Natural curiosity leads to a lifetime of exploring the arts
David Lines has always had a great curiosity about how things are made.
“People in my life have indulged me since an early age,” he said.
That curiosity led Lines to explore an array of artistic forms. He said that sometimes he has to draw the line and decide to simply be a spectator rather than a practitioner.
Born in North Carolina while his father was in the Army and stationed at Fort Bragg, Lines spent most of his formative years in Seattle, which he still considers his hometown.
His mother taught piano lessons out of their home while he was growing up, plus he would enjoy hearing her play. By the time he was 8, he started taking piano lessons with her. The church his family attended had a pipe organ, and Lines explained how he loved the sounds it made, as well as its vibrating bass. He began studying that instrument in junior high school.
“I started playing professionally as a teenager and have been on the bench nearly every Sunday ever since,” Lines said. “I’ve also worked at a synagogue and most major religions.”
Lines went on to talk about how he presented concerts whenever he had the opportunity. Several of these were at the Mormon Tabernacle and the Cathedral of the Madeleine while he was living in Utah.
“I currently play for Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in San Bernardino and spend a lot of creative music time at my home piano, which I inherited from my mother, and my home recording studio,” said Lines, who has lived in Beaumont for more than three years.
Lines said that while spending so much time working with pipe organs in churches, he admired the stained glass. While studying for his master’s in music at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, Lines had friends who made stained-glass lampshades. After graduating, he moved to Salt Lake City, where his parents lived.
“I went up to Beehive Glass one day and they sold me my first Tiffany lamp form and glass, showing me how to use a glass cutter in the shop,” he said. “I made lampshades and windows as a hobby and occasionally sold a few. After moving back to Seattle, I eventually worked in decorative glass full time. Now I create a piece or two each month for clients with historic homes in Riverside.”
Lines enjoys teaching fused glass classes at the Redlands Art Association.
“When people are willing to learn, they are open to new ideas, which has become rare in our political climate these days,” he said. “Art can show that there is more than one way to think about a project and complete it. I like to say the only mistake in glass art is if you cut yourself.”
Over the decades, Lines has recorded many of his performances on pipe organs. It is no longer necessary to produce CDs; he said he has been uploading tracks to Apple Music and Spotify, where they are available to purchase or stream under his full name, David M. Lines.
Lines enjoys recording other types of music in his home studio under the name Metanoeca, which he said is a play on the word “metanoia,” which means rebirth.
“I create arrangements of classical music, some very well-known such as Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ and some more obscure,” he said. “There are many charming pieces for the French harmonium which are largely forgotten and rarely heard, partly because the harmonium pretty much sounds like an accordion to our modern ears and isn’t appreciated.”
These are pieces that Lines might play as gentle piano pieces or arrange for virtual instruments using computers and software.
“This is my main focus going into retirement,” he said.