niki tredinnick & barry osborne: intimate songs and stories at clyfford still museum
within the walls of music in the galleries, musicians don’t merely perform—they converse, responding to the space, the artwork, and the audience in real time. this season’s series was kicked off by multi-instrumentalist niki tredinnick and folk storyteller barry osborne, engaging in a collaborative exchange, sending echoes of their music through the museum’s architectural and artistic landscape. this performance took place within part iii of the held impermanence exhibition, a gallery dedicated to themes of time, grief, and reflection—an evocative setting for these two artists to transform into a music venue.
some songs were performed as a duet, offering additional instrumentation or vocal harmonies. others were performed solo with the other musician listening as intently as the audience was. the museum’s halls provided an intimate enclosure for the performance, their quiet, sacred energy shaping the atmosphere. as tredinnick and osborne traded songs, they engaged with the exhibition’s central themes—impermanence, preservation, and artistic legacy.
held within an exhibition designed to examine impermanence, the afternoon’s performance was a fitting reflection of live performance’s nature of ephemerality. each note existed in the moment, shaped by its surroundings, by audience engagement, and by the shifting dialogue between the two artists. much like still’s paintings, the songs carried layers of history, technique, and emotion—an embodiment of how art, in all forms, holds traces of the past even as it adapts to the present.
the exchange felt less like a setlist and more like an evolving conversation, mirroring the way the pieces in the gallery converse when exhibited together. osborne’s banjo-driven storytelling evoked layers of lived experience, and in his song a little song about big things, osborne told us what it’s like to be “quietly queer” in a world where your story is missing from the mainstream narrative. osborne’s gentle vocals are friendly and inviting, bouncing with clarity along his skillful fingerpicking and story-driven compositions.
tredinnick shared coffee and beer, recalling a memory of feeling disconnected and distracted, and about how past experiences linger and stick with us, and simple coping mechanisms like coffee, beer, and crunchy cheetos. her multi-talented musicianship was on full display as she switched between guitar, clarinet, vocals, harmonies, and even a foot-tambourine at one point. tredinnick’s voice has a beautifully textured character that slides effortlessly between her chest and head voice, perfect for her stream-of-consciousness lyrical style.
what struck me most was how music in the galleries distilled the fleeting nature of existing into a shared experience. each song was an invitation to reflect on the impermanence of every moment. osborne and tredinnick, in their unguarded exchange, offered a glimpse into an ongoing dialogue about where we’ve been and where we’re headed—a reminder that every note in a song, every brushstroke in a painting, and every performance in a museum, is a transient yet transformative act.
the clyfford still museum continues its music in the galleries series through this month before transitioning to their outdoor edition, summer music: picnic series.
