Biography for Dan Senn |
Dan Senn. Dan Senn is a sound artist who came to contemporary music by way of the visual arts. Trained since childhood as French horn player and vocalist, he began studying ceramics and raku pottery in 1972, an ancient ceramic method which fundamentally shifted his aesthetic. In 1977 he built his first sculptural instrument and soon after began developing computer software to emulate the raku process in musical compositions which, like his instruments, exhibits the peculiar paradox of raku--that is, highly considerate, non-linear systems which exist, in part, to confound the will of the artist. Since 1974 he has kept personal journals, a practice which has influenced his live performance and installation work. From 1994 to 2004 his instrument building has centered on the development of pendulum-based instruments which varied in size from 18"x18"x18" to outdoor versions covering 600sf. These are often integrated with his ethnographic and installation videos. Living a portion of each year in Prague, he regulary tours Europe and the U.S. exhibiting and performing at festivals and experimental venues. In 1995 he was awarded the McKnight Composer-in-Residence Award for the State of Minnesota where, among other projects, he produced the Catacombs of Yucatan Sound and Video Installation within a remote limestone cave located in the southeastern corner of that state. In 1997 he was awarded the Artist Trust 10th Anniversary President's Award (Seattle) for his influence on the arts throughout the Pacific Northwest, and in 1998 became the first Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington at Tacoma. Later that year he won the sculpture prize at the Papier Bienale at the Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany. In 2002 his documentary film, The Exquisite Risk of Civil War Brass, won at the da Vinci Film Festival in Corvallis, Oregon. His scored music is published by Smith Publications, Sonic Arts Editions, and AM Percussion Publications. His recorded music is available from the artist direct, Experimental Musical Instruments and Periplum Records. Dan Senn has a doctorate in Music Compositon and Ceramic Sculpture (minor) from the University of Illinois where his principal instructors were Salvatore Martirano, Ben Johnston, and Herbert Brün. At the UW-LaCrosse he studied art with Leonard Stach and music composition with Dr. Truman Hayes. He has been a Lecturer in Electronic Music at the Canberra School of Music in Australia ('80-84), an Associate Professor of Composition at Ball State University in Indiana ('87-92), and a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana ('86). In 1993 Dan Senn founded Newsense Intermedium, an non-profit presenting organization specializing in experimental performing arts for which he is the Artistic Director. NI has produced numerous concert series and ephemeral public art events including the Six Exquisites International Sound Art Festival ('85, '97 and '99) and The Municipal Dock Sound Installation ('93). Dan is a co-founder of Roulette Intermedium of New York City in 1978 and, in 2008, of the Cascadia Composers League. His instruments, video and music, since 1997, are part of the Sylvia Smith Archive at the University of Akron. His permanent sound installation work can be viewed in the main foyer at the University of Washington-Tacoma, at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle, and in the Sound Garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. |
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