Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian pioneer of abstract painting, had a neurological condition known as synesthesia. This simply means that the experience of one sense stimulates a second, seemingly unrelated sense. The most common form of this condition is seeing colors when hearing or reading letters and numbers.
But for Kandinsky, it was music and color that were inextricably linked. When he heard notes from a symphony, he could see colors before him. In fact, he once said, “the sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes or dark lake with treble.”
Joining the show this month to share works along the theme of color, Stephanie Reents reads an excerpt from Ann Joslin Williams novel, “Down from Cascom Mountain.” A former Stegner Fellow, Williams is the author of The Woman in the Woods, a collection of linked stories which won the Spokane Prize. Her latest novel, Skyland, is forthcoming from Islandport Press, in May 2026.
Something I Heard is supported by Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
