These days I’m fortunate enough to be reading a timeless novel, Hermann Hesse’s Magister Ludi. In it, Joseph Knecht, little-known master of the glass bead game, has a clear case of synesthesia:

Well now, every experience has its element of magic. In this case the onset of spring, which had enthralled me as I walked over the wet, squishing meadows and smelled the soil and the buds, had now been concentrated into a sensual symbol by the fortissimo of that elder shrub’s fragrance. Possible I would never have forgotten this scent even if the experience had remained isolated. Rather, every future encounter with that smell deep into my old age would in all probability have revived the memory of that first time I had consciously experienced the fragrance. But now a second element entered in. At that time i had found an old volume of music at my piano teacher’s. It was a volume of songs by Franz Schubert, and it exerted a strong attraction upon me. I had leafed through it one time when i had a rather long wait for the teacher, and had asked to borrow it for a few days. In my leisure hours I gave myself up to the ecstasy of discovery. Up to that time I had no known Schubert at all, and I was totally captivated by him. And now, on the day of that walk to the elderberry bush or the day after, I discovered Schubert’s spring song, “Die linden Lüfte sind erwacht” and the first chords of the piano accompaniment assailed me like something already familiar. Those chords had exactly the same fragrance as the sap of the young elder, just as bittersweet, just as strong and compressed, just as full of the forthcoming spring. From that time on the association of earliest spring, fragrance of the elder, Schubert chords has been fixed and absolutely valid, for me. As soon as the first chord is struck I immediately smell the tartness of the sap, and both together mean to me: spring is on the way.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) :: Gerald Moore (piano)

::Watch the video while you read the lyrics::

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I don’t remember a time before I was interested in art.

Where were you born and where do you live now?

I am a born and bred New Yorker, resident of Fort Greene, Brooklyn and a die-hard Mets fan.

Tell us about your education.

I realized I was an artist at age 12 when I had to choose where I wanted to go to high school. It was clear to me that the one constant interest in my life had always been drawing (while wanting to be a ballerina, scientist, etc) and that it probably would be forever. Luckily, I got into LaGuardia High School (otherwise known as the “Fame” school) where I majored in studio art, after an interview, 3-hour drawing test and portfolio review. After that I went to Cornell University where I nominally majored in Painting but made a series of interactive sculptures for my BFA thesis. Both were incredible experiences, as much for the exposure to my peers as the education they offered.

More Mia.

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