Project Haydn: The Creation, Partnership with MassArt

Each season, juniors in the Illustration Department of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design create works of original art in response to a masterwork being performed by H+H that year. H+H Historically Informed Performance Fellow Teresa Neff and an H+H musician work with students to understand the background and composition of the selected work.

In early April 2022, a professional jury selected 12 works to display during H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation.

If you are interested in purchasing a piece of art, contact Emily Reed at ereed@handelandhaydn.org. Artwork will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis and students will receive 100 percent commission for the sale.

Angela Agnello
Colored Pencil

Haydn's timeless "The Creation" depicts Adam and Eve’s story in its last segment. Our progenitors seemed like they had it all before they ate from the tree of knowledge. Thus, unable to be controlled any longer, were cast out with anger. This decision may have cursed us with suffering and death but provided critical thought, my ability to write this hinges on it. Creating this art helped me keep in touch with this dichotomy. If it weren’t for Adam and Eve the art world would be riddled with insensitivity. I truly believe they were cast out into the real world.

Link Ahearn
Linocut Print, ink

My piece for Haydn's Creation is not something I typically do, but the clips and snippets I heard from The Creation inspired me to experiment. I wanted to feel as close as I could to my piece for this prompt, which caused me to choose to make a linocut print. Linocuts have always felt particularly intimate to create. Carving the piece out from a blank piece of linoleum feels akin to carving from a piece of marble. It felt fitting, as Haydn's creation was meant to praise God's creation, my creation was meant to praise Haydn's. I portrayed the silhouettes of demons being driven back by God's light, as this sequence in the song caught my attention the absolute most. While I'm not a particularly religious person, Haydn's composition was truly awe-inspiring, and I see exactly why he wanted so badly to portray and praise these events.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Victoria Aliberti
Charcoal

I chose to depict a passage from The Creation that felt so viscerally poetic to me, when I closed my eyes I could imagine roaring waters and blooming clouds being born from a wide, unending nothingness.

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.”

Haydn’s oratorio has such an explosive, envelopmental quality that I tried to capture while Illustrating this piece- filling the border up as if it was about to spill out of the frame and into reality.

Madeleine Beaubien
Acrylic Gouache

With my work I chose to jump off from the ending point of Haydn’s oratorio. Instead of ending on the happy pair and the illusion of a perfect creation in the beginning of Genesis, I lean into the fall and chaos of the aftermath. I wanted to capture the movement and flow of the music, so I painted electric blue larks, as they are mentioned by name in the piece, to relate towards the water and violence of the coming flood. They are fleeing from the serpent and the original sin in the garden after the end of Haydn’s creation.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Milo Bednarczyk
Colored Pencil and Ink

With this project, I wanted to speak to my personal beliefs about the concept of creation as well as what was conveyed in the music piece in the form of a tapestry design that can be viewed at any orientation. I was inspired by the segment where animals were brought into existence, as well as the stormy inception of the oceans, and used the tone of the differing instruments to guide my piece. My philosophy regarding creation is that all we know was once stardust millions of years ago, connecting everything in the universe to one source.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Victoria Belanger
Gouache

The Creation of a Dream
I originally came up with this idea while thinking over the three parts of The Creation by Haydn. In the first part of the performance the Christian God creates the land, waters, heavenly bodies, weather and plant life. In the second, he creates sea creatures, birds, animals, and man. And in the last part, it describes the creatures and humans all living on Earth together. I thought I could reflect this sort of world building by representing the creation of a dream. After we fall asleep, our minds will transition into the fabricated reality of dreams. I felt that showing this transition would relate to the first part of the performance, in which the environment is built. The environments created around the central figure (lakes, pyramids, planets, fields, seas, buildings) are meant to represent the many locations a dream can place us, as well as the nonsensical transition between environments that can occur. Mostly though, this was meant to represent the creation of the environment in the first portion of Haydn’s Creation and the same creation that occurs in our minds.

Dreams can also begin in a multitude of ways. In my own dreams I’ve transitioned from viewing a scene from the third person to being an active member, as well as transforming into different people in different situations. My dreams have also started in short, cloudy segments that transition to clearer, longer portions that have somewhat of a sensible timeline. A few of these personal examples influenced my work, we can see this in the illustration of a small egg at the mouth of a large tunnel growing, transitioning, and coming together to form the large centered figure. This is meant to represent the fragmented and fuzzy transition from conscious, to unconscious, to dreaming. It also is meant to represent the creation of life and it's coming into being that is described in the second portion of The Creation.

The last portion of the performance is represented through the emergence of the figure into their full dream state, in which they can interact with their environment and are involved in it. This portion of the piece was supposed to lean towards the Paradise that the humans and animals experienced for a time and was detailed in the oratorio. I thought of representing subjects such as lucid dreaming and pleasant dreams. The clocks and papers with numbers are meant to represent common triggers of lucid dreaming (reading text, telling the time), as well as the possession the figure has over the illustration as a whole. The clouds represent the great bliss that can be felt with a dream, as well as the great feeling of control and freedom that comes with lucid dreaming. The large warm colored clouds are also supposed to give the same heavenly vibe as the oratorio did. The figures nestled within the clouds are supposed to represent loved ones or people we may see in dreams that might come as a comfort to us. The medium of this piece is gouache on bristol board. During my process, I had a difficult time picking the colors specifically for the bodies, as I know I wanted an array of colors to represent a humanoid form of the mind rather than some specific physical appearance. I decided to mix a multitude of lighter colors together, concentrating in the middle of the figure to represent the blissful state that's occurred in some dreams. I wanted the figure to show a deeper connection to the mind. The floating body parts also have more closely flesh colored tones, rather than some of the brighter yellows, blues and reds we see on the body. I felt this was to be added to represent the transition from the external world to the internal world.

Jenna Bordinger
Digital

While listening to Haydn’s The Creation, one aspect that I chose to illustrate in my piece is the sense of empowerment and beauty. The lion has always been a symbol to me that embodies those features as it is a creature that has an intimidating yet graceful aura. I showed this through my work by having the lion on its hind legs performing a mighty roar, yet it’s mane sparkling as it holds the universe. Lastly the flowers depicted in this piece are lilies of the valley, a very special flower to me as they were the favorite flower of my late grandmother, a woman who also had similar traits to the lion, being beautiful and strong.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Nidhi Buty
Pen and ink on paper

Joseph Haydn's oratorio, 'The Creation' depicts a newly formed world, teeming with life and flooding with light. Particularly, this piece visualises the following recitative:

"And God created great whales, and ev’ry living creature that moveth, and God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful all and multiply! Ye winged tribes, be multiplied and sing on ev’ry tree! Multiply, ye finny tribes and fill each wat’ry deep! Be fruitful, grow and multiply! And in your God and Lord rejoice!"

This illustration captures the celebratory nature of the recitative as numerous animals immerse in a community of life. The birds fly above, wind trailing from their wings as they embrace the freshly formed sky, while ocean life thrives below, weaving through the beams of light that flood the water.

Dante Canario
Digital

The Creation bestowed a concept of the creation of the world, consisting of many diverse animals. This digital painting depicts this creation, from an apple, that derives from the notion of the apple from the Garden of Eden. The apple is an iconic representation of nature and life, in which I chose it to be the focal aspect of the birth of these animals. The action lies in a scene of a mellow forest with contrasting colors to bring forth the depiction of the warmth of the existence of life.

Laura Carson
Digital

My piece centers around the introduction of light depicted in “In the Beginning”. While listening to the oratorio, the buildup to and release of this moment of light was powerful and consuming. Almost every instrument joins in full force and, when combined with the vocalists, are able to create an impactful sound that very much represents the angelic tone of heaven. When creating this piece, I wanted to emphasize this moment and not only have the light emanate from the musicians and conductor, but also the flow between them, taking over the atmosphere in a magical way.

Elizabeth Chapdelaine
Colored inks and bristol board

When I was told we were doing a piece on the creation of life, my immediate thought was skulls and plants. Life is a big circle, everything lives with each other. When we die we decompose and certain plants decompose us and without plants we wouldn’t be alive. We both live off each other and create each other. I enjoy creating plants taking over areas and having grow into things and skulls I got into drawing from high school so I created this piece.

Madeleine Collins
Digital

I've always been fascinated by creation and evolution, and those are subjects I also enjoy exploring in my art whenever I get the chance. After listening to the musical piece for the Handel and Haydn project, my first thought was of the life springing forth from the instruments themselves alongside the music. My drawing is meant to represent that concept. I also wanted to capture some of the lighter, airier, and more playful notes in the musical piece with bright colors and fluffy, curling clouds.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Jenevieve Dolby
Digital

My piece is meant to embody the concept shown throughout The Creation in a symbolic nature. Everything in this piece was painted in acrylics and edited through digital means. I wanted to make sure that I could portray dimension properly in order to match the scale of the piece. In the background, there are remnants of chaos reaching inwards. However, the hands of God are reaching out to create earth and expel chaos. The golden lines represent the music as it represents a bar of music. This was done to tie the musical number and piece together.

Ches Doyon
Digital

The musical composition, The Creation by Haydn, begins with the picture of chaos and turmoil before God begins creating the world. Your senses are overloaded as the whole orchestra bursts forth to paint an image of golden rays existing for the very first time. Immediately, I could see the scene of the Symphony Hall ceiling giving way as the sun and light tumbles down. Thus, I sought to create such a piece to represent what I could see in my mind.

Selected by a jury for display at H+H's performance of Haydn The Creation on Apr 29 and May 1, 2022.

Reece Easter
Posca Marker and Copic Marker

When I was given this assignment, I was immediately drawn to the expulsion of the demons. The sound was creepy yet funny in a way, almost like there was a band of demons playing themselves out. So that is exactly what I drew, I gave some of them trombones because that instrument was absent from the let there be light part in the music, also I think trombone being a demonic instrument is very funny. The violin playing angel expelling the demons atop a lion was based off of the sound the violin when the lion came into being and the double meaning of a violin bow and a bow as a weapon.

Finch Farr-Weinfeld
Digital

This piece is a representation of the operatic drama and vast descriptive qualities of Handel's Creation. I was also inspired by the phrase ""in verdure clad"" which moved me to draw my figure in a dazzling coat made of flora. The darkness of winter and the atmosphere of the theater which frames the illustration casts a portent shadow over the whimsy of the snowy creation that takes place before the main figure. I have imagined a parallel and more abstract performance of the creation of earth and nature aiming to capture the maximalism and the showy qualities of the music.

Jada Gardner
Marker, Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Oil pastel

The dark background represents things that have yet to be created. The three main shapes each represent the elements. The first creation stands for water, plants, and air. I used blues, greens, swirls, and long lines to further add to the idea. The second creation stands for light and fire. I used yellow, orange, red, and flame shapes. The third creation represents earth. I used browns and geometrical shapes to represent mountains and soil. I added a little bit of each color to each creation because God is everything. God is in everything, so everything is everything.

Angela Germain
Colored pencil and gel pen

This piece is based on a quote from The Creation text off of the Handel and Haydn Society’s website that reads, “but as to them thy face is hid, with sudden terror they are struck. Thou tak’st their breath away; they vanish into dust.” My entire piece is the darker interpretation of the phrase, “It’s in God’s hands.” I wanted my piece to be almost an exact illustrative translation of this quote because it had such rich imagery about our mortal relationship to God. I liked how this quote scared me in the way that it’s basically telling us that our lives were never really ours! Even if you don’t believe in God, he still has an invisible hold over your life and everything you do, every move you make is only because he allowed it.

Paola Gonzalez
Digital

My inspiration for my piece came primarily from the lovely vocals and lyrics that accompany “The Creation” during the Sun and Moon's “birth”. An image of the sun and the moon joining together in a waltz came to mind. In this scene, I present two human figures, each representing the sun and the moon. They join together in a black sky above crashing waves, a loving embrace connects them. They are opposite and the same, united in dance that will go on for eternity. They were created for each other, one cannot exist without the other.

Samantha Imrich

The beginning of “the creation” with the loud booming notes and the chaos of the earth being formed from darkness and nothing. This idea is what struck me when I heard this piece. I imagined a huge creature, almost a deity-like figure, large enough to crush rock and cause massive earthquakes. The great booming notes of the song were the Toppling of mountains, the breaking of rock and crushing of stone. All that was left would be ground into a fine dust. From this dust, it would use its massive hand-like wings to shape and mold. To create. I decided to make it inspired by the Greek goddess of earth Gaia and how they formed humans from mud. The shape of the creature was inspired by a lotus flower, the neck looking like large petals forming a crown, and the wings fingers twisted together like tree branches or vines. The colors were a mix of the pinks and reds from the lotus and the golden colors of a sunrise.

Leah Kinsella
Digital

Both music and visual art have always captured me. The way stories can be told, and the spaces both create are something to get lost in. I'm always searching for an opportunity to combine the two things I love. Creations burst forth from a singular point, fading in and out of each other. It's an amazing, sensational event where all life exists as one. This was how I interpreted The Creation, and how I felt the movement exemplified in my work could fit into its narrative.

Vanessa Kraps
Digital

I interpreted the Christian creation story with a modern game simulator twist. We see God’s monitor recording the day, 01/05/0000, to reflect the introduction of creatures to the earth on the fifth day. The logo on the computer and on the headphones are capital G & D with a large circle to represent the O in God. I wanted the logo to reflect the modern practice of shortening the word god to be less offensive. The spirits of the animals await their turn to be placed into the Godhood simulator. Tiger has been moved onto the board. Who’s next?

Kaya Long
Digital

For my piece, I decided to focus on the section where Gabriel watched as life, such as vegetation, began to grow on earth. I depicted him holding fruit growing from a tree next to him, whilst holding a conductor's baton, as if he is pointing and helping the vegetation flourish. I also decided to add to the image, a blue yellow gradients if the newly birthed sun began to shine down upon the new world beneath it. I thought it would make the image look much more warm and give off a better feeling of life being created, as the sunrise marks a new day for new things to occur.

Alexis Morris
Digital

I utilize my artwork to express myself through storytelling, color, and abstraction. My childhood was filled with many moves, forcing me to embrace change, and teaching me the art of adaption. Later in life, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, the biggest lifestyle change I had ever endured. My experiences and struggles have been the biggest inspiration to my artwork, and actually helped me see that creating is my purpose and my way of healing. While using Haydn's oratorio, "The Creation", for inspiration with this project, I was most compelled by the lyrics and mention of "the heavens". I've created a dreamy and celestial world, where "the earth is without form", depicting the cathartic transformation of water droplets from a cloud, into entities of their own. My piece embodies a soft and euphoric perspective of creation, like the beginning of part one, where there is a gentle build up to "chaos". A philosophy which is underlying in many pieces is the acceptance of ebb and flow, highs and lows, tranquility and chaos.

Victoria Pearson
Watercolor and ink

This piece is an ever evolving landscape of biblical proportions. Color selection and brush marks were very inspired by the energy and rhythm to the audio recordings. The scenery itself was inspired by traditional stories of the great flood, Pandora's box, as well as Moses parting the red sea. What I want the viewers to think when looking at this piece is if the light beams are blessing and closing the cracks in the earth, or if they are opening them further. Is it Holy intervention or a fall from grace?

Ava Pomilla
Digital

As I listened to Part I of “The Creation,” my imagination was captivated by Archangels Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael’s choral presentation of light in Genesis. Once I began sketching, I kept picturing a magnificent angel with arms raised, announcing the miracles of life and the wonders of God as they hover brilliantly in the sky, clouds gravitating to their presence. In this piece, an Archangel is encompassed by their great wings with hair like a radiant fire, directing our gaze upwards to the heavenly beams of light, which reached down to touch the Earth.

Vi Quinn
Charcoal, gouache, ink, metallic watercolor paint, paper collage

When visualizing the concept of creation, especially in terms of the divine, I see life enveloped in glowing white light. The same light that is associated with ideas of heaven surrounds life on Earth, uniting all that is material and all that is holy as one entity. Fetal beings provoke thoughts of creation, but more importantly, similarities across species reveal a deeper connection between everything, including man. At creation, there is no natural hierarchy.

Jamie Reinhold
Digital

In my project, The Stag, I wanted to take a moment to honor these kings of North American forests. Bathed in the light of Creation, his antlers are adorned with trailing plants. He is surrounded by the richness of delicate hollyhocks and Queen Anne's lace, canopied by fruit-bearing branches laden with apples that mirror his crown; welcoming the Light above.

My aim was to give a nod to the landscapes of the Renaissance era through my digital work, while also restricting the piece to a black and white color pallet to put the most emphasis on the light that is referenced throughout Haydn's Creation.

Jenylies Suarez Rodriguez
Digital

This 11”x16” digital piece is inspired by Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. Throughout the musical piece, there are varying times where the instruments and vocals either blend with one another or overpower each other in a beautiful yet chaotic way. I wanted to incorporate this compositionally with the sunlight and animals. Both subjects that are greatly described in part 1 and part 2 of The Creation. While the sun is in the center of the piece, the animals are more dynamically illustrated in order to represent the power of the creation of the earth.

Lydia Roy
Digital and acrylics

God created the universe in seven days. From the formless void, he sculpted light. Bringing life into the emptiness, he painted the skies blue. Forming the land and seas and filling it with life and nature. Shaping the environment around, lighting up the Sun and stars. Populating the Earth with living creatures to bring it all purpose and meaning. Day after day, he worked
tirelessly to find a perfect mix to fill the non-existence with life. This work is my vision of the
Biblical story of the accounts of creation. Where God is an almighty artist, who controls all the elements of existence. Mixing and shaping them to his will. Bringing his artistic idea, his ultimate vision, to life.

Melissa Santos
Digital and pearlescent watercolor

During the initial creative phase of illustrating The Creation, I had participated in an interview with one of the musicians playing this piece, and I was mesmerized by her adoration for music. The romantic way she had described how the music felt to her was something I had carried with me throughout the process of this piece.

The scene I chose to illustrate was the scene in which light and life were created by God. I wanted to describe this eruption of light from nothingness through bright colors and busy details while also maintaining a visual balance while also using references from the lyrics. I was inspired by the musician's delight at how Haydn had captured the personalities of the mentioned animals through sound. By distributing the weight of the six main bodies mentioned and filling the gaps with smaller, but still significant, creatures, I had achieved the visual balance I was looking for. The color palette was also inspired by the warm tones of the historical instruments, and the metallic accents were used to further express this creation of light as well as the loudness of the musical piece itself.

Mesa Serbin
Ink and gold leaf

I chose to focus on creation from destruction, and the juxtaposition that both beginnings and endings are suspended in space because neither exists. If heaven and earth were truly created from the void in the prelude, what would that look like? Angels are mentioned several times throughout the story, would they be singing in this void? If so, would that truly be the beginning of heaven and earth, or would heaven and earth themselves be the void? To illustrate this vital moment, I set gold leaf, signifying angels and beginning, against a deep black, demonstrating the dark rolling void. Dividing light from darkness displays this infinite cycle of creation in this destructive void.

Mylee Setzer
Digital

I’ve always enjoyed drawing beautiful goddess figures, so from the beginning of this project I was captured by the image of a larger-than-life goddess, playing the world into being from nothing. Her eyes are shut tightly, lost in her song, as the light behind her begins to push away the chaos. I chose to use my mother as a model for the goddess’ features, creating a personal connection to the idea of “creation.” My mother is not only my creator, but a painter herself, and I have reimagined her here as the grand creator of the entire world.

Oscar Figueroa Sierra
Ink

“A moment of hesitation” is the title of this piece. The concept behind it is creation and the process of life - As we all know, sex is just about the most popular way of recreating life as mammals. The title was given to depict the moment of a third party (you, the viewer) the exact confusion, shock, and outright repulsive emotions most would feel when they interrupt Sexual intercourse of a loved one they could never imagine being a part of.

But why a Monster? I chose this style to play a visual design of opinions of randomly selected friends and their genuine response of the thought of walking in on someone they wouldn’t imagine having intercourse- disgust, shock, and utter regret. The process of creation isn’t a pretty one, but it’s only beautiful if you are a part of it. Everyone loves it for the most part, but once you have your share of it, the remaining process can lead people to shame for either the videos they watch or the regret of walking in on someone.

The blood is symbolic of the many fetishes, or slight accidents we humans have during these passionate moments, the eyes are symbolic of how we tend to dart around the body to climax - then the tentacles, blemishes, and hair are for the added effect of disgust. The twisting limbs are for visual reputation of fetishes, and the bumble bee thorax is a play on joke of the saying “the birds and the bees”. The skull is the underhanded reminder that although they are creating life, death is always around for both people, and the new life, the melting partner on top is to show the melting feeling of desire during a climax, and the partner who turned into a monster is to show the shock and mid moment of realization that they were walked onto during this process.

Sikai Song
Digital

My piece revolves around the theme of God’s earliest creation in the beginning stages. God created flowers, trees, plants and accomplished his greatest creation of man and woman in his image. Before the man and woman ate the forbidden fruit and lost their innocences, they were born naked in a state of nature. So I left the female figure in my piece naked in her original state. Like Adam and Eve, man and woman share a close relationship and strong connection with the nature. Therefore, I used plants in the background to create the feeling that the woman was part of the nature environment.

Yiner Xu
Collage, Digital

When listening to Haydn’s The Creation, it inspired me to create a healing landscape with the bright light of the rising sun and a graceful lark singing delightfully in the sea of sweet flowers. The light of the rising sun represents “hope” and “courage”. The texture of the sky and clouds is to represent the ups and downs of the music’s mood. I made this piece with paper collage and illustrated the sunlight digitally. The piece is to convey a sense of happiness and joy.

Parker Yarasitis
Digital

Throughout The Creation, there are elements of newfound wonder expressed through the composition. Especially toward the beginning of the piece, the newness of the world is impressed upon those listening through the sudden swells of nearly all of the orchestra. This, paired with the naturalism expressed later in the piece with the march of the animals, reminded me of the story of the golem. A story of creation in itself, this Jewish narrative has its own innumerable interpretations, similarly to the creation of earth in the Bible. This lens helped me relate to the music even further, and consider how the act of creation affects the average person.

Hefang Zhang
Digital

God created man, plants, animals, and all things on earth. These creations are divine and fantastic. I think God created all these things so that they can grow up being each other’s company and not feel alone. To express the creation of everything in the world and the harmony between them, I have incorporated humans, plants, and animals in the same picture. A genderless human lying in a flower with a few darting squids entwined. My intentions was to create a feeling of dreamland with the main color purple as well as the composition. I wish that we could go back to the day when God created us and live in harmony with everything in the world. This is what I wanted to express in this painting.

Project Haydn The Creation

2022