Incense and the Artist

Artist Christina Watka makes her vast sculptures in a barn in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, surrounded by salt marshes and a landscape of native plants she planted and tends. Her installations explore light and space and shimmer with a delicate joy. She’s also a devoted burner of incense. We’re always thrilled to talk ‘cense with fellow Mainers, and left the conversation impressed and inspired with how Watka works incense into her creative process.

“The first thing I do when I walk into my studio is take my shoes off, walk over to where I keep my incense, choose one, and light it. For me, it’s almost like the rhythm and ritual of coffee.”

“I do the same thing when I reenter the space after lunch. Lighting incense feels ritualistic in that way. It’s just this transitional scent into 'Now I'm in the studio, now my brain is connected to making things not packing lunches and getting kids on the bus.' It’s the brain switch that I love." 

“Incense is a transitional experience. When I'm transitioning from house to studio, I usually bring a burning stick on the way back into the house. I’ll actually carry it across the driveway back into the house.”

“My husband is a jazz musician, and a Portland firefighter. He has a music space below mine in the studio and he has his own incense. Sometimes we both have very different vibes going at the same time, but the whole container of the barn is a vibe already. We’re both burning but I’m up making art and he’s downstairs listening to bebop or Brahms.”

“I always get Koke Kou from you. That’s the moss garden scent–that’s an ever day staple. It gives me the feeling of the fresh promise of morning in a shady zen garden. That’s what I like to feel when I walk into the studio and start my day.”

“Incense has been a real through line for us lately—it’s become a part of the quality of time we find together. In the evening we’ll be together and he’s playing a Coltrane record and we’re burning and drinking a Scotch. It’s rare, but it happens!”

“Scent has always been a part of my daily life, but it’s been more in room sprays. I'm turning 40 in a week and I find I’m boiling down lots of things in my life to their essence. That’s how I want to exist. Incense is the perfect partner to that experience because it’s so elemental. You’re using fire to make scent and then it turns to dust.” 

Photos by Lindsay Fairchild