The library, a traditional haven of silence, is not the first place you’d think of to record sounds. But that’s what Teresa Landgraff Gale ’96, this year’s Lois Langland Alumna-in-Residence, chose as the site for her one-day sound art installation, “Quiet Noise, Sacred Space: The Soundspace of Denison.”
Gale captured hushed whispers, creaking floor boards, the swipe of a library card, and rolling book carts in a collaborative effort with students.
Gale’s weeklong residency during February offered students and members of the Scripps community a chance to learn about how Gale uses sound as a viable artistic and narrative medium.
“Working with the dedicated and creative students was the highlight of my time at Scripps,” offered Gale.
Scripps senior Rachel Link participated in a small workshop facilitated by the artist; Link is a media studies and French studies dual major with a minor in studio art. “I have a personal interest in the ways in which sounds are constructed to create atmospheres and emotional sentiment,” said Link. During the workshop, she learned the basics of sound art recording, production, and installation.
Gale, a Chicago-based artist and educator, has been experimenting with sound since learning aural teaching techniques as a teacher at the Los Angeles Braille Institute, a school for the blind and visually impaired.
Later, Gale created her first audio recording during a year-long photographic study. Impressed by the incidental noises, she began taking aural snapshots during her photography sessions. “At that point,” said Gale, “I knew that visual documentation alone was insufficient in conveying the scope of my sensory experience.” Her artistic practice fuses conceptual and performance art and is resolutely interdisciplinary—engaging digital audio and video technology, found sound, and psychoacoustics.
The LLAiR program honors Lois Langland, Scripps professor of psychology emerita, whose devotion to encouraging creativity and individuality reflects a central value of the College. Previous LLAiR recipients include: Kathleen Brogan Schwarz M.D. ’64, professor of pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University; and Tanya Cherry Tull ’64, humanitarian and founder of Para los Niños, a Skid Row nonprofit family service agency.