A not so lackadaisical summer Summer is finally upon us. It is a glorious Independence Day morning, not yet hot. The birds are singing and the flowers swaying in the breeze. The amateur fireworks have been pretty minimal this year. But tonight will be a different story. The skies will light up with both amateur and professional fireworks. […]
In the Windows: Lyz Wendland Stillwater, MN artist, Lyz Wendland Received a Minnesota Artists Initiative Grant to create and mount this site specific installation. While it is similar to her Phipps Center for the Arts installation, pictured above. It was made especially for these windows on Cedar Avenue. For best viewing, come by after dark and see them glow! Lyz Wendland artist statement My work reflects my interest in mapping and architecture. Especially the appeal of repetition and the reassuring promise of reliability. My mainly abstract pieces deal with the comfort offered by repeating forms and actions and they examine the subtle rigidity of my cookie-cutter neighborhood. Which offers a sometimes clear and sometimes blurred delineation between public and private spaces. The connection of the everyday mundane intertwines with predictability of structure. The lines, shapes and forms I observe in my suburban neighborhood inspire my current body of work made up of layered process of drawing, painting, installation and sculpture. Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of Susan Hensel Gallery is on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials, and engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique [...]
DESIRE Minneapolis Art Installation by Susan Hensel January 7-February 24, 2006 OPENING RECEPTION : Saturday, JANUARY 7, 2006, 5-9 pm DESIRE Minneapolis Art Installation - Three years in the making, Desire, is the first Minneapolis show by Susan Hensel. Desire is an installation. When you visit the gallery you will walk into a total environment devoted to the journey from adolescence to senescence, from sexual awakening to fecundity, relationship, sorrow, aging, and beauty. It is a lushly beautiful space, replete with color, sound, lights all focused on allowing you to experience the theme. You will be invited to enter an inner sanctum that fractures the separation between public and private. Quiet, meditative, warm, and inviting for the dark days of winter. About DESIRE The piece began developing about three years ago before Susan moved to Minnesota. She had just finished a mammoth installation, entitled Kristallnacht: the bystanders, about the concept of the holocaust, about the ways in which we humans can kill and maim members of our own species, and how we good people could stand by and not act. Susan has said that she was wounded and exhausted by the work that went into that piece. Years of living [...]
Diminution and lovely memories Diminution and lovely memories. It does seem that the whole world should be shaking their collective fists and gnashing their teeth at the passing of Debora Miller. I know I am, as are her friends and family. […]
In the Windows- KATE SCIANDRA Kate Sciandra Artist’s Statement In the Windows- KATE SCIANDRA. One thing that unifies all my work is the theme of deeply seeing, being seen, and the intimacy that results. During the countless hours spent as a figure model, being an object for others to find aesthetically and artistically useful. I became obsessed with capturing the compositions that would reveal themselves to me while I worked. I began to have a fascination with what it means to be seen and to simultaneously be the seer. Like an optical illusion where from one side, the object becomes the viewer and then with a shift of the eye, flips back again. Having both the regular experience of my body being the subject, and having worked in the healing profession with the bodies of others as my subject for over 20 years. I have a deep understanding of the body as something both intimate and abstract. This pairing has translated and evolved into a way that I perceive, and then reflect the world at large.< Creating a balance of universality and specificity. I work to capture objects, places, and people in ways that penetrate their nature, while [...]
Kristen Dieng Wonder Me Mosaics Kristen Dieng Wonder Me Mosaics. It was a glorious October day when Kristin completed installing in the windows of Susan Hensel Gallery. Reflections are always a problem when photographing the windows. But, on this day, the reflections added the fall trees to the picture, augmenting the experience. […]
Carol Morris: Reader's Art 12 Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home Carol Morris-The place is the exotic landscape of childhood in rural Ohio. Where tigers and lions could co-exist with squirrels. While doing the book I was enchanted by feelings of beauty and safety. Altered books are my favorite medium. I love books and love discarded books. By altering them, I preserve them. Bio: I try to remember it's not about me so I will talk in the third person. Carol is a poet, video filmmaker, and visual artist. Painting, assemblage, and altering things are her favorite mediums. In the last year, she's been included in exhibits in Michigan, California, and Colorado. She continues her decade-long work of bringing art to women in prison. She lives in Ann Arbor Michigan and loves her grandsons abundantly, as her grandmother did her Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of Susan Hensel Gallery is on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials, and also engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique sensory experiences. Opened September 10th, 2004 Susan Hensel Gallery is a gallery and also [...]
Windows on Cedar: Wave forms by Lori Anne Baumgartner Wave forms by: Lori Anne Baumgartner The ocean has captured human imagination for our entire history. Ancient peoples saw the ocean as the source of darkness and chaos in the world. A place of mysteries and monsters. As we mastered ship-building the ocean became a frontier for adventure. Holding new continents and treasures to be claimed. Even now the ocean is largely unexplored and new species and geological formations are discovered regularly. In this spirit of curiosity and searching I created these prints. The plates are created with textured acrylic mediums on cardboard. There is no way of knowing what the final image will look like until the print is pulled. Each inking is printed many times, continually revealing new layers of texture and color within the print. The printing process is a journey through the textures of the plate. Multiple printings of each plate are hung together documenting the discoveries made during the printing process. The plates are hung as a record of the places journeyed through, almost becoming a topographical map. See more of Lori Anne's artwork at: www.loriannebaumgartner.weebly.com Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of [...]
IN THE WINDOWS- ART QUILTS IN THE WINDOWS- ART QUILTS IN THE WINDOWS- ART QUILTS. I have known Gwen for over 40 years. She and I were roommates late in our college years. Getting a degree in Interior Design while I got mine in Fine Arts. Going on to a varied career including institutional interior design and, ultimately, library science. In the last few years she has returned to her first love: color. Using the skills of quilt making, she investigates how color and form influence each other. 2018-2019 Art Quilts By Gwen Schagrin These works were inspired by a variety of situations: a guild challenge, workshops with art quilting gurus, techniques in books that I wanted to try, improvisational reworking of patterns combined with a new approach to three dimensions, and scrap piecing. As always, I am motivated to create and explore by improvisation ally manipulating color, form, composition, and balance. The teaching and works of Rayna Gillman, Pam Beal, Jean Wells, and Cindy Grisdela have inspired and guided me. Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of Susan Hensel Gallery is on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials, and engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where [...]
House Party! The weather turned colder than the Grain Belt Beer, but we dressed warmly and drank the delicious donated beer. Thank you Grain Belt Brewery! Hearty souls joined us to watch Dean's videos one last time and listen to Jennifer Markey and the Tennessee Snow pants. Video projected over pale skin and dark jackets. Songs sung with heart. There are more pictures on the website. Stay tuned for Reader's Art info! Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of Susan Hensel Gallery is on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials, and engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique sensory experiences. Opened September 10th, 2004 Susan Hensel Gallery is a gallery/ workspace presenting 5-6 shows per year in an intimate space, with hardwood floors and high tin ceilings. In 2013 the interior space reverted to a working studio for Susan Hensel where she continues to work on small and large scale artwork that engages both sculptural and cultural space. You can find her current work at www.SusanHenselProjects.com. The Susan Hensel Gallery is now both a large window gallery on Cedar [...]
