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Piecework- as textiles grow

2023-06-08T00:47:20-04:00Articles|

Piecework- as textiles grow Piecework- as textiles grow. Textiles have always grown incrementally, piece by piece. When it was industrialized, workers were paid by the piece. The work of Libbie Soffer and Carolyn Halliday both reflect the reality of the repetition, the piecework inherent in women's production. In the tiny little picture of Carolyn, you see her working slowly, with both her arms in casts. She broke both her wrists during the production phase and had to piece-out some of the work to family members. ars domestica More Mending Circles: Daytime circles: May 23, noon -5pm Evening Circle: May 20, 5pm   My Father's Religion by Carolyn Halliday June 4-July12 opening reception June 17, 7-9

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There is a certain mystery that lurks here…

2023-06-08T00:47:27-04:00Articles, News, Art|

There is a certain mystery that lurks here... Just off the center of the gallery lurks a mystery: a house that neither hides, nor quite shelters space. Enclosed in this house is our basic human vulnerability. It stands like a ghost, a chimera, a reminder that our sense of control and safety is a necessary trope that allows us to live in this world. When you look through it, it softens our vision like sweet nostalgia. ars domestica continues through the end of the month, May 28. More Mending Circles remain. Bring your mending and your stories. Libbie Soffer will provide company, expertise or her own nimble fingers, as needed.   Mending Circle times: May 16, 17, 18 & 23, noon-5pm Friday, May 20, 5pm until around 7 pm when Carolyn Halliday will lead a discussion with Libbie about her work. And, remember, the Susan Hensel Gallery is always open Monday 10-5 and on other days by very generous appointment. 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 [...]

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An Artist’s Studio Life is More Than You Think | Susan Hensel Gallery

2021-09-22T11:34:41-04:00Articles, Embroidery Art|

Studio life for artist Susan Hensel is a lot of things.  It is playing with colors, materials, and ideas: the fun stuff.  It is making decisions about how to handle material mistakes: also fun stuff.  This piece, Jester: Clown of God, started as one thing and became another because of inconsistencies that turned up in the stitch-out.  I can’t even see the “problems” anymore, because the piece became itself once I draped it over a chair.  The paradoxical heaviness of the fabric against the visual lightness of spirit reminded me of a story by Tomi DiPaola: The Clown of God,  about a character who used his unique talent to bring goodness to the world. So absurd, to think that a talent for juggling could be so valued. But isn’t that what art does for us? That’s all well and good…but if you are an exhibiting artist, you will probably need to ship the work that you had so much fun making.  […]

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Installation

2023-06-08T00:48:09-04:00Articles, Embroidery Art, News, Artists|

Installation The gallery is a quiet studio, talk radio in the background. This Saturday, it will light up with the second South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market. Ideas have been knocking around in my head that involves the little dresses again, but in 3-d with fiber. SO, I today I began. I like the relationships that are developing among the parts, although it is still too linear, simply curated objects rather than a full 3-d experience. I think the placenta dress needs to hang in space rather like the stuffed dress at the left.But with the wool market arriving in a couple of days, I will leave it as is for now. 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 [...]

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More Rust Belt to Artist Belt info

2023-06-08T00:48:14-04:00Articles|

More Rust Belt to Artist Belt info The conferences started in Cleveland. You can read about the most recent conference and watch power points at this link. This is way cool stuff! Art space, who is very active here in the Twin Cities, was one of the presenters. 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. Contemporary Art by Susan Hensel Opened September 10th, 2004 Susan Hensel Gallery was a gallery/ workspace presenting 5-6 shows per year devoted to the concept of narrative in the arts in an intimate space. With hardwood floors and high tin ceilings. The [...]

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Gallery Musings

2023-06-08T00:48:20-04:00Exhibition, Articles, Artists|

Gallery Musings Today was spent on promo for the Wool Market yawning from lack of sleep. Evaluating the results of the current show in the gallery updating the website. Interviewing several people for the potential new position of gallery associate in January, photographing fiber and recording dye results. The work day flew by, with both Zach and I smiling as we we realized our work responsibilities were waning. He has finished 2 of his three jobs before grad school and I am almost to the sabbatical date! We are both waxing philosophical/nostalgic. Even though we will be working together another 2 months!   Leslie Sobels' show comes down after Memorial Day. But we will maintain our Monday hours, getting caught up on gallery admin and planning. Web restructure and repair, generalized computer stuff! Our Fridays, which may occasionally become Thursdays or Wednesdays (call before you come). Will be spent dying and cleaning out the basement cracks, crannies and crevices to make a fuller functioning lower studio. Susan Hensel Gallery Opened September 10th, 2004 Susan Hensel Gallery was a gallery/ workspace presenting 5-6 shows per year devoted to the concept of narrative in [...]

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Study with Adrienne Sloane

2023-06-08T00:48:23-04:00Exhibition, Articles, News, Artists, Art|

Study with Adrienne Sloane Study with Adrienne Sloane (Leslie D., Martha B.,Deb G.,Fran N., me, Adrienne Sloane) The class, Knitting and the Political Landscape, by Adrienne Sloane, finally taught this longtime knitter (like 40 years on and off) HOW to knit. The goal was to accumulate enough skills to be able to knit in a sculptural manner. It was so HARD ON MY HANDS! (The nearly 50 years of art working have taken a toll!) BUT, stay tuned. Things may happen! I organized and added a few needles to the stash and do have plans involving shifu, audio tape and wool. It was a power-packed class. The lists and the bulletin boards barely cover the intensity. We sampled, sampled and sampled, technique after technique, stretching our knitting concepts and forms into three dimensional space. In the end, yarn bombing happened. Leslie, with the help of Martha, knit a garter for a baluster outside of Yudof Hall. Other bombs were sprinkled through McNeil Hall 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 [...]

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Sydney Aquarium after hours

2023-06-08T00:48:41-04:00Articles, Art|

Sydney Aquarium after hours I was not particularly looking forward to the Sydney Aquarium...You know, seen one seen them all. And I suppose it was not that unusual as aquariums go. BUT we got to see it with no strollers, no screaming kids, no cranky parents! The most exciting thing was seeing 2 real platypus! The were quite small, swimming far to quickly for my camera to catch them in the dark water. Holly is a woman from Florida who wears fine jewelry and always arrives fashionably and creatively dressed. Except for the Florida connection, I would never have dreamed of her special talent. Holly can talk to the sea creatures, even through the glass, and they appear to listen. Holly's normal voice is quite loud, brash, carrying far. When she talks to the sea creatures, she speaks with the tone of a new lover, sweet & inviting. The leopard ray came right to the glass and seemed to reach out to her. The dugong stopped sleeping, and swam to her. About Susan Hensel Gallery Opened September 10th, 2004 Susan Hensel Gallery was a gallery/ workspace presenting 5-6 shows per [...]

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The Gallery is pregnant?

2023-06-08T00:49:02-04:00Articles, News, Art|

The Gallery is pregnant? Things are brewing, even as sabbatical continues. It is an exciting time in the quiet gallery. Nothing is hanging on the wall. Everything is pregnant with potential! The windows are growing and blooming with the art by Debora Miller. Drive by, especially after dark to see them at their best! Soon we will have another South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market: October 23. In December a new show will open...its title is unknown...but it is a collaboration between Susan Hensel and her son John Hensel. John is a fine photographer who is able to take an idea, a glimmer, really, and make it sing. I had a weird idea that involved yarn that told a story. His photography makes that potential story real. Stay tuned for dates! The party will be sometime over the Christmas holidays, since that is when he visits Minneapolis. And then, Dean Ebben's show will open in January. Dean is a local guy who moved on to New York. He comes back every year to see family and to teach at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. On January 14 he will open IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINERAL SPIRITS at Susan [...]

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About Project Gutenberg

2023-06-08T00:50:14-04:00Articles, News, Art|

About Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg Project Description: Commentaries on the pace of everyday life are far from unique but remain important as humans increasingly forfeit physical relationships for digital immediacy. The Project Gutenberg Project celebrates the beauty of book structures, honors traditional book art processes, exposes overlooked materials, and draws attention to the gratification that comes from tactile experiences. Using the remains of books scanned into digital libraries, Project Gutenberg Project speaks to the lack of physicality in contemporary art and the trend toward fetishizing book objects. Full of irony, the project both embraces and criticizes technology while elevating and violating its subject matter. Equal parts commentary, prophecy, and preservation, the Project Gutenberg Project compels viewers to reflect on their interactions not only with books but with all physical objects in their lives. 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 [...]

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