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Trust Art is a social platform that is commissioning
ten public artworks over the next year. People are invited to
become shareholders with $1, share with interested friends, and renew culture.

Perfume Fountain for Humanity

A public project led by artist Anne McClain

Project Proposal

The creation of a perfume begins with a brief. For Anne’s project, that brief is to create a scent based on the experience of an act of humanity.

In September of 2009, Anne will travel to the city of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico with a group of twelve friends and perfumers and spend one week volunteering at the Casa de los Angeles, teaching art and visiting the local botanical garden at a day care center for children of single mothers. This act will serve as a tribute to a friend of Anne’s who volunteered at the Casa de los Angeles in 2003 and wrote of her experience, “I want to work with children..and do something to somehow improve their lives. I know that sometimes that means simply being 'present' to them..sharing a hug, holding them, smiling with them. We don't always have to do the big things to make a difference. If in my time of working with them I can benefit their families and the community in which they live I will be grateful.”

In Grasse, France, the capital of the perfume industry, Anne will create the Humanity scent by combining the techniques of modern perfumery and her studies in aromatherapy. Anne's intention is to use the inherent healing and transformative effects of natural plant materials to create a scent to uplift, encourage relaxation and making connections, stimulate compassion, and nurture a sense of letting go.

The Humanity scent will take the form of a fountain of perfumed water. A place of gathering often found in town squares (in Grasse, a fountain is located in the central square where the daily flower market takes place; in San Miguel de Allende the area where the fountain is located is called El Jardin), the fountain will serve as a place for communing, contemplation, and reflection. The creation of the fountain will be a collaborative effort between Anne, glass artist Alan Iwamura, and industrial designer Lance McGregor.

The fountain will be placed in a public space in New York, acting as a gathering place for people to experience the inspiration and meaning behind Humanity. The fountain is meant to transmit positive energy into the public. The question it will pose is: can good will be spread through scent?

About the Artist

Anne McClain is currently attending the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, taking courses in natural and synthetic raw materials, chemistry, and creation. She studied environmental studies, philosophy, and art at Brown University.

Anne fell into scent as an artistic medium through photography. Anne used photography in the same way she uses scents now - to flatten an experience or memory into something tangible. She also studied aromatherapy to understand the psychological effects the distillation of flowers, resins, barks, peels, leaves and other plant materials have on people.

Anne is passionate about revealing scent's power as artistic medium, and the unparalleled beauty of natural raw materials.

Artist's Past Work







Photography naturally lead Anne to scent artistry. Both mediums lend themselves to the pursuit of trying to capture moments and memories. Anne loves the dreamy, lingering quality that the memory of place can give over time. The excitement and displacement of travel leads one to an experience of being untethered. Anne likes to try and take those feelings, somewhere between illusion and reality, and to condense it, to flatten it, to create something so that she can remember what it feels like, always.




108, 2004
While spending four months living in Nepal, Anne studied with a rinpoche and was initiated into Tibetan Buddhism by a lama. This book recounts some of the insights into her spiritual practice, accompanied by photographs.




Transit/Home, 2005
For a period of a few years Anne travelled incessantly visiting Thailand, Indonesia, Baja California, Japan, and Hawaii, all the while thinking of someone she loved. They circled the globe on different paths, sometimes meeting and sometimes not. They took photographs influenced by each other and collected them into a book.




Kept, 2008
Stemming from her fascination with all things relating to memory, Anne was thinking about the phrase 'a kept woman'. She realized that not only would she most likely be keeping herself, she wanted it that way. At the time she was disappointed in love and conceived of a loverʼs gift to herself. she cut a hole through the center of a book about Paris, writing a story of lost love along the edges. In the void she placed a ring and the book became a jewelry box which she kept for herself.

Perfume - Left
Perfume - Right1

From The Artist

Perfume - Right2

Your Voice

« Last Night's Workshop at MEET, Part 2 | Main | Mexican Sacred Hearts »
Friday
Aug142009

Last Night's Workshop at MEET

Last night marked the second Introduction to Perfumery fundraising workshop, this time held at MEET at the apartment.  A very special thank you to Sara and Marc Schiller for letting us use their wonderful space in Soho.

Twenty-eight people attended last night, and the roundtable discussion format was a success.  We talked about people's own experiences with scent and memory while I passed out natural and synthetic raw materials, explaining their origins, their processing methods, aromatherapeutic effects when applicable, and behavior in formulation.  Jinal Shah of All Day Buffet tempted me with her stories of growing up in India with the smells of jasmine and vetiver (my favorites!) wafting in the air.  Judith Hamerman made us laugh with her insight that she probably married her husband because of how amazing his personal scent is to her.

In less than two weeks now we leave for Mexico and Casa de los Angeles.  I will be holding more workshops when I return from France this winter, and would like to do a series starting then where the introduction to the materials leads into blending and creation.  Please shoot me an email at annemcclain@mac.com if you have a venue available to hold these workshops.  

Thank you to everyone who came out last night!

Le Labo's Rose 31 contains notes of black pepper, cumin, rose oil and absolute, and cedar.

Sheetal Vig and Keka Marzagao.

Diana Yen of The Jewels of New York.

Me with Sara Schiller, founder of MEET at the apartment.

DateAugust 14, 2009 at 10:00 | Comment2 Comments

Reader Comments (2)

Anne, Just wanted to thank you again for such a wonderful evening. It was one of the best New York experiences I've had in a long time. I wish you all the best and lots of goodwill for your project. Looking forward to watching your story unfold on this blog.

Thanks again. (PS - Am sending you an email right now)

August 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJinal Shah

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