Jeff Schlanger was a New York City native, a graduate of Music & Art High School, and a ceramic art student of Maija Grotell at Cranbrook. Across his life and work, he developed public art projects around three closely connected subjects: Peace, War, and Music.

As the musicWitness®, Jeff created live paintings alongside generations of creative improvising musicians, translating the energy, movement, and intensity of performance into color and form. His paintings and sculptures were part of every Vision Festival from its beginning in 1996, and in 2014 he received Vision Festival Lifetime Recognition.

his work was presented internationally at festivals and institutions including the academy of the arts in berlin, the tampere jazz happening in finland, the guelph jazz festival in canada, the knitting factory, cue art foundation, el taller latino americano, and numerous arts spaces across new york city and beyond. from 1996, he painted live at every vision festival — translating the music into image in real time.

Jeff’s visual work also became closely connected to recorded music. At the request of musicians, his paintings appeared on album covers by artists including Julius Hemphill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Charles Gayle, William Parker, Billy Bang, and Kidd Jordan.

Alongside the musicWitness® project, Jeff created monumental ceramic works addressing war, fascism, and the human cost of violence. Throughout his career, painting, sculpture, music, and public life remained deeply interconnected.