Challenge 4: The Scent of a Memory

From the beginning of our Viewpoint9 adventure, I’ve been more aware of just where our/my inspirations come from.  Being, perhaps, too much, reliant on my visual world, this new awareness has taken me down several paths.  But that was the whole idea to start with, wasn’t it!?

Interesting to me is that one of the paths that keeps re-inserting itself, when I’m at a crossroad, is the physical experience modality of intelligence, and the sense of smell in particular.

I imagine that part of this fascination is due to the fact that, because of allergies and various medical conditions, I have largely lost my sense of smell.  However, I haven’t lost the memory of that sense.  Interesting, no? 

I’ve read that the sense of smell is the last to leave a person prior to death.  I also read that the imagery sparked by the sense of smell is the most vibrant.  Wishful thinking on my part, perhaps.

Contemplate past memories of scents, like the smell of burning leaves in the autumn, the scent of your newborn held to your breast, the lilac eau de toilette in a hug from Great-aunt Edith, the rotting decay in the muck and mud after a hurricane, the pungent wafts of incense burning in a shrine.

I pose this to you:  Do you remember a scent that evokes vivid imagery?  Share that memory with us.

The Details: 
The orientation for this challenge is PORTRAIT.
The Virtual Gallery Opening will be on October 26th, 2012 

Bringing back memories

The Scent of a Memory challenge has been intriguing for us all. Depending on which part of the world we live in- Northern or Southern hemisphere and in which country we grew up in or live in now, we are all impregnated with strong visual and visceral memories evoked by various scents.
I don't know why, but childhood scents came immediately to mind; the strong sweet smell of newly mown grass and the colour green, the smell of the chickens and the jasmine that climbed over the dog's house. Later scents include the smell of the coming rain on the dusty inland of Australia and on our Indonesian travels,  clove cigarettes and their distinctive aroma along with durian fruit in the market.

But it was not until I visited a friend's beautiful garden that I settled on what I was going to focus on. Reveal begins October 26, so please check back then.

colors in my memories: Misik responds

I do not know why I am not sensitive to the scent.

But Many scent are located in my memories.

If you go chasing the scent, memories of my childhood are there.

Grandma's old sewing machine, old sewing box ..... 

We live in four seasons, each season has a scent of its own.

Specifically, the Autumn seems to make people more sensitive.

Autumn comes in Korea now.

It seems to be a season of memories.

There are many reminiscences in my memory.

past memories of scents, like the smell of burning leaves in the autumn…..

It is a good memory.

Even a good thing? Like the smell of coffee freshly fried and smells of ripe hazelnut.

      

      This is Changduck Palace in Seoul.

      I went there and took the pictures last fall.

      The royal family lived there.

      It is called  secret garden.

      I like this place.

      

Memory Lane

I have been having so much fun with this challenge! I'm not sure which I've enjoyed more, the quilt construction or the stroll down memory lane, but both have been totally engaging. The first scent-triggered memories which came to mind included:

• the cologne of the boy with whom I had my first slow dance (I even remember what I was wearing!)
• roses from my grandparents' garden
• the smell of the warm, thick, salt, sea air on summer vacation
• the air of grandma's attic: deep, rich and papery

I found it interesting that the myriad memories were joyful. Even the smell of the garlic weeds I had to pull by hand during vacation at my grandparents' house was shrouded by the velvet fragrance of damp earth and the pleasure of lying on my stomach in the grass. 

 

Like Martha, most of my memories were adolescent. When I chose to return to Florida after having traveled the world, I had a visceral reaction that went beyond childhood familiarity. The hot smell of baking earth, or steam rising after a summer storm, those and more had been imprinted on my psyche. Perhaps I am part Salmon...

Being married to a chef, I have many, lovely memories generated by the scent of food. Most recently was his special homemade spaghetti prepared for my "Birthday Eve". I could smell it the second I entered the garage; warm and inviting, comforting, the scent of love.

 

Ah, lest I linger too long in memories, let me say that I have already finished my piece! That is no small miracle and quite a testament to the power of enthusiasm. Thank you Diane!

Scents of Smell

At long last!  This is the first challenge where I knew right away what I would make in response.  Diane's post: <<Do you remember a scent that evokes vivid imagery?  Share that memory with us>>. The immediate response was so clear to me that I rejected it at first, thinking I should come up with something less obvious.

So I searched the olfactory memory banks. One of her suggestions was the smell of burning leaves in autumn and that is indeed a favorite childhood memory of mine. And that in turn reminded me of a piece I made many years ago for a local group challenge called "The Elements."  I made an experimental 3D piece - a vessel with a side for Earth, Wind, Water and Fire.

Here's "Fire." I sat and studied the fire in our wood stove (also a wonderful scent to recall on a chilly autumn day like today) and then layered strips of orange organza and stitched them down.  I was not enthralled with the result and stitching in orange to represent the flying sparks didn't do anything to win me over.  As I showed it to the group, someone asked, "What sign are you?" When I said, "Capricorn," she nodded knowingly and said, "Yes, of course; that's an 'earth' sign so no wonder you were challenged in the making of 'fire' - they're totally incompatible signs."  Interesting food for thought, especially in light of the fact that I had experienced such joy in the construction of the "Earth" side.  This recollection helped in the decision not to attempt a piece for this challenge based on the smell of burning leaves from my childhood.  Ha!

I am greatly relieved we are not expected to depict a specific scent in our next piece.  Too reminiscent of that stressful Vivaldi challenge where the artwork was to represent the sound of the music!  No, this is a wonderful opportunity to depict the image that comes to mind when a specific scent is experienced or recalled.  Like my fellow challenge-takers, I can think of many scents that evoke memories:  gardenias, freshly-baked oatmeal cookies, a new box of crayons, Youth Dew perfume....  But I'm back to my original choice. Without giving anything away, I can share this much:  Brahadi's Pipe Tobacco is the scent that is inspiring what I am going to create.  Can't wait to see the scents and images that inspire my colleagues!

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Young chinook salmon

As I began reading the new challenge, "the scent of a memory", my mind immediately flashed to salmon.  In my research days, I was always fascinated by the idea that the young salmon, at a sensitive stage in their development would undergo olfactory imprinting of their natal waters.

From that stream, they'd swim to sea and travel, sometimes thousands of miles, before navigating their way back using olfactory cues to find those same natal waters to spawn in.  Amazing!  I contemplated how oil spills and other pollutants might affect that sense and the longterm impacts of exposure, how this contributed to the observed decline and collapse of certain runs.......but I digress.

Reading on, I realized my amazing fish concept wasn't going to really address the challenge so I considered other possibilities. A lot of fairly "generic" scent memories came to mind; peonies remind me of my father's garden, daffodils and Easter, bread baking would be my mother, Baby Magic Baby Wash - my older sons and so on.






Reflecting on the things that come to mind, it seems almost all of the really "profound" scent memories, those that connect a scent with a scene, I can conjure are from my teens.  Patchouli.  Hawaiian Surf.  Makes me wonder if being jacked up on all those hormones affects our sense of smell (too) - whether it is the equivalent of the fish stage when they're imprinting, adapting to saltwater and moving out to sea?  Whenever I smell the scent of pine needles baking in the sun in the forest I am transported to a time in my teens spent in the mountains of New Mexico. "Las Tusas: Ponderosa Pine" was actually conceived from that memory.

I'm totally unsure where I am headed with this challenge, at the moment.  I feel like it hasn't come to me yet, but I'm enjoying rifling through memories and considering how I could depict them.  It will be interesting to see what others create!

"Las Tusas: Ponderosa Pine"
©2011, 46" X 37"

Smelly Me

What a fantastic challenge Diane!
The first thing I thought of was a show called Synesthesia that was at our art museum a couple of years ago.  Synesthesia

It was mind boggling to learn about perceiving things through different senses- here's a piece by Arthur Garfield Dove called Fog Horns-

Doesn't it LOOK exactly the way they SOUND?

One of the reasons the show was interesting to me is that I don't have synesthesia at all- things look the way they look, sound the way they sound, and smell like themselves, and my mind just doesn't volunteer to translate them different ways.

Smells, though, do have a Proustian effect on me.  Since I've been working in art studios since I was a little kid, taking summer and Saturday classes, the smell of turpentine and linseed oil takes me right back.  I flash on to the steel and glass exterior of the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia.  It brings up a complex set of feelings, the terror of having to take a train alone into the city mixed with the excitement of learning new ways to express myself.

If I wasn't in class, I was with horses.  I grew up riding in the hunt country of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and as soon as I could drive began working at the racetrack with the Thoroughbreds.  Here's a little sketch from back in the day-

To me, they smell great,  but my artwork reflects conflicting emotions- a great love for them, mixed with a sense of loss.  It's not something I have been able to do in my adult life, but I do have some wonderful memories.

Thanks for the challenge Diane, it will be very interesting to see what everyone comes up with.

Scent of a Memory, Hsin-Chen's Response

Another whole new challenge-the scent of a memory. This is such an interesting topic.

Honestly collecting and keeping record of a sense of smell are not my custom. However I can recall my past. When I visited a perfume company in France the first time, my body was covered with sweet smell; I hopped in a cab with smell of cigarettes; a smell of sewage after floods, etc.

The most unforgettable memory was when I went to a church after the Haiti earthquake; I saw a big bunch of lilies under the statue of Mother of God. The flowers smelled so soft and sweet. I then sketched the beauty of that lilies and the sweet smell remained in my mind. A friend of mine told me lily is considered the flower of the Virgin that means praying happiness.

I would not like to make the sense of smell drab through this 4^th challenge because orientals often say a masterwork contains nice, tasty, and frensh; just like a sweet dessert.