is fire. It is the sound of thunder. It is the last petal falling. My painting is of the fear of darkness & large spiders. This is something trying to escape. Trying to escape from terror.

Chris Stills "Rude Awakening" (Music)
Mass MoCA

This painting reminded me of summer in New York City: muggy, humid, hot, no breeze, pavement, hot cement, asphalt, trash and sweat, the sound of traffic and brick walls. I procrastinated... a lot... then suddenly this riff came and with it, this story, the painting. A spider has fallen off the side of a brick building and onto the street. It suddenly finds itself in this completely unfamiliar world. I thought about what a shock that would be and what a rude awakening it would feel like to be surrounded by different, unsympathetic creatures. My song is about what it’s like to land in the world, so strange and unfamiliar, and have to live with fear while people watch. So not only the discomfort of the fear but the pain of strangers watching you deal with the fear. "It’s such a painful calculation and a Rude Awakening."

Trey McIntyre "Untitled" (Dance)
Mass MoCA

This song for me was deep purple, the last color that leaves the sky after the sun has gone down over horizon. It was the sensation of scorching, unrelenting heat and the feeling of sweat dripping into your mouth. I thought of rock or cement, dry, parched earth. I chose the backdrop of a pool with no water and dry, arid rock with a prop of a heavy chain. I've been choreographing for the majority of my professional career but rarely perform. Me dancing in this video feels very exposed to me! In translating the essence of the song I wanted to express vulnerability, dryness and sensation of being out of one's comfort zone--of feeling uprooted. I kept thinking to myself: "There is no escape. It would feel so good to dive into a pool but there is no water to hide under so what do you have left?"

Terry Tempest Williams "The Great Chain of Being" (Poem)
Mass MoCA

When I first saw the man dressed in black dancing alongside a chain-- I immediately thought of "The Great Chain of Being," a hierarchical structuring of the Universe prominent in medieval Christianity. It has its philosophical roots in Plato. Aristotle took this idea further in his treatise, "The History of Animals," where he assigned lions a higher presence on the chain than a warthog and a warthog sat higher on the chain than a mouse who has more standing than a bird or fish or a beetle or a worm or a snake who resides at the bottom of the animal ladder of life, paying a penance for tempting Eve. Plants fall below animals. Minerals fall below plants. And above all of these creatures and life forms, including dirt, God resides at the pinnacle of this ancient religious taxonomy as an all-knowing being. This hierarchy of power can be seen as a root cause of our environmental crisis, the privileging of human beings needs over the needs of others species. We are not the only species that lives and breathes on this planet. The dancer in black became a Raven, the wise one who animates the desert. Trickster. From the Raven's vantage point, the despoiling of the Earth is visible, even in drought, especially in drought.. Raven as a shape-shifter turns into Coyote who appears at the bottom of a swimming pool, drained. Will this be our fate, too? Will we find ourselves standing in a world drained of life, alone? From the medieval "Great Chain of Being" to the "press pause -- breathe" era of the Anthropocene, we need a different kind of spirituality to link us to one another in an interconnected and interrelated world if we are to find our way toward a liveable future on this beautiful blue planet we call home. If we do not find another way of being that is mutually supportive and inclusive, side by side as sentient beings with all other beings in the name of community, both human and wild, we will forever be chained to the violence of our past hierarchical structures of power and greed that will continue to destroy the Earth. These rusting chains of oppression will be our self-imposed bondage, not only removing us from an intimacy with the natural world, but will bind us to a hell of our own making. Raven soaring over the red rock desert of southern Utah carries this prophetic vision, a shadow dance with life.

Naima Green "Twentynine Palms Highway, 2017" (Photograph)
Mass MoCA

The poem was salty and reminded me of the smell of soil after a rain. I couldn’t stop thinking about Joshua Tree, CA and how dry the California desert terrain is. What type of life grows and exists here? I love the quiet of the Twentynine Palms and knew this image would encapsulate the fraught terrain.

Heidi Schmidt of Vineyard Sound Herbs' Tea House "Dry Roads Tea (with a bit of color)" (Tea)
Mass MoCA

The essence of this photo to me was the color dusty rose. It felt dry and stark and stressed thin. I thought if it had a scent it would be dry asphalt mixed with dust. If it were a texture, it would be a collection of varying grades of sandpaper from coarse to smooth and if it had been a taste, it would be tart, bitter and astringent. The hills screamed for burdock root. The sign/sculpture begged for berry puckering, thirst quenching Schisandra Berries. I added Nettle, Ashwaganda Root and Chrysanthemum flower to rev the engine in us, keep us moving and motivated and restore and replenish us as we inevitably get depleted along life's long road. I finished the blend with hibiscus... a little color to add to our road. The result is the photograph's essence as a tea: "Dry Roads Tea (with a bit of color)." A good tea for a dry road trip.

Aidan Crofts, What Lurks in the Dark, Clarksburg Elementary School
Mass MoCA

If "fear" were a color, it would be cold, black darkness. It would be heavy and bitter and smell like smoke. This painting is of what lurks in the dark. It reminds me of fear because the things that are in the dark are scary.

Natasha Bedingfield "Untitled" (Music)
Mass MoCA

In this painting I saw the night sky with people representing the stars. The message was that we're all the same and yet all different and we’re desperately trying to get our light to shine through... to mean something to someone. When we see starlight, we’re seeing light that left a star millions of years ago. It takes so long for the light to travel to us. That light has to be so brave to leave that star and go out into the cold dark space, never knowing if anyone ever will see it. If anyone, millions of billions of years in the future, will ever receive it or love or even appreciate it. People are like stars, we’re doing all that work to grow up and to shine our light outward and who knows if anyone will ever see it or appreciate it. Every artist... every person, we all have to put out there what's in our hearts and it takes a lot of courage because it can take a lot of time to be seen, to be taken seriously and there might be so many clouds in the way that we are only ever getting negative feedback but we have to spread our light and have faith that it will make it through the darkness and make a difference to someone. The chorus “If we knew that we are only children all lovers searching… We’re all looking for someone….” It could help us be more gracious with ourselves and have more tolerance for others because we all have a similar desire. Those are the little dots of light we see. We’re all in the black but these little dots of light are all searching for each other and for love and if we knew that, that we have a similar need to be seen and heard but we are all scared and hiding in the dark, traveling through the darkness but we’re being blocked silenced or hidden then we’d be more understanding with others.

Erick Oh "How to Paint Your Rainbow" (Animation)
Mass MoCA

In this song I had a flashback of each step and stage of my life, from birth to where I am now. I thought, what if there's a rainbow we see in the end of our life?  What would it look like?

Justen Ahren "Untitled" (Poem)
Mass MoCA

If this film had a scent it would be rain on winter-decayed leaves and the wet earth of May. I've lived for a long time with the thought that we came from darkness (wholeness) and, upon entering light (birth/life) we're splintered by it, separated.  The figure entering alone into the white space of the animation reminded me of this experience.  The weight and counterweights are responses to the figures in the animation being hoisted and lowered as if by pulleys.  I was attempting to capture not only the action in the animation but, too, the concept of the balance of life it develops.  And something struck me about the weight and weightlessness of figures living, and dying, and reminded me of time--as in the weights used in a grandfather clock--and how time is the progression of the dead and the living and our memories of them.  Then, of course, we carry within us the memories and our translations of memories and the desires of the past.  And we, the ripened fruit of what went before, carry the seeds of future.  To seed the future, however, requires our decay, our death, in order to forward time.  The animation did not strike me as sad.  So, I didn't want to write a sad, dark poem.  However, I found it difficult to put forth the notion that all die and from death comes life and so on and so on.  I needed balance, or counterbalance to end the poem.  I needed some distance.  I found the line, 'fortunate to have lived' gathered the gratitude we might feel for being a small contributing part of the movement of all existence.  Truly, a blessing to participate.

Meghan Hildebrand, Untitled, (Painting)
Mass MoCA

My first impression of this poem was of walking through the forest, light filtering through trees, the smell of rot and of sap. I choose colors I felt matched the feeling of the poem, early morning, forest colors and a complement or two.  I wanted white and black for the back-and-forth feeling I felt from the painting. The first few moves, the watery dark green and the loaded palette knife swipes were done quickly and randomly.  The arc shapes visually tie together different parts of the painting, and to me represent roads, bridges, mountains or rainbows.  The cluster of shapes near the middle for me is about family or community. There is something uncomfortable about the larger green fields on the middle left and upper right, but I liked being challenged by the color. Although I tried not to be literal, the word ‘decay’ stuck with me and I liked how the edges of the palette knife strokes decay in interesting ways, as well as the bleeding black.

Felix Buccellato "Dilly Dilly" (Perfume)
Mass MoCA

The painting felt complicated. If it had a flavor, it would be passion fruit. I thought of lavender in big fields. The root of the word lavender is 'lava' or 'lavan' which means to wash, to cleanse. Interpreting the painting, I realized how a simple white background, (a minor portion of the painting) lays a foundation for more colorful and complex elements and feelings to be expereinced.

Anthony Howe "Of Inclining Wonders" (Sculpture)
Mass MoCA

I smelled the fragrance and an image of what I wanted to make immediately appeared in my head. I sat down in front of my computer and sketched it out. It did not change or coalesce into something else at all. It is a direct translation of the essence of the perfume into my sculpture.

Dahlia Al-Habieli (Set Design)
Mass MoCA

The essence of this chain as a whole to me was the act of walking past a wall of fear to a place of discovery. It takes courage to look beyond a first impression and find moments of joy in pain and fear. The most delightful surprises are found in places we may fear to go. My journey through this chain was through a child’s fear of the unknown, an adult’s fear that comes with knowing too much, acceptance, rebirth, and eventually peace.

Mikyra Burnell, Untitled, Gabriel Abbott Memorial School (Florida)
Mass MoCA

This painting is my reaction to the word "fear." When I think of fear I think of very pointy sharp rocks and spikes. I think of the colors brown and purple. I think of the smell of gasoline and the sound of thunder. This is a painting of darkness taking over love. It is the essence of fear because I live for love in the world.

Cobus du Toit "Into the Out" (Music)
Mass MoCA

This painting reminded me of the ocean; wet, smooth and cold. I saw in it the tail-like shape of a humpback whale with a lot of upward motion that seems to almost produce a splash of water at the top of the painting. The overwhelming darkness on the page reminded me of the deep, dark ocean. I immediately thought of a humpback whale emerging into shallower water after a traumatic experience, almost testing if the water is safe again. After looking at the painting for two days I suddenly noticed the heart shape on the right side, covered by a lot of dark paint. At first, I only noticed the smaller segments but failed to see the larger picture. This taught me that if you look deep enough, love does exist, even if it seems disguised by a lot of darkness.

Carter LaCasse, Untitled, Brayton Elementary School
Mass MoCA

This painting is my reaction to the word "joy." I thought about all colors, about the taste of candy and shiny materials and running outside. I painted a sunny day because when it’s sunny I can be outside and play with the things outdoors that I love.

Sophie Hiller "Let's All Go Dreaming" (Music)
Mass MoCA

I was immediately struck by how vibrant and joyful the painting was. I felt I was in a perfect sunny day, grass soft and cushiony under my feet while being embraced or cuddled. Looking closer, I saw clouds that looked like hearts. The painting reminded me of when you're asleep and realize you're dreaming because everything is just too perfect to be real. In that magical moment, you wish you could freeze time.

Mike Parkman, Untitled, Emma L. Miller Elementary School (Savoy)
Mass MoCA

This painting is my reaction to the word "fear." I thought of a tornado, bitterness, the stench of garbage, jagged, huge, hard, out of control rocks, snakes and screams. I created this painting because it reminds me of a black hole and everything getting sucked in.

Patrick Sutton "Addition by Subtraction" (Music)
Mass MoCA

I was struck by the dark quality of the painting (the color black seems to be a protagonist) and so I found myself playing around with arpeggios in a dark, lower register of the guitar. I also love the way that the blue, red and black bleed into each other in the center of the painting so I tried to bleed the arpeggios into one another by adding notes to change their inflection and quality. As I see it, in a painting like this representation is noise, and not the goal. So I thought my piece should be the same: a short work built around a chain of bleeding colors with no beginning and no end.