Private collection

Maria Schneider’s album ‘The Thompson Fields’ consists of eight compositions for jazz orchestra, inspired by the Minnesota prairie and farmland where she grew up. ‘Some birds that I saw regularly when I was young, like the Western Meadowlark, are rare now. But all that changes when I stand in a native prairie, teeming with butterflies, birds, and insects, collectively drawn to that vast array of native plants. When surrounded by that, I can’t help but stand in awe of the endless intricate relationships that have evolved over aeons.’

Hearing Schneider’s album for the first time was an intoxicating experience, and it remains so for me. Her compositions are complex and masterful, yet evoke such simplicity and beauty. Listening, I paradoxically feel as if I were floating and deeply
rooted all at once. ‘Of Gorse’ (2024) is an oil painting on a piece of reclaimed wood - the swirling organic figuration in the wood bring back memories of landscape, being surrounded by trees, wood furniture at home. I paint buttery yellow gorse and
wood anemone, a scene of beauty.