Food, art, play... and a lot of creative inspiration.
On a hot summer day in August, Poet and/the Bench hosted Sensory Sessions, an evening created around a simple idea: design is experienced with the whole body.
For designers, artists and design enthusiasts, we conceived of an experiential gathering to explore how color (sight), texture (touch), scent (smell), sound (hearing), food (taste) and human interaction (the 6th sense!) can enhance and change the way we experience an environment.
Each "course" considered interior design, architecture, kitchen and lighting design, hospitality, and branding, to pair a few of Poet and the Bench's artists with a sense-based topic and food.
And, naturally, we started with caviar. ;)
01 / TASTE
Food as a design experience
Sausalito-based Chef Lance Dillard created a four-course family-style dinner, around composition, contrast, seasonality and place.
We opened with a caviar bump from California Caviar, a pioneer in sustainability, innovation and caviar education headquarted in Sausalito; paired with Rue de Rêve aperitifs, made in the cherished European tradition and served up with a California flair by female-founded local Mill Valley entrepreneurs; and Free Spirits non alcoholic cocktails, born in Mill Valley, reconstructing the icons of the bar cart.
As Deborah Keane from California Caviar explained, a caviar bump is enhanced by the heat of the hand which warms up the oils in the eggs to open up the taste experience and provide that pop that dazzles the eyes and the taste buds with color, flavor, texture, and sound! Rue de Rêve plays with all 5 senses from botanicals that excite the palate to the touch of the bottle, the aromatics and colors to the pop of the cork! Free Spirits' non alcoholic spirits use the alchemy of texture, aroma, and the conjuring of raw materials to create their flavor profiles.
Chef Lance Dillard's approach to food combines more than 30 years of Japanese culinary tradition, artistic inspiration and a reverence for Marin's land and sea.
"I make it as simple as possible."
MENU
Free Spirits NA Happy Hour
Caviar Bump + Rue de Reve Aperitif
1 Red Abalone / Herbs / Cucumber / Sea Vegetables / Nasturtium
2 Comb Tooth Mushroom / Arugula Pesto / Roasted Root Vegetables
3 McFarland Trout / Broccolini / Summer Courgettes / Sun Gold Tomatoes
4 Black Sesame + Almond Cake / Black Sesame Buttercream / Black Sesame Twill
Rue de Reve Dream Street Spritz
Rue de Reve Agave Sparkle
Free Spirits NA Smoky Tequila MargaritaFree Spirits NA Pea Flower Infused Gin
It’s food and drink as part of the sensory story.
02 / SIGHT
What happens when one color changes everything?
Michael McConnell, one of the Poet and the Bench gallery artists, has a painting career focus on color field, animal realism, and abstract landscapes. Michael led an interactive session about color relationships and why colors behave differently next to other colors.
He painted small wooden houses for each participant in different Benjamin Moore paint colors and values, with contrasting colors on opposing sides. He guided the attendees to examine the color combinations they received and how flipping them over in different combinations impacts the palette.
Switching with neighbors was encouraged to see if they created something better or even, worse.
Rather than talking about color as something that exists in isolation, Michael demonstrated what designers know intuitively: color is relational.
Change one color and the colors around it change with it. He spoke about how a white can appear gray, pink or green depending on what surrounds it. He shared a 4” x 4” series of his Property Values paintings to illustrate the concept of split complimentary: how when you change one color to be dominant, the effect it creates.
Michael discussed his process around color harmonies. It's not about painting a blue sky because we see a blue sky, for example; he actually might paint the sky pink in relationship to the greens of a landscape.
“The biggest influence on my art making: being a sensitive observer.”
Find Michael McConnell’s artwork here.
03 / SMELL
Scent is architecture you can't see.
Bonnie Powers, co-founder and curator of Poet and the Bench recently conceived of three Scents of Place to represent Northern California in candle form.
“Scent is an invisible layer of spatial design.”
Bonnie spoke about deconstructing the ambient aromas of their very own local Northern California icons, to anchor specific memories to capture three Scents of Place: for Mill Valley, including Muir Woods, Mt Tam and Old Mill Park; the ever-shifting presence of the San Francisco Bay Area Fog; and the rocky, wild grasslands of the Pacific Coast. The idea, to translate the environment into a sensory experience you can take home.
Fragrance is composed of relationships, much like a room. One material might be the:
foundation
another:
structure
another:
accent
another:
surprise.
The most successful scent may not announce itself at all. It simply changes how the room feels.
Bonnie shared the materials that she foraged and which inspired the mixing of oils for the candle scent blends.
ETHEREAL FOG / GOLDEN GATE
- The crisp fog which carries the botanicals of the Presidio across the Golden Gate
"I picked a super foggy day and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge into the Presidio. I walked through the Tunnel Top Park. Spoke to the gardner! Sat in Chrissy Field. Looked at the landscape from there, and across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin. Those Cypress trees, gnarled by the fog and wind. The scented Eucalyptus groves. All of the wild botanicals; a bit of sweetness! Mixing with the ozone into a blanket of mood, comfort, mystery and nostalgia."
FOREST BATH / MILL VALLEY
- Damp earth under a forested canopy of trees
"Not just the forest– that’s been done. But in Mill Valley, on Mt Tam, in Muir Woods… there’s a vast mycelium network. There are Redwood, Cedar and Douglas fir trees. There are surrounds of Bay Laurel. The Wild fennel! And because we have so many trails that are under a canopy of trees, there’s damp earth and moss. It's the perfume of the forest floor."
COASTAL WANDER / PACIFIC OCEAN
- The ocean spray on rock
"We have a rocky coast. It’s the sea salt mixed with petrichor– the word for the smell of rock after rain. So when that sea spray of the Pacific Ocean mixes with the mineral of the rock, I wanted to capture that. Along with the wild grasses and the wild botanicals."
Find the Northern California Scents of Place here.
04 / SOUND
When a word becomes an experience.
Poet and the Bench multimedia fine artist Rachel Hebert’s session gave us a beautiful emotional turn of sound. Rachel's art practice is distinctly fluid across writing poetry, painting, drawing and creating large scale murals. In this session, we focused on spoken word and the imagery it conjures.
Everyone was asked to contribute one word describing their favorite material, color, plant or flower, texture, scent or emotion. For sample: polished marble or peace or suede...
Participants contributed words like:
Anise Hyssop
Daisy
Abundance
Wolf Gray
Soft...
Then Rachel transformed those fragments into spoken word.
She explained that in her own writing and her own mind she's accumulating things and throwing things "in the soup" and then it starts to turn in to something. It becomes a "word fall." Like a waterfall, a series of images and words that land, without looking for structure or meaning-making. It's more of a sensory experience.
"So much these days feels nylon, forced and fake...
I crave something like equilibrium, still and sweet like cool water, porcelain, wolf grey.
Anise hyssop oolong sorbet.
Surround me in rosemary, redwood, bronze, plush rose.
Call me concrete daisy–I grow anyway.
In the black river rock
metal and chalk.
I melt, I am soft obsidian.
My truth is translucent, jadeite and scalloped wood.
This movement, an abundance of petals, nothing to change or shine.
Our gold skin on the sun. All things equanimous."
~ Rachel Hébert
Designers are constantly translating one sensory experience into another.
A color becomes a mood.
A material becomes an atmosphere.
A memory becomes a room.
Rachel engaged deeply in the process, taking words and transforming them into sound.
Can sound have color? Texture? Smell? Taste?
Learn more about Rachel Hebert’s Book of Thanks here.
05 / TOUCH
Getting our hands in the earth.
Pop folk sculpture artist Austyn Taylor, a Poet and the Bench gallery artist for nearly eight years talked to us about the history of clay and her artistic process. As a companion wIth dessert, Austyn's clay exercise gave us the perfect ending, because everybody actually made something.
Each guest received a small ball of clay and was invited to leave a fingerprint, or transform it into a small sculptural form.
We asked Austyn if touching clay triggers memory for her. She explained that in grad school she may have gone directly into the clay. Reacting to it and having an immediate experience. But now, she does 100s of sketches and tries to shape the idea to the sketch. 
Find Austyn Taylor’s ceramic animals here.
The evening wasn't really about five separate senses. It was about the interplay between them, and how together they shape the way we experience a place.
Light changes how we see texture.
Texture changes how we experience color.
Scent changes how we remember a place.
Sound changes how we experience space.
Food can tell us something about where we are before we've consciously registered the room around us.
Community is in many ways a 6th sense.
And suddenly, design becomes much bigger, richer, more meaningful...
Thank you Design Bay Area for collaborating with us on the inaugural Design Marin. A Night of 5 Senses in Mill Valley. Food, art, play. And a lot of creative inspiration.
Curious about creativity? The discovery, unpredictability, the chaos, the character building, the tasks, the ideas, the conversation and connection, especially the connection… All of it. A beautiful thing. Join our newsletter to be informed of future events at the intersection of art and pleasure!
Designed + hosted by Bonnie Powers & Jeffrey Levin, founders @poetandthebench | Poet and the Bench
Tastes by Chef Lance Dillard @thebumpbar_ | Bump Bar
with bumps by @californiacaviar | California Caviar
Aperitifs by @ruedereveaperitifs | Rue de Reve
Non Alcoholic cocktails @drinkfreespirits | Free Spirits
With Artists:
Pop folk sculpture @austynaustynaustyn | Austyn Taylor
Color field painter @poopingrabbit | Michael McConnell
Poet & Fine Artist @rachelevehebert | Rachel Hebért
Stunning 📷 event, interiors, food photographer @kristenloken | Kristen Loken
And of course:
Supporting Design Marin by @design.bayarea
Photos credit @kristenloken | Kristen Loken