-
Repository 232: Analog is the New New for your Nose
Today the BBC has posted an article about why we don’t have scent coming through our television sets yet. The article lightly explores the attempts of years past, all the way up to some in-process attempts right now around the VR (Virtual Reality) hubbub. It’s exciting to think about, and whenever something is exciting and flashy, it’s pertinent to consider it critically. While I researched historic films and innovative design projects using scent for my book Nose Dive (2019), I…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 231: God Nose | The Radical Position of the Immaterial in Olfactory Art
Consequently, everything that concerns creativity is invisible, is a purely spiritual substance. And this work, with this invisible substance, is what I call “social sculpture.” This work with invisible substance is my domain, at first, there is nothing to see. Subsequently, when it becomes corporeal it appears initially in the form of a language. -Joseph Beuys Olfactory art’s immaterial qualities, you cannot see it, disrupts systems of representation. This silent and borderless focus is a radical reaction to the hyper-retinal,…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 227: Things to Do with Your Hands and Head
This week I am a panelist for the inaugural Digital Scent Festival. I have been asked to speak with two other panelists about scent, art and design. No small feat to do virtually, I’m excited for the challenge. It’s informal, so that’s the good news. Send me in advance questions you might want discussed. I will be sure to post highlights of topics covered. The event is May 7, 10 AM PST, here are the details and please RSVP. The…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 224: The Flower, The Witch and the Pool Toy
Below is my artist statement for the exhibition I will have in Portland in March. Please save the date for the opening, and come say hi! Saturday, March 7, 2020, 6-8 PM, Luke’s Frame Shop (Albina Street location) The Flower the Witch and the Pool Toy: New work by Catherine Haley Epstein Her language does not contain, it carries; it does not hold back, it makes possible. When id is ambiguously uttered-the wonder of being several-she doesn’t defend herself against…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 221: NOSE DIVE | Book Launch
I’m thrilled to share the launch of my book “Nose Dive”! The book is available for shipping on August 4. I will also having an informal talk, where I will have the books at Fumerie in Portland, Oregon on August 10, 2019. Please RSVP to the event if you would like to join. I look forward to your throughts on the book, and starting a new dialogue on scent, olfaction and art. From the back cover: “Adventures for your nose…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 220: Aromatica Poetica Review of Esxence
Realizing some Mindmarrow readers might not have seen the post on SM – I’m excited to share that the following essay is featured in Aromatica Poetica, a journal dedicated to all things scent founded by Leona Godin. She asked if I could review the Esxence event, where I was in April to do a workshop on art and the niche scent landscape from an American (and artist’s) perspective. She kindly edited and published the work, and I recommend you follow…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 217: Hilma’s Project
After a transcontinental red eye from the West coast, I dropped my bags in the West Village and took the subway uptown. On twenty-eight hours of no sleep, I arrived at the Guggenheim to see the “Hilma af Klimt: Paintings for the Future” show. This was a pilgrimage, as a woman artist who knows 100 percent that we have not been given our due in the art world, that our natural creativity and depth of thinking have not been explored…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 213: Happy Birthday Jasper Johns!
The habit of regarding “art” as a thing apart from life is fatal to the development of taste. – Edith Wharton Dear Mr. Johns, I am writing to wish you the happiest of birthdays! It was a pleasure to see all of your work two weeks ago at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles. Despite the pomp of the Broad, “Resembling the Truth” was an intimate retrospective, full of important work from your private collection, as well as the major…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 211: Nº2 Scent Launch | An Homage to the Pencil
I’m thrilled to announce the unveiling of my latest project and collaboration with artist Rory Sparks, a scent inspired by the pencil! If you are in Portland, we will have a pop up this Friday at the Working Library from 6-9 PM. It is also available for purchase online at my shop. Here’s the back story of the collaboration: Inspired by the humble pencil, artists Rory Sparks and Catherine Haley Epstein have created an homage in scent. The scent was…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 204: Copyright and the Five Senses | How to See Smell as an Artistic Expression
There is no “must” in art, because art is free. – Kandinsky As an American, a creative thinker, and someone keen on making a living with her creativity I’ve been warned to review the concepts inherent of copyright in order to protect my “intellectual property”, and to be wary of people with more resources than me as they can swoop in, take my ideas and run away with them. I get this; however I still don’t know when a veteran artist,…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 203: Scented Writing Award | Because the Art of Smell Belongs at the Fine Art Table
I’m excited to share that I was awarded a 2017 Perfumed Plume Award last week in NYC, among many talented writers. I attended the event*, not thinking I would receive an award, and mostly curious about the good work and dedication these writers are doing regarding fragrance. And of course hoping to meet more people in the industry to understand a little more about the visions and goals of the publications and supporters of this independent writing prize. There were 10…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 202: DaDa and MeMe | The Internet Gives Back
A little over a month ago, a student of art history and psychology at Vanderbilt University found my work online. She is writing a paper on Dada, feminism and the influence of Duchamp on female artists. I’m honored to be a part of the dialog, and I’ll share with you the work she was particularly interested in, and my initial responses to her questions. For those of you unfamiliar with Dada, please know that it was a fierce and fun…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 201: Gaining Wider Perspectives in 2017
Gaining a wider perspective is like opening a window to a stuffy room – the whole atmosphere changes and the fresh breeze carries alternatives to our habitual ways of reacting. – Tarthang Tulku Whether it’s been to justify my spells away from the studio to work as a management consultant, business owner, museum associate, mother, etc, I always believe that my artwork, and artwork in general, benefits from the more I know about everything else besides art. I still believe that is…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 197: Primal Art | Notes on the Medium of Scent
The following article was published today at Temporary Art Review. I’m honored to be a contributor to their publication, and if you have not browsed the writings there, check it out. Meanwhile on scent art: Art is in transition: that is one certain fact. And it is one more reason why it would be vain to attempt anything in the nature of pontifical judgement on its immediate manifestations. We should be content with the fact that art is alive –…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 192: On Forgetting Project Headed to LA | Olfactory Art
I’m honored to be participating in the inaugural AIX Artisan Independent Experimental Scent Fair at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles! Next week I will be presenting my fragrance for the project “On Forgetting | Filing the Flask”. I am among some incredibly talented perfumers doing some terrific, innovative work in the field of niche perfume. Please join me! Many, many thanks to the good people at The Institute for Art & Olfaction for their support of my work, and…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 187: Cultivating Your Creative Process with Critical Thinking in 2016
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy Every year I choose an overarching theme that relates to my work, my life and my projects. Last year was the year of slowing down (hence the fewer published essays here), the year before was the year of getting dirty (I made a lot of work in the studio that year and truly made a mess), and this year is the year of critical thinking….
Continue Reading → -
Repository 182: Top 10 Exhibits to See in 2015/16
I’ve been remiss in posting though I have not been slacking – just collecting a bevy of research to share on 1. changes in art consumption, 2. creating art for longevity and art against passivity, and 3. why drawing is a necessary tool for thinking and how the lack of drawing instruction is correlated to the rash of irrational thinking in our society now (even MFA art students do not need to know how to draw to graduate!!). Meanwhile a short and…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 178: Exhibition Announcement | On Forgetting
Exhibition On Forgetting | Filling the Flask A solo show of new work at Pushdot (August 7 – September 25, 2015) The installation will include painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and scent that address focus and kindness in forgetting. Yes, all that varied material to inspire focus. You will recognize patterns in the work and walk away with something that speaks specifically to you. The work has been two years in the making, and I would love to see you there!…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 177: Processed Art is to Canned Spinach as Real Art is to Spinach from the Garden
Most of the art in the art “world”, galleries, museums, etc is highly prepared and processed. It’s not to say it’s bad – it’s not. It’s simply been through a lot of iterations, approvals, vetting, poking and prodding. Much like pirate booty on an empty stomach, the processed can taste very nuanced and delicious, despite it’s being processed. For example the seemingly mandatory MFA and gallery representation in itself is a scenario of a canned fine vegetable. Meaning, if you…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 176: Top 11 e-Tools for Your Art Box | Bookmark Now
I’ve just completed an art history lesson for my local 3rd graders. The art history lesson will be accompanied by an exercise. Unlike the massive number of exercises out there, I am hoping a heavy history lesson will inspire them to look at art differently – specifically Monet and Impressionism. What I will deliver to these 8 and 9 year olds will likely give them an edge in understanding that no, in fact, it’s not just a pretty picture, but…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 103: Kimono Open | My Home Office Featured on Apartment Therapy
Besides art and family, I absolutely love homes, design and architecture. I frequently scan any interior and architecture magazines I can get my hands on, and any blogs that inspire home renovation and design. So when I came across Apartment Therapy‘s section on “behind the blog” where they featured offices of bloggers, I shamelessly sent in pictures of my space – less because it’s a marvel in design, but more to share some design secrets (*hint buy original artworks*). To…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 235: Changing Patterns
On the eve of my daughter’s graduation, big launch, and leaving the family nest, I am in a proud moment of grief and growth. I am feeling the most unusual mix of emotions. As always, art is my salve. Preemptively grieving last winter I was looking at a recent series of work by Colin Kippen. The work centers on disposable banal objects turned into brute, cement, permanent, and un-budging objects attached to the walls of a coffee shop in Portland….
Continue Reading → -
Repository 233: Announcements and Affirmations
The artist must summon all her energy, her sincerity, and the greatest modesty in order to shatter the old clichés that come so easily to hand while working, which can suffocate the little flower that does not come, ever, the way one expects. Henri Matisse (I changed the pronouns:) A short post to point, share and thank you for your patience as I’ve been busy writing and publishing though on different platforms and channels. I will post them below, a…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 230: Some Smelly Press
A quick post to share some press I’ve received lately. It’s humbling, and I am happy to see it locally and abroad. Starting new dialogues with folks outside the art and perfume worlds feels great. And having the respect by the perfume world insiders also means the world, I’m so grateful. The underserved sense of smell continues on its rise in interest and relevance, yay! Last Sunday the Columbian did a thoughtful and thorough review of my work as a…
Continue Reading → -
Repository 228: Elephants and Smelly Art
I am honored to be a panelist on today’s Digital Scent Festival Panel on Scent + Art + Design. While the topic is humungous and seriously multi-faceted, it’s terrific to have this dialogue with a broader audience. Here is a resource list to help the curious get started on a pilgrimage to discover materials and practices. Thankfully some have vibrant online presences: A Library of Olfactive Material, Glasgow Scotland Aroma Workshop, Chicago Aftel Archive of Curious Scents, Berkeley, CA Experimental…
Continue Reading →