Deaf Artist Creates Cymatic Sound Pieces

by Jodina Meehan on July 16, 2009

In the news: Horatio Thomas Lawson, 22, recently used cymatics to create his showcase portfolio piece for his graduation from Edinburgh College of Art.

An article in the Eastlothian Courier states, “Horatio is the only wholly deaf student to graduate from the university in 2009 and his innovative portfolio – based on the theme of ‘sound works’ – will be seen by about 2,000 visitors later this month at an end-of-year showcase.”

It goes on to describe how Horatio experiences music through physical vibrations and wanted to reproduce that experience for his art exhibit visitors.

Horatio described how his cymatics work demonstrates the way he perceives sound, and that he uses vibration to “paint with colour and charcoal, and also to create sound patterns by pulsing sound waves through liquid.”

One example described in the article on his exhibition included “a box filled with polystyrene balls with four speakers mounted at each corner…The feather-light balls appear to dance to the musical rhythms emitted through the speakers due to sound vibration, similar to how Horatio himself appreciates music.”

It will be interesting to see whether Horatio continues to work with cymatics and art, although his plan after graduation at this time is to pursue a masters in film and TV.

If you would like to experiment with creating your own cymatic art patterns, you can download my free video instructions for making a cymatic sounder (tonascope) HERE

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Ilona September 4, 2009 at 6:12 pm

Hey

I was looking at cymatics on internet and read about you. Sounds really interesting how you catch the sounds in the art way.

My name is Ilona. I live in sweden and work as a sounddesigner and sound technician.
I been intressted in music and sound since I was a kid. I graduated in the art school in Stockholm after 3,5 year Sounddesign for Film and TV.
Now I work as a freelance and are also intressted in sound as art.

Im looking forward to see and hear more about your works in the future.
Good luck!
The Very Best
Ilona Pettersson
Sweden

Reply

Jodina Meehan Reply:

Hi Ilona,

thanks for writing!

I would like to hear about what you do with sound now, and what you would like to do with it in the future.

Did you see the latest post here that includes a video on Cymatics done at TED?

Have you been able to get my free instructions for making your own cymatic sounder?

Let me know, & good to meet you,

–Jodina

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Isaac Coblentz November 22, 2009 at 2:10 am

I have enjoyed reading many of the articles you have shared so far. This one in particular is inspiring my to incorporate some cymatic projects into the weekly art classes I have been doing with an Autistic Adult. I have not tried building a cymatic sounder yet but will soon. I will keep you posted. Thanks for gathering and sharing all this information on cymatics. I find it all very fascinating on many levels.

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Jodina Meehan Reply:

Thanks for writing, Issac! When you build your cymatics sounder, let me know if you need help and how it works for you. There is information on the web about cymatics and autism, if you haven’t discovered it yet search for on google. Good luck!
–Jodina

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April February 24, 2010 at 3:41 pm

Hi there Jodina,
I am looking into creating my own cymatics art experiementation for a drawing project. What type of musical sounds/cd’s do you suggest to create these beautiful designs?

~April

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marcos casas cordero May 10, 2010 at 12:59 pm

Dear jodina,
Tanhk a lot for your information, I will try to contac thomas and see his work. Mil gracias
Marcos Casas
From Chile

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leonard November 27, 2015 at 8:34 pm

Hello Jodina,

Do you know of any Cymatic experiments involving people? I am interested in studying patterns made by people exposed to similar frequencies for extended periods of time, where the human beings would replace the salt or sand particles seen in other cymatic demonstrations.

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Jodina Meehan Reply:

Hi Leonard,

I believe there are two places that may interest you and where you might read about this type of information. One is John Stuart Reid’s site, https://www.cymascope.com/index.html he is currently studying the effect of cymatics and sound on human cells.

Also at the International Sound Therapy site: http://istasounds.org/ you can learn about how sound is used to change and heal the human body by applying it with frequencies projected through sound machines. Let me know if this answers your question?

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