Michael Bashaw,
Improvisation: A Dance On A Beating Wing, University of Dayton Arts Series.
photo
by Tony Ciarlariello
Sculptor / musician
Michael Bashaw has become well known for the large-scale, welded steel
instruments which he designs and builds. The instruments, known as Sound
Sculptures are played in a variety of ways: some are mallet instruments,
some have strings which are hammered or bowed, while others are made up
of chimes. These very unique instruments are combined with
the more traditional flute, guitar and hand percussion to create a "New
World" musical experience.
Bashaw's Sound Sculpture
concerts are engaging; a provocative blend of sound, movement and theater
aspiring as much to ritual as to entertainment.Audience members often describe
the concert experience as uplifting -- even healing. Dramatic,
thunderous rolls of sound mix with exotic timbres.Atmospheric tone poems
segue into more traditional musical structures, but all employ the sonic
uniqueness of Bashaw's Sound Sculptures.
"Bashaw's sculptures
are giant musical instruments, whose amazing voices
join with those
of instruments from around the world to present a truly
compelling performance. The original pieces [the ensemble] performs run
the gamut of emotions;
from sweet with a kick to an incredible lonesome
wail, from Celtic
romp on giant kalimbas to an exhausting explosion of sound."
-Mary Frey, Director,
Office of Special Events and Projects, Beloit College,
Oct. 1999. |
Michael Bashaw adjusts
his Chime Tree
photo:
Jan Underwood
Sound Sculpture
stage set up , Shiloh Church Concert Series, Dayton, OH
photo
by Rick Brusky
 
photo by Todd Champlin photo by Treva Reimer
"At the onset of this rare evening of interdisciplinary art, the dark stage lent echoey, mystic, eerie sounds of metal being scraped and bowed into the dark theater. Chunks of random noises scattered. Edgar Varese-like loud to decaying percussion strikes were overwhelmed by a deafening gong announcing the arrival of a thunderous tribal rhythm. Bashaw's visual/acoustical landscape was illuminated in its lovely sculptural shapes . . . The nearly two hour concert is an aural/visual universe unto itself, and the otherworldly nature of this very organic sculpture is a freaking riot for the imagination." - Lazaro Vega, Grand Rapids Press, January 22, 1994
 
Bashaw installation at Paul Winter's farm Gordon Gottlieb on timpani at Paul Winter's farm
“Michael Bashaw’s sound sculptures are the most alluring participatory environmental musical structures I’ve seen, heard or played. They invite collective participation by people of all ages, and would be nourishing in any school or community.” - Living Music artist, musician Paul Winter.
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Great Hall, performing arts center, Wausau, WI
Great Hall, performing arts center, Wausau, WI
Great Hall, performing arts center, Wausau, WI
Three photos above show a sculptural installation by Michael Bashaw, built in the Great Hall at the performing arts center in Wausau, Wisconsin. Bamboo, and aluminum industrial parts furnished by the Greenheck Fan Co. photos Michael Bashaw
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Puzzle of Light -- a sculptural installation, Gallery V, Stivers School for the Arts, Dayton, OH. Plexiglass, glass lenses, red acetate, lights. artist Michael Bashaw photo Jerry Bashaw
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Of the four Giant
Kalimbas, the only one made of wood.
photo
by Jerry Bashaw
GongSla
photo
by Michael Bashaw
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