SCENT BELLS

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This is  a series of sculptures I’m calling Scent Bells.

Each one is mounted on the wall and acts as a vessel that contains smell.
Viewers are able to walk up and smell them much like how one would smell a flower.
The scents used are constructed by me and are intended to function as a synthetic landscape taking the viewer to a place constructed of memory and uncanny familiarity.

Barn, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, synthetic fur, caprioic acid, 2,6-dimethyl-1,4-hydroquinone, birch tar, mushroom spore prints made from mushrooms collected at CalArts, metallic paper, mushroom spores, spray varnish
Marsh, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, graphite, silica microspheres, isovaleric acid- the scent of stinky feet.
Sky, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, silica gel, glitter, nonyl acetate, artificial durian flavor, artificial fruit flavor (generic), synthetic ozone, catnip essential oil
Field, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, kewra essential oil, vetiver essential oil, violet leaf essential oil, baccharis salicifolia essential oil collected at CalArts, Bouteloua gracilis- native bluegrass foxtails dyed red with a synthetic red acid dye, paper
Life, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, mica, marigold essential oil, helichrysum essential oil, cedarwood essential oil
Stone, 2016, wood, ceramics, glaze, acrylic paint, eucalyptus camaldulensis branches collected at CalArts, cotton string, paper, alumina hydrate, terra verte, eucalyptus camaldulensis essential oil, Amomum subulatum essential oil, Camphor essential oil

The Scent Bells have a small amount of a perfume mixture added to them. The mixture is mostly essential oils that I collected and distilled from plant material. The mixtures require small amounts of stabilizers and humectants which aid in making the smells stay consistent over time as each element of a smell on its own evaporates at a different rate. The stabilizers also allow the scents to slowly disseminate and last throughout a period of a show.  In specific bells there are synthetic smells added.

Some of the Essential Oil mixtures used in the Scent Bells.