Field Notes 2021: Mary Ellen Childs

Explore Bloedel Reserve through the art, writings, and uniques perspectives of the Creative Residents during the time they are visiting the grounds. These entries give you a peek at works-in-progress, sources of inspiration, approaches to craft, exploration of new techniques, and more.

February 2021

As her website says, Mary Ellen Childs is an award-winning, internationally renowned composer who has created both rhythmic, exuberant instrumental works and bold, kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance, and theater in fresh and unexpected ways. Her compositions for her percussion ensemble CRASH explore the concept of music in motion. You’ll find much more information about her work, her recordings, and her travels here.

The Nose Knows: Taking a Scent Walk

Mary Ellen’s explorations of the Reserve included tapping into all of her senses. Here are some of her thoughts about the evocative nature of scent and her own fragrant discoveries while visiting Bloedel.

As the Creative Resident at Bloedel in February, I enjoyed daily walks through the reserve. I am a composer so it’s not surprising I am especially attuned to sound. I heard a chorus of frogs, bald eagles, the buzz of a hummingbird, the wind through the trees, and, at night, the haunting barks and yips of coyotes. On a leisurely stroll on a drizzly day, I noticed the wide variety of sounds raindrops make, depending on whether they are falling on waxy leaves, soggy ground, pond water, or the hood of my rain jacket. Quite a lovely symphony.

Yet I am a composer who is interested not just in hearing, but in all the senses. Some of my work includes music with movement or visual imagery. Most recently, I’ve been creating work that pairs music with scents, so I was especially curious to experience the range of smells here. The gardens did not disappoint. Most people, including me, are drawn first by what we see, perhaps next by what we hear. We often give less attention to what we smell, but our nose is both powerful and discerning and letting it lead you on a walk is a wonderful way to experience the Reserve – or really any place.

My residency was in the winter, but even in February I found much to inhale. Among my favorite floral fragrances was Sweet Box, a low-growing bush with little white flowers, whose smell would find me I saw them. Their powerful wall of scent would stop me in my tracks and I’d have to look around to find where the compelling aroma was coming from. Other favorite florals required me to get my nose up close and take a big sniff. Witch hazel and winter sweet (chimonanthus), both yellow flowers, are so different but equally heavenly. I took to visiting one of my favorite spots every day, just near the beginning of the path, where these bushes grow side by side. I’d toggle back and forth between the two yellow flowers enjoying the contrast between them.

There’s much more to smell than plant life. The soil is alive with aroma and I love the earthiness of it. With the dampness of this region, I found quite a few spots to enjoy the dank, earthy dirt. One particularly unusual spot — the “orange soil” — has a unique smell. There’s also an aromatic sap — a sticky, pine-y smell that I found heavenly and refreshing. I also took to sticking my nose right up to the rotting wood in a felled tree, an aroma I found has much depth and aliveness.

Smelling is powerful. By bringing attention to the smells around us, we often move more deeply into our bodies. The experience of smelling deeply can open us to receive all kinds of life experiences, meeting them with an open heart and willingness to simply be. So go on a smell walk and inhale deeply!

Many thanks to Bloedel Reserve horticulturalist Sean Peterson, who was my knowledgeable guide for a very special version of a smell walk.

Taking Your Own Scent Walk

If you’d like to take your own scent walk, here are some things you might ponder:

Take time to stay with a smell.
- How might you describe it?
- Lemony? Dank? Sharp or soft? What else does the remind you of? Perhaps jasmine? Or pepper? Or stinky socks?
- How does it make you feel? Relaxed? Elated? Repelled?
- There is no right or wrong way to describe smells so feel free to let your thoughts go.
Go beyond flowers and plants to soil, sap, rotting wood.
- Be willing to put your nose right up to a flower or plant. Consider getting you nose close to the ground and taking a big inhale of damp soil or rotting matter. (I find both to be deliciously satisfying.)
- Remember that smells will change through the seasons, perhaps even day to day depending on whether it’s rainy or sunny or windy. You’ll likely find a range of smells different from what I found in February. A great reason to talk repeated walks through the Reserve.
Of course, it goes without saying to be respectful of Reserve rules: stay on the path and don’t pick plants.

Snow-pocalypse Weekend

Mary Ellen’s February stay at the Reserve happened to coincide with an unexpected winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow around the Puget Sound. The snowfall and icy roads closed the Reserve to visitors. Happily, Mary Ellen was able to walk and photograph the snow-covered grounds.

Here are links to 3 short videos she shot:

Footsteps in the snow