Unpacking Our New Banner Photo

Commonwealth Orchestra Outreach Project Blog #3

When I began thinking about a banner image for COOP a couple months back, I mulled over the ultimate look of this organization and decided it was too soon to try and present a final image of who we are.

We know who we are: a group of musicians and music lovers who are passionate about creating an orchestra that plays music which represents the population to whom we are presenting: a diverse population with diverse traditions, steeped in American popular culture, some of whom are perhaps a tad leery of “high culture” or other intellectual pursuits, but all are human beings with all the depth and savvy and curiosity and spiritual breadth accorded to our species.

But it takes time to build a different kind of orchestra. We won’t throw the baby out with the bath — folks, you’ll hear some Beethoven from time to time. But we’re actively seeking ways to not only represent our audiences but to include them, and while we reject the Pops format of programming, we’ll also be justly presenting music that stems from The People. That with educational outreach and plans for sustainability makes this a pret-ty big project.

It occurred to me that showing how we build our organization by displaying banner art that shows the evolution is the best way to go. I like the idea of natural developmental stages — as in butterflies or birds. So, I decided to go with birds as an audience against a sunrise and the suggestion of musicians who aren’t quite there yet, but their instruments are ready and waiting. The birds are definitely expectant, waiting somewhat impatiently. I love this image that my brother put together — the image suggestions are mine, but I couldn’t have expected such an amazing result.

This is a complicated composite photograph. John Ellert has been a photographer as long as I’ve known him (forever six and a half years less than his life span), and in recent years he has done a lot of experimentation with image production. You can follow his link below to see much more of his beautiful images. 

I asked him for his provenance of the photographs in the composite and boy, he really laid it out. I’ll give it to you in his own words:

In case you are interested, herewith a list of the subjects and where they were photographed.

Foreground, Chisholm Creek Park, Wichita, KS

Background, Lucinda Ellert’s homestead, Winchendon, MA

Fence, Crested Butte, CO

Chairs, my backyard, Wichita, KS

Violins, Tomoko Iwamoto, Newton, MA

Birds, L-R:

Secretary bird, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

2 ravens on fence rail, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Raven on Violin I chair, my backyard, Wichita, KS

Black shouldered kite landing on Violin II chair. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Raven on Violist’s chair, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Bateleur flying in toward Cellist’s chair, Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Great blue heron, Everglades National Park, Florida

Raven in foreground, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Raven on fence post, Yellowstone

Raven on the left fence-post, Sitka, Alaska.

2 ravens on fence rail, Jasper National Park

Lappet-feed vulture in flight, Serengeti National Park

Tawny eagle on post, Serengeti National Park

An international project, to say the least.

Boy, he got the international part right! And the fact that this image turned out to be so incredibly diverse was a bit of serendipity I could never have thought to request. And yet, this is exactly what we’re about: to seek out music that rises to the challenge of being high art while rightly and justly representing the diversity of our audience.

You can find more of John’s beautiful work here:

www.johnellert.com

And here:

fhttp://facebook.com/john.ellert

And here:

 instagram @johnellertphotos