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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Classical KC have joined forces to create a multi-sensory experience when viewing artwork in the museum's permanent collection. Take a listen!

Julie Blackmon's 'Picnic' // 'The Kansas Rapture - IV. Wichita Vortex Sutra' by Forrest Pierce

Julie Blackmon (American, born 1966), Picnic, 2013, archival pigment print, 59 x 77 ⅘ inches. Collection of Bill Haw, Kansas City, Missouri. Art and photo © Julie Blackmon.
Julie Blackmon
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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Julie Blackmon (American, born 1966), Picnic, 2013, archival pigment print, 59 x 77 ⅘ inches. Collection of Bill Haw, Kansas City, Missouri. Art and photo © Julie Blackmon.

Forrest Pierce, who is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Kansas, also teaches Sufism in the Inayati tradition. In his saxophone quartet piece “Kansas Rapture,” Pierce depicts the tallgrass prairie as “a crowd of cantors.” He describes this final movement “Wichita Vortex Sutra” as Allen Ginsberg reciting “apocalyptic poetry into a dictaphone in the back of a Greyhound bus somewhere near El Dorado, Kansas, and the plains begin to unbreak.”

The use of extended saxophone techniques, resulting in quarter tones and striking pitch-bending effects, highlights the summertime freedom of the children in Julie Blackmon’s “Picnic,” but also the ominous birds above.

Want to explore more music inspired by Julie Blackmon's art? Listen to our Spotify playlist for full pieces.

Find more information about 'Julie Blackmon: A Life in Frame' on the Kemper's website.

You can find out more about Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art at kemperart.org.

View the full Kemper Museum Permanent Collection here.