About
Each gathering of the Dallas InterArt Salon offers opportunity for local artists to share music, dance or poetry. The ideas present within the art they share become the starting point for structured dialogue among Salon participants. In dialogue with each other, participants have the option of responding to guided practices that structure the flow of the conversation. Designed by Justin and Julia, these guided practices invite dialogue that opens a tapestry of old and new worlds through creative thought and expression.
Dr. Justin Proffitt
My love of the salon setting stems from a practice of exploring ideas. I find that the chance to explore ideas in community reliably leads to ways of knowing that are not possible in solitude. Graduate studies at Columbia University and the music conservatory Westminster Choir College naturally offered me many such opportunities for the exchange of ideas. Particularly compelling for me are settings outside the academy that invite the contemplation of ideas through dialogue.
There’s something about the interconnection of ideas that reflects the nature of music. My interest in this kind of interconnection has been nurtured by studying classical music formally (two of my degrees are in Piano Performance): patterns we can observe and experience in the arts invite contemplation, dialogue. My doctoral research and dissertation explores the lived experiences of individuals who play an active role in navigating their relationship between life as lived and life as narrated: it approaches personal autobiography through phenomenology as both philosophy and practice. The Dallas InterArts Salon offers a setting for this very sort of exploration – drawing on our own lived experiences, connecting with each other.
I teach applied piano and have formerly been adjunct faculty at Westminster Choir College and The College of New Jersey. As a pianist, I have performed as a solo and collaborative pianist, including inter-arts collaborations with dancers and choreographers. Underscoring my teaching and performing is an interest in human flourishing through ones engagement in the arts. To this end, I especially welcome occasions for sharing an experience of art with others, noticing the ideas it inspires and discussing them.
Dr. Julia West
I remember being drawn to the concept of a salon even as a child. I was fascinated with images I found in an encyclopedia, especially the image of Franz Liszt in the company of artists and the bust of Beethoven. Images like these fed my imagination and inspired me to pursue music as a means of experiencing other times in history. Later, as I began formal music lessons, I never forgot the magic of play within the medium of music. The creative elements of music have always captured my interest.
My doctoral research developed out of this curiosity. In my dissertation, I examined pedagogical strategies and patterns of interaction that open works of art music to improvisation.
My studies have taken me to several places that continue to shape the way I think about music, art and learning. I completed my Doctor of Education at Columbia University, after finishing my Masters in keyboard performance and Bachelor’s in music education at the University of North Texas. Along the way, I had opportunities to study in Limerick, Ireland; Florence, Italy; Salzburg, Austria; and Germany, including work connected to the Universität Mozarteum and the J.S. Bach Institute in Leipzig, Eisenach and Potsdam. These experiences deepened my interest in music as something connected to history, place, imagination and shared inquiry, all of which are the hallmarks of a salon. My writing has appeared in the International Journal of Music Education, Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music and American Music Teacher, including work in collaboration with Justin Proffitt. I currently serve as Managing Editor of Visions of Research in Music Education.
In my current work as a Learning Experience Designer, I create instructional designs through structured activity, reflection and interaction. That way of working also pertains to the salon, where structure can support conversation and engagement with ideas.
I find that a salon answers a wish to linger with an artistic experience, as conversation becomes a way of dwelling longer inside the artistic moment.