YEAR COMPLETED: 2023
DELIVERABLES: Digitally live draw a 32-panel B&W + yellow comic depicting the story of Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" for three 30-minute performances on Tuesday, November 7th, 2023 alongside the Madison Symphony Orchestra for their annual Fall Youth Concert, which benefits thousands of 4th-8th graders throughout Southeast Wisconsin. (The panels from the show are at bottom of this page.)
TOOLS USED: iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate (using its "Project canvas" option), Sketchboard Pro (to make my drawing surface larger), with an HDMI cord attaching my iPad Pro to a large projector in the Overture Center's Main Hall, and a chair from my studio to cross my legs and draw comfortably.
CLIENT: Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO)
SCOPE: The "Firebird Suite" as performed by MSO was a multi-tiered project organized by Director of Education and Community Engagement, Lisa Kjentvet. They not only invited me to illustrate the story of the Firebird (which is quite visual, as it was originally a ballet), but they also invited the incredible Deputy Mayor of the City of Madison, Linda Vakunta, to narrate the story, so the kids in the audience would be able to more easily follow the narrative present in the music itself.
Each movement of "Firebird Suite" (4 total) started first with Linda narrating the part of the story said movement was representing before the music started; during this time, I had the empty panels already prepared, but began drawing some of the backgrounds in advance. Once Linda finished, MSO Conductor Kyle Knox began the piece with the orchestra, and I illustrated the story in time (tempo) with the music.
For this to be possible, I sat down with the "Firebird Suite" sheet music, YouTube videos of the correct versions of each movement (there are many), and the narrative provided to Linda (written by Lisa and MSO's Education and Community Engagement Manager, Katelyn Hanvey), and I meticulously made timestamps for when I felt the music indicated a particular moment in the narrative. I then sat down with the music and my notes, and started to repeatedly draw and time out what was possible in the ~5 minute timeframe of each movement.
I did all of this alone in my studio until rehearsal with the full orchestra the night before the performance day, where I could then tweak and perfect my timing to match the actual orchestra (as they were slightly different from the recordings I was using to prepare up until that point).
REVIEWS: "[...] Soon after our initial conversation, Mark connected me with local artist and professional illustrator T.L. Luke and within two weeks we were meeting at her studio. The excitement for the positive synergies from a potential collaboration was palpable from the very onset. T.L. was a horn player who had once considered majoring in music and had dreamed of having an opportunity for live performance art.
"[...] T.L. Luke and Linda Vakunta took the stage for the Firebird Suite. Linda's warm voice and gift for storytelling, the exquisite playing of the orchestra under the baton of Kyle Knox, and the masterful illustrations created by T.L. brought the story of the firebird to life in an immersive experience that captivated our student audience. The highlight came when the audience erupted into applause as the music and story came to a climax with Ivan and the firebird celebrating their triumph over the evil Kaschei. The performance was met with tremendous feedback with one music educator sharing "The live artist was really cool! I was thinking about how our admin would have loved the literacy connection -- first the story was read aloud and then it came alive in sound and images. Keep up the great work! My students look forward to this concert every year."" - Excerpts from "Enrich, Engage, Inspire: T.L. Luke Returns" by Lisa Kjentvet
"[My son] loved the drawings at the Overture performance! He came home raving about how cool it was. He said, "Mama - you should've SEEN the drawings that the artist made! It was the Firebird! And it was monsters that changed and moved with the music." He repeated Firebird over and over, which I thought was cool because the images helped him to really see and understand the story in the music. I am a big fan of Russian folktales, so I was super excited to hear him excited about it. And he talked about how good the artist was. He said, "Mama, you would LOVE this artist, they drew such cool monsters." From what I understand, it really lit up the whole 5th grade class." - Lauren, mother of child who attended
"My classes loved the artist. That was a nice addition to the concert and told the story so well." - Anonymous Post-show Survey
TL'S THOUGHTS: This is genuinely my most favorite project to date, and if I could do just this forever I would be happy. When I was in grade school, I was a horn player who used to compete across Wisconsin and go to orchestra performances like the Fall Youth Concert and, I gotta say, little TL's brain would have exploded with creativity and possibility if she saw an illustrator live drawing alongside the musicians! I'm just so proud to have helped inspired the next generation with this show, and to have been asked to be a part of it in the first place! Thank you, Lisa, Katelyn, and Kyle for being a second family, and continuing to think of great ways to engage with our communities! And thank you SO MUCH to the Dane County Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs (Dane Arts), Mark Fraire, for connecting me with MSO's team; THIS is what's possible when local arts organizations collaborate with their local talent!
