Art and music go hand and hand, Ellie Evans and Max Henkel’s collaboration brought the two together. The musical piece, created by Henkel called “The Forest” was “derived from all of [his] walks in the woods.” The art, created by Evans was both inspired by the song as well as the inspiration, and the two works were “mushed together”, according to Henkel.

     A collaboration is not without its drawbacks, Henkel attributed the hardest part of the collaboration as “both of [them] attempting to channel the same idea.” Evans said that the most difficult part for her was “that it was pretty time consuming because [she] wanted it to look so good.”

     Balancing music and academics is an important part of the process of creating anything, for Evans, “[art is] a way to calm [herself] so it doesn’t seem like it’s something [she has] to balance,” while Henkel said that he “sacrifices sleep for productivity.”.

     Henkel’s favorite part of Evans’ painting was “how imaginative her painting was, she wasn’t basing it off a specific picture or place, she created her own image,” as well as “the brush strokes and the palate she used in the painting.” Evans was  proudest of her ability “[to] take an image or song as an inspiration” for her painting.

     The part of the song that Evans liked the best was “the imagery [Henkel] used.” She said she “thought it was cool to use music to inspire my art.” Henkel likes the “instrumentation and scale within the song. [He] used a Dorian scale as well as string and African instruments to give the piece a woodsy feel.” 

     The collaboration was difficult for Evans and Henkel due to “school and everything [they] have going on outside of school” but being able to “communicate with [Henkel] about my progress and his progress” made it easier for them both. “When you are working with somebody you have to try to stay on the same page,” says Henkel.

     The song created by Henkel can be found through scanning the QR code, along with a picture of the painting done by Evans.