Pianos

Item Description

1910 Christman Piano, #20291, 52" walnut upright, donor Courtney Lannom

About Christman Pianos:

The Christman Piano Company was located at East 137th Street in New York City. The firm was originally established by Peter Christman in 1885, and was incorporated in 1911 by his sons. Christman was known for building high grade, expensive pianos. Their pianos were often very elaborate and boasted lavish, exotic woods. Due to the fact that Christman pianos were so expensive when new, they were only sold in modest numbers and are quite rare today. Christman also built pianos under the names of Lockhart, Schuler and Worthington.

About the Artists:

Kirsten Whalen is an exhibitor in the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. Her work reflects her appreciation for not only the visual arts but the art of theater and music as well. “I am challenged and awed by my fellow artist’s ability to create something from nothing”. Kirsten received a BA in Design at UC Davis, studied at Art Center College of Design and received a BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design. She worked as a graphic designer for many years before committing time exclusively to painting. You can see her work at www.kirstenwhalen.com.

Elliot Whalen graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2009, with a B.A. in Fine Arts. An accomplished photographer, Elliot’s recent year long trip through South America generated a tremendous log of documentary photographs, one of which will be part of an exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago in 2012. He also painted several murals in restaurants and hostels in his travels in South America. Elliot is currently working in Orange County as a freelance graphic designer. You can see his work at www.elliotwhalen.com and www.inverdant.com.

Artist statement about the work:

Art, music, and the piano’s park location inspired our design. The lovely setting in Mile Square Park reminded us of a famous painting by George Seurat from the 1880’s called, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte.” Our piano isn’t painted in the Pointillist style of Seurat, but takes the spirit of his work and wraps the piano with the color and images of the park. This same painting was the inspiration for a great musical created by Stephen Sondheim called “Sunday in the Park with George.” Some of the words painted on the piano are from this musical. Sondheim beautifully captures Seurat’s love of color and harmony in the music for this show. Seurat once stated that “Art is harmony.” He believed that a painter could use color and light to create harmony in much the same way a composer uses counterpoint and musical variations to create a beautiful piece of music. Stephen Sondheim put Seurat’s art to music. It seemed the perfect combination for the piano for the Pacific Symphony’s “OC Can You Play” project.