Far Reaching Fragrance

Art from Patsy Surh O'Connell 

Explore the Exhibit Online 

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Want to learn more about Far Reaching Fragrance? Watch the interview with the artist. 

Artist on a video conference next to her artwork
 
Image of Patsy Surh O'Connell in a red shirt and red earrings with a scarf.

- Patsy Surh O'Connell

Arranged Marriage - Colorful male and female theater masks in the foreground.  Monochromatic picture of the couple in the background

Arranged Marriage - The masks represent Surh O’Connell’s parents, who had an arranged marriage. The mask on the left side represents her mother, who had a traditional Korean upbringing, and the mask on the right represents her father, who had a Western education. The symbols at the top of the mask represent long life; her parents had almost 60 years of marriage.

acrylic painting of a mandarin duck standing on a rock and one flower

Mandarin Duck #1, #2 - Because ducks mate for life, the duck symbolizes faithfulness in Korean culture. The one flower represents Surh O’Connell, and the three flowers represent her three children.

a watercolor of white mantilla poppies in the sunlight with pink and lavender shadows under them
a watercolor of a red bell pepper on a red and white striped piece of fabric

Hot Stuff - “When I saw the red pepper, which was not available in Korea when I was growing up, I was fascinated by the richness of the food.” – Surh O’Connell.

a watercolor of three stacked ducks: top wood duck is Chinese and it's mouth is bound, middle wood duck symbolizes Korea and has its mouth bound, bottom mallard female

My Journey - The three ducks represent O’Connell’s journey. The first duck represents her birth in China. The second duck represents her early life in Korea; O’Connell noted that a duck with its beak tied shut is traditionally given at a Korean wedding to symbolize that wives should not talk back to their husbands. The last duck represents a mallard that her husband got from Korea’s Jeju Island. “I used it as an open-mouth mallard female to show that I’m in America and I’m able to speak freely and say what I want to say, with women’s liberation and equality and the right of your freedom and responsibilities and value.” – Surh O’Connell.

a watercolor of a view from above of a Korean tea service on a carpet

Long Life - Surh O’Connell drinks tea made from plants she grows at home. The painting connects tea-drinking to longevity

a man and two women sit cross legged on the ground during a Korean tea ceremony

Tea Ceremony Photo - Taken at a museum where they were showcasing Korean culture. Surh O’Connell explained that the Korean tea ceremony is not as formal as Japanese or Chinese tea ceremony; participants can talk during the ceremony, for instance. The tea pot represents a father figure, and the tea ceremony respects that symbolism by placing its lid on a small pedestal and not directly on the tabletop.

a watercolor of pink peonies in a vase set against a background inscribed with a Korean poem

Dreaming - Surh O’Connell’s mother loved peonies, and after she died Surh O’Connell decided to honor her by completing 100 paintings of peonies. To date she has painted about 70. In this case, she picked the peony from her garden, brought it into the house, and thought of her mother and the Korean poem “Missing You” while painting it.

a watercolor of a green squash and yellow flowers.  The background has three yellow circles like the inside of the squash

What’s Inside I - “In Korea we have a saying, ‘When you don’t know the person, it’s like licking the surface of a watermelon.’ That means you don’t know what’s inside. That prompted me to paint some fruit and vegetables. It has beautiful patterns inside, especially the beets.” – Surh O’Connell.

a watercolor of green and yellow melon set against faint circles as you might see inside the fruit

What’s Inside II - “In Korea we have a saying, ‘When you don’t know the person, it’s like licking the surface of a watermelon.’ That means you don’t know what’s inside. That prompted me to paint some fruit and vegetables. It has beautiful patterns inside, especially the beets.” – Surh O’Connell.

a watercolor of a purple turnip set against purple circles that you might see inside the vegetable

What’s Inside III - “In Korea we have a saying, ‘When you don’t know the person, it’s like licking the surface of a watermelon.’ That means you don’t know what’s inside. That prompted me to paint some fruit and vegetables. It has beautiful patterns inside, especially the beets.” – Surh O’Connell.

a watercolor of a sunflower set against an abstract and colorful background

You are my Sunshine - Surh O’Connell donated this painting to Gunsan Unversity located in Tacoma’s Sister City, Gunsan, South Korea. Surh O’Connell says the sunflower is a favorite flower of many Koreans. The painting was done on clay board, which takes the watercolor paint differently than watercolor paper.

a sumi ink (black) of a fierce tiger who is ready to strike

A Wild Thing - This painting is a Chinese-style composition done on rice paper. “Most Chinese artists don’t crop the paper after they paint; they use the given size and compose the paintings,” said Surh O’Connell.

sumi ink and watercolor of two birds, one bird is flying with wisteria in the background, and the other is sitting on a fence - the birds are in color, the wisteria and fence are black ink

Morning Visitors - In this painting, Surh O’Connell added soap water to dissipate the ink and capture the look of wisteria flowers.

black circles filled with orange that are vertically stacked an overlapping,  the circles gradually lose their crisp detail as the move up the picture plane

Generations - Surh O’Connell says that the idea of representing ancestors as circles comes from Japanese Zen Buddhism. “Behind us we have all these ancestors who influence us.”

Patsy creating a gongibi painting

Gongbi – Chinese painting style - The Gongbi painting method arose about 3,000 years ago in China as a pastime for people awaiting a royal audience at the palace. Surh O’Connell visited China in 2010 and spent six weeks learning the style. “The ink is applied very thinly to build up the intensity of the color,” said Surh O’Connell. She added that although the process takes a long time, it prevents the running that would arise if a painting with thicker layers was mounted onto another paper.

gongbi painting - ink on rice paper - white peony blooming in May, and set against an abstract grey background

Spring in Seattle - Surh O’Connell used ink to get the background texture. Then she added salt to the texture. The painting shows that in May, when most of the peonies bloom, once in a while we get rain that ruins the flower.

an ink image of a hummingbird getting nectar from pink flowers, a circular format

World Within I - Surh O’Connell did ten of the “World Within” paintings, with the round circles representing the Earth. Her fascination with hummingbirds arises from her first encounter with them, when she was living in California and mistook the sound of a hummingbird’s wings for bees.

an ink painting of a colorful hummingbird getting nectar from pink and white fuchsias, the background has hazy blue, pink, and green patches of color in a circular format

World Within II - Surh O’Connell did ten of the “World Within” paintings, with the round circles representing the Earth. Her fascination with hummingbirds arises from her first encounter with them, when she was living in California and mistook the sound of a hummingbird’s wings for bees.

an ink painting of a green and pink hummingbird getting nectar from some orange and red flowers with light hazy green leaves on the right, in a circular format

World Within III - Surh O’Connell did ten of the “World Within” paintings, with the round circles representing the Earth. Her fascination with hummingbirds arises from her first encounter with them, when she was living in California and mistook the sound of a hummingbird’s wings for bees.

a monochromatic ink painting of a crow with its mouth open and sitting on a branch

Nature As Was I - This painting was done in ink, then washed with a strong tea. Surh O’Connell notes that crows have a similar value system to humans; they talk to each other, take care of the chicks, and live together in groups that may contain three generations. “They are survivors. As a refugee from China to Korea, survived the Korean War, then came to America and survived – I wanted to use the crow as a metaphor of myself.”

an ink painting of a bird resting on a pear tree in the lower portion of the picture, grey scale
an ink painting of a bird resting on a branch of a pear tree in the top part of the composition and looking down on the fruit, grey scale
ink painting in greys, burnt sienna, and blue-greens of rocks, dead trees, and a feather in the bottom left corner

Life and Death in the Forest - The driftwood’s texture was achieved by crinkling the rice paper on which this piece is painted. The feather represents life in an otherwise dead scene.

an ink painting of a half-length young woman in color with monochromatic peonies around her head and neck, and a background of white peonies set against red

The Girl Who Is Obsessed with Peonies - “I didn’t really put my face into that painting, but I certainly am obsessed with doing the peony painting in order to achieve what I promised myself – 100 paintings of peonies.” – Surh O’Connell.

a view of two coho (red and green) salmon from above and through the water of white, blue, and black

Life’s Continuing Struggle - Surh O’Connell created this painting after a visit to the Ballard Locks, to honor the salmon who become battered in their struggle to survive and bring a new generation of salmon into the world.

a parrot resting on a branch of a pink and white peony, red, yellow/green, and brown cut paper behind it

Your Life was a Joy - Created on Himalayan handmade paper, this painting depicts a geometric background representing Surh O’Connell’s mother’s life. The bird represents the mother, who visited O’Connell’s dreams as a bird.

a yellow and black bird resting on a piece of brown and white cut paper on top left above a white peony, a yellow and green piece of cut paper on the right, and a black background
an arrangement of brown and white ducks huddled together,  some are cropped at the top of the composition

We are All In Together - This painting depicts ducks huddled together for warmth in cold weather who are better able to survive working together.

an ink painting of an orange and black bird resting on a blue/green palm branch, and other lighter green and orange palms across the top of the composition behind it
two images of two birds. one standing and one flying. set against gray background with colorful highlights

Some Seize the Moment and Some Not - The effects in this painting are achieved by the use of ink drops and soap drops. It was inspired by iridescent beetles Surh O’Connell’s brother-in-law in Wisconson sent her. “There are birds and humans who see the opportunity, and some who don’t seize it.”

a crow lost in a forest of brown, black and grey trees
two pigeons sitting on top of a roof in the top part of the composition and set against a plain red background

Reunification - This painting represents Surh O’Connell’s hope for the reunification of North and South Korea. The roof is a traditional Korean tile roof. The pigeon with its head up is South Korea; the pigeon with its head down is North Korea. The red background represents the region’s history of bloody conflict.

a cropped black and white vessel inscribed with characters and surrounded by peonies and a single red peony is located in the bottom left

Immigrant –The New Arrival - Surh O’Connell says that when she left South Korea in 1963, her father advised her to learn the cultures of her new country. The vessel represents and old Chinese vessel, and the old peonies represents immigrants who have been here a long time. Surh O’Connell represents herself as a fresh peony.

a pair - left - two red peonies close together set against a colorful background with faint images of the leaves - right - two red peonies, one on top, and the other on the bottom, set against a colorful background and faint parts of the plants
a black and white image of a crow sitting on a branch of a fallen tree in the top left, a landscape in the background

Roots I – Uprooted - The “Roots” paintings are done in the Gongbi style, which uses many thin layers to build up intensity of color. The crow represents Surh O’Connell, uprooted to immigrate to another country.

a cropped image of a persimmon tree with a black and white bird flying towards it in the top right

Gig Harbor Persimmon - This painting shows the persimmon tree in Surh O’Connell’s Gig Harbor garden, which also contains other Asian fruit trees. An expert warned her not to expect the tree to thrive in Gig Harbor, but a few years later it started bearing fruit.

a crow with its mouth open, standing on the ground in the lower left to center of the picture and next to a persimmon branch, an orange rising sun in the background
a monochromatic image of a crow in a tree in the bottom right, against and orange background
a monochromatic image of a duck with eggs in its nest in the spring

Four Seasons-Spring - Gallery Coordinator Dr. Jennifer Olson notes that although the images all appear to be the same size in the ditigal display, the “Four Seasons” images were created on a much larger scale, which is evident when they’re displayed in a gallery.

a black and white duck in a monochromatic background of plants in the summer

Four Seasons –Summer - This autobiographical painting shows a duck with a mate and full seed pods, indicating that Surh O’Connell’s husband and children are still with her.

two black and white ducks set against a monochromatic background in the autumn
a black and white duck hiding her head and set against some plants in the winter

Four Seasons-Winter - This autobiographical painting shows the sequence of a duck’s life. The empty seed pods represent the fact that Surh O’Connell’s children have grown and moved out.

realistic pink peonies set against a red and black abstract background
four red peonies falling from top to bottom in the center of the composition, set against an abstract green and brown background

Past, Present, Future-In the Moment - This painting depicts a type of peony Surh O’Connell grows, in which the stamens are more significant than the pedals.

image of Patsy and man standing in front of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center

Asia Pacific Cultural Center - “In 1995 I brought my parents to America for their last journey. In 1996 my father passed away. As anybody going through the situation of losing the parents, I also was in the dark area of what am I living for, what is my being.” – Surh O’Connell. She dealt with this situation by calling a meeting with six different first, second and third-generation Asian Pacific community leaders. They discussed their status as immigrants, and the importance of culture to immigrant populations. Then they incorporated the Asia Pacific Cultural Center as a non-profit organization. “That was 25 years ago. We represent 47 Asian-Pacific communities here and abroad.” – Surh O’Connell.

a complex image with red peonies for China in the center, pink cherry blossoms for Japan on the sides, orchids for Korea, and bamboo for the Pacific Islands on the right

All Are One - This painting hangs in Washington State Speaker of the House and former TCC Trustee Laurie Jinkin’s office. The peonies represent China, the cherry blossoms represent Japan, and the white orchid represents Korea. Bamboo grows in all 47 countries and we can all live together respecting each other.