Gallery Archives

Here you will find the archives of all exhibitions hosted at Susan Hensel Gallery, 2004-2013 when The Susan Hensel Gallery was devoted to the narrative impulse in art with a mission to:

  • Communicate stories using all the senses and any media, transforming the personal into universal or political.
  • Change reader/observers into active participants in the art experience.
  • Share ideas and stories by creating opportunities for public interaction.

2021 and going forward, exhibitions archived here will be exemplars of focus on:

2020-2022 Gallery Archives

The Glow of Love by Kim Matthews

Susan Hensel Gallery on Artsy.net is exhibiting a new show from Minneapolis sculptor Kim Matthews titled The Glow of Love, an online exclusive show and in-real-life window show, at 3441 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN.

Opening September 15 and running through November 15, the show is made up of Matthews newest sculptures, from 2021-2022. The modestly sized wall-mounted and freestanding sculptures in Kim Matthews’ second exhibition with the gallery, titled after a 1980 song by the post-disco group Change, are geometry splashing through color. They bring us somewhere new, inspiring fresh perspectives on the way objects and our selves exist in the world.

Insomniac by Nina Martine Robinson

NSOMNIAC is the newest exhibition from textile artist Nina Martine Robinson. Available from July 20 and running until September 15, 2022 at the Susan Hensel Gallery, the show expands on the artist’s interpretation of neurodiversity through form, color, and sculptural whimsy.

The Regrettable Truth of the Cliché by Christopher Rowley

His inaugural exhibit with Susan Hensel Gallery, The Regrettable Truth of the Cliché, continue the major threads of Rowley’s work, while plunging even deeper into the abstracted forms of machines. Whereas previous series like Slippery Parables used piping to draw shapes, here we have a step beyond into complexity and, ultimately, into abstraction using the unlikely techniques of punch needle rug work.

Neotectonic Period: A Radical Proposal for Beauty

Neotectonic Period: A Radical Proposal for Beauty is a new solo exhibition of mixed media sculpture by Susan Hensel. Running from March 15th to May 15th, 2022 on the Susan Hensel Gallery’s online Artsy platform, the show exhibits the artist’s groundbreaking digital embroidery techniques combined with a variety of materials.

Ingrid Restemayer returns to Susan Hensel Gallery with a new fiber art series titled Talk to Me. These pieces continue the strong compositions and driving aesthetic focus of the artist’s oeuvre, developing the threads she has woven so far while introducing a new set of idioms. Using hand made paper, printmaking and embroidery, Restemayer gives us a quiet, contemplative view of the ways humanity communicates with itself.

Body Work

exhibits Bird’s intricately created natural fiber works. Using willow the artist raises and/or harvests herself according to sustainable practices, Bird creates captivating pieces that talk about the complex struggles and triumphs of the body.

Neutral Territory: The Meditative Art of Kim Matthews

Kim Matthews is an artist whose work intertwines the transcendent with the specific. Her pieces are vessels, bodies to contain the hidden truth of formlessness. Orderly and serene, organic and reverent, Matthews’ creations burrow deep into a shared space inside all of us. And her latest exhibition Neutral Territory gives us the best look at her practice thus far.Kim Matthews Neutral Territory

From the Center

Linda King Ferguson’s  work lie at the intersection of painting and object making, the restrained images of Linda King Ferguson rely on the co-properties of textiles and painting processes. She thoughtfully stains, paints front and back, creates layers while cutting away and peeling forward the images.

Visit Artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery

From Broken to Beautiful

K Daphnae Koop’s series From Broken to Beautiful could be seen as many things. A collection of found objects. An act of reclamation. A series of paintings. An index of items once considered worthless, now restored and honored through the hands of an artist whose work revels in the redemption of the objects she handles and the people who witness them.

Each piece is a sculptural wall work created out of reclaimed materials. These materials are recombined into striking compositions that are then painted and scraped and painted again.

The images that emerge from the surfaces are not so much abstract as pre-representational. They evoke simple forms that speak to many echoes in our world. By intentionally going below visual representation into a more archetypal pattern, every work is able to reveal a spectrum of interpretations that dance together—now emphasizing this vision, now that.

Visit Artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery

Stitches on the Path to HERE

Ingrid Restemayer’s Stitches on the Path to Here gathers contemplative pieces of fiber art in a collection of otherworldly quiet, all arranged in uncanny compositions of familiar forms. Working in printmaking, paper and hand-embroidery, the artist creates artwork that announce themselves through color and define themselves through precise composition.

Visit Artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery

Neurotangle, by Nina Martine Robinson, was created in 2019, is an early exploration into utilizing repurposed clothing as a metaphor for neurodiversity. In 2018, Ms. Robinson’s 23 year old son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, specifically Aspergers Syndrome. Many individuals on the spectrum have self soothing behaviors called “stims.” These repetitive actions help to calm nerves and soothe them during high stress situations. For her son it is the deconstruction of his pants. Consequently, she spends hours mending belt loops, pockets and patching. This recent installation work is a response to this repetitive behavior. The deconstruction of the clothing and the repetitive stitching to create new forms is an expression of Autism and neurodiversity as it applies to her particular experiences. The term neurodiversity was coined to describe variations in the human brain regarding mood, learning, attention, sociability and other mental functions in a non-pathological sense. Her goal in sharing these installations is about creating awareness of and being a conduit for interaction between neurotypical and neurodiverse people.

Visit Artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery to see the new online space, and look for Stitches on the Path to Here beginning February 15th.

Follow Susan Hensel on Artsy.net

Gallery Archives

Opened September 10, 2004

ALL THINGS ELECTORAL was the inaugural show in The Gallery at Susan Hensel Design, September 10-October 29, 2004. Artists from across the United State submitted work on the theme of electoral politics. MORE…

Nov 5-Dec 29, 2004

Twenty-two artists from across the United States shared their work of faith, doubt and hope. In addition a portion of the Shower of Stoles project was shown in the windows.

Exhibiting Artists:

Barbara Adams-Hebard, Massachusetts
Elizabeth Adams-Marks, Illinois
Alicia Bailey, Colorado

Jerusha Rose Bergstrom, Twincities
Richard J. Bonk, Twincities
Mary Bowman Cline, Twincities
Mark Edwin Carlson, Twincities
Margery Coffey, Nebraska
Stephanie Dean-Moore, Canada
Patricia Dunn-Walker, Rochester
Cari Ferraro, California
Jane Gerus,Twincities
Karen Hanmer, Illinois
Susan Hensel,Twincities
Susan Kapuscinki-Gaylord, Massachusetts
Cody Kiser, Twincities
Marc Lamm,Twincities
Teresa Prater, S. Carolina
Elena Mary Siff, California
Jodie L. Walz, Twincities
Sherri Warner, Twincities

MORE…

by Kari Gunter-Seymoor

In the Christian calendar Advent is a season of watchful waiting. For military families in wartime, it is always Advent.

January 7-February 26, 2005

A terribly important and terribly moving exhibit about this sort of advent showed at Susan Hensel Design at 3441 Cedar Ave. S, Mpls. Kari Gunter-Seymour, an artist, a single parent, a pacifist waits for her son’s safe return from Iraq. It is an untenable waiting. To make the waiting possible, she has become very active and invites you to join her. MORE…

March 4-April 28, 2005

Reception for the artist’s March 4, 5-9 pm

Also open March 5, 1-4 pm, April 8, 5-7 pm, and by generous appointment.

In this, the fifth year of the show, I asked for artists’ books that might bend the idea of the book or stretch the string of narrative. Bound, unbound, sculptural, singular, or editioned. I asked, ” Where does your notion of bookness lie today? ” MORE…

May 2005

The show is OVER! Watch the movie! If you like what you see, and desire a larger movie image, so you can actually read the text, contact me for a DVD, $5. There are a few steak lunchboxes, rubber chickens, terracotta bunnies, and cows available for sale…the price is the amount that represents the intersection between what it’s worth to you and what you can afford. There are also notecards of the farm animals with attitude, by Gwen Schagrin, printed on Johannot paper, $2.50 per card. 10% of all sales will be sent to Second Harvest to help fight hunger. MORE…

Paintings & poetry by Travis Pickard and Tim Lane
July 8-August 26

The opening on Friday, July 8, was warm and warmly received. The artists were welcomed by many of Minneapolis’s best who stayed to hear passionate poetry reading by Tim. More of the show, installed, can be seen below. Stay with it and scroll down to read just ONE of the poems read on Friday night. Tim’s chapbook will be published in roughly December. Contact Tim for details or to place an order: inlovewithplaid@aol.com By the way, that’s Tim on the ladder and Travis drinking coffee. It seems about right…except there really should be a can of Coke Classic in every shot. MORE…

SPECIAL EVENT

August 3, one night only

A one night multimedia performance by The Night. The Night is a new media ensemble whose work focuses on the interrelations between sound and image, using musical improvisation and elegant computer programming that features real-time video that is changed and affected by the performance.

Formed in early 2003, the group consists of an ever-changing group of musicians and artists, mostly Oberlin College graduates, including sitar player Ami K. Dang, video artist John Hensel, Travis Johns, who plays bass and electronics, and others. To date, their work has been featured in such places as the 2003 Placard Experimental Music Festival, The Spaceworks Gallery (NYC) and the Allen Memorial Art Museum.

They will preview their East Coast August tour with a performance here in Minneapolis at the Susan Hensel Gallery on August 3, 8pm-10pm. Free.

Travis Johns work can be heard on Fighter Pilots, available from iTunes

MORE…

AT THE INTERSECTION
OF FAITH & POLITICS
November 4 – December 29, 2005

Artwork from all traditions and attitudes that deals with the concept of the intersection of faith and politics. How do they intersect? Should they intersect? How does one affect the other? A diverse response ensued. This show of painting, sculpture, books, mixed media & video is their answer. Some answer with further questions. Some answer with fierce proclamations. Some answer with quiet meditations on faith. MORE…

Encaustic & mixed media about fecundity, growth and mortality

by Leslie Sobel

September 9- October 14

Ann Arbor artist Leslie Sobel said of her work, “My work is driven by my fasci-nation with biology. I intend it to be earthy and profound, sexual and ethereal. My mother’s recent death from cancer has personalized and deepened intellectual & aesthetic ideas into passion.” MORE…

by Susan Hensel

January 7-February 24, 2006

OPENING RECEPTION :
Saturday, JANUARY 7, 2006, 5-9 pm

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.

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 in the study and knowledge of death and destruction, of human evil, had taken its toll.

It took about six months for the usually ebullient Hensel to feel normal again. She asked herself, “What should I do next? What frontier did I have left to explore? What was the opposite of death and destruction? I determined to investigate sexuality and aging.” As the arc of the project proceeded, she found she was creating a quasi-historical, many-layered narrative of sexual awakening, fecundity, relationship, sorrow, and aging. Using drawing, photography, printing, collage, assemblage, light, and sound, Hensel creates a beautiful, problematic environment that ultimately engages the existential question of how we manage to live alone in the prison of our bodies.

A catalog of the DESIRE show is available for $15 MORE…

CHANGING THE WIND

March 4-April 28, 2006

Also featuring visual journals from the students at Hudson High School, Hudson, WI.

Artists from all over the United States were asked to consider change: personal, political or spiritual. These books and book objects are their answers. MORE…

STORIES OF NEW LIVES
May 13-May 31, 2006

Celebrate the richness that Indian immigrants have brought to America.
Listen to oral histories
Watch traditional Indian dance
Listen to classical Indian music
See the artwork of contemporary artists:
Lorna Rockey
Siddiqua Shahnawaz
and Shakun Maheshwari

Smell the scents and taste the food.
With pleasure, I will also be showing the online “flip-book” Visual Journal of India by Dorothy Simpson Krause.

Ragamala Music and Dance Theater has sent a DVD of their work. They are a company in which “old forms are used in new ways to honor the past, celebrate the present, and inspire the future.” I am thrilled to have their assitance.

This show was made possible with the input and assistance of the Minnesota Historical Society India Oral History Project and the India Association of Minnesota , and Perpich Center for Arts Education Library.

Many thanks are due to: Polly Sonifer, Jim Fogerty, Dilip Mallik, Ram Gada, Godan Nambudiripad, Bhairavi X. Mahant, Ranee Ramaswamy, Sandhya Danapuri, Sandhya Gupta, Jeanne Iverson and unnamed friends and neighbors who cooked, told people about the project and supported the idea. MORE…

THREADS IN SPACE
July 8-31, 2006

What happens when artists take up the needle arts?
It’s certainly not your Grandma’s doilies!
Come see a national group of artists who work with sculptural yarn, pictorial stitches and performance art.

Exhibiting Artists:

Jay Benson
Jenny Dallas
Katherine Daniels
Edith DeChiara
Mike Elko
Peggy Johnston
Karen Searle
Rachel Suntop
Lisa Switalski
Erin Vigneau Dimick
Gail Wagner
Lynn DT Herschberger
Dorothy Roskam

Images:

Jay Benson Jenny DallasKatherine Daniels | Edith
DeChiara
 | Mike Elko | Peggy Johnston | Laura Lewis
Carla Mantel | Julie Millies | Michele Pollock | Alison
Roscoe
 | Karen Searle | Ann Corely Silverman | Rachel
Suntop
 | Lisa Switalski | Erin Vigneau Dimick | Gail
Wagner
 | Rosie Casey | Lynn DT Herschberger | Dorothy
Roskam
 | Susan Hensel w/ assistance from Carla Mantel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

watch a movie of the exhibition

watch a movie of the performance

More…

BETWEEN EARTH & HEAVEN

new work by Seamus Leonard

September 9 – October 28

“-I tell stories through pencil, pen, pictures, and words-“

More…

It is the aim of Seamus Leonard to create contemporary visual and written mythologies. To tell linear and non-linear stories of past and contemporary mythologies. To create poems, prose, and short stories, mixed into contemporary medieval manuscripts, artist-made books, publications, illustrations, comic books, installations, films, and performances. Come spend some time with this work. You will be richly rewarded.

Also in October

talkingimageconnection

THE GODS MUST BE CRANKY

Poetry & text by Michele CampbellHaley Lasche , Seamus Leonard, Jen March and Ace Moore in response to the work of Seamus Leonard.

Friday, October 20, 7pm

Images:

Chime | Mining | Flight Thought | Vault | War Booty
Containment | Question Deck | Stories Assimilation
of Stuff 
Return

Links:

Talking Image Connection

new work by Kari Gunter-Seymoor

Nov 4-Dec 29, 2006
Opening November 4 with a reception for the artist.

Kari Gunter-Seymour is a pacifist.
Her son is a soldier.

When he shipped out to Iraq, Kari began her work WAR GAMES, showing it here in January 2005. Her new work, DIARY OF A MILITARY MOM, continues the story of the struggle of a mother’s love and a son’s choices.

Kari also brought cards and mini-posters for sale. A portion of the proceeds will go to ADOPT A PLATOON.

See Kari’s last show with the Susan Hensel Gallery: War Games

Images: 1 2 3 4  cards  posters

More…

MIKE ELKO EXPLORES THE FAMILY VACATION

January 5th-February 28th, 2007
Opening Reception Fri. Jan. 5th, 5-9 pm

talkingimageconnection returns!

WISH YOU WERE HERE: The Great Family Vacation Show

A Reading Saturday, February 17th, 7 pm

Jim CoppocGeoff HerbachHaley LascheBeth MayerAce Moore, and Alison Morse unpack stories and poems about the famous oxymoron, the family vacation, in response to Mike Elko’s WE DROVE, WE SAW, WE ATE.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 pm.

Learn more about Talking Image Connection

More…

FRUGAL FINDS FOR PRUDENT COLLECTORS

March 2nd-April 28th, 2007

Did you know that you can own original works of art for as little as $3? You can!
In the seventh year of Reader?s Art, a national ( and sometimes inter-national) survey show of artist’s books, the theme is FRUGALITY. Artists from around the world were asked to submit original artist?s books that met one of two criteria:

Books on any theme, priced below $100.00
Books on the theme of FRUGALITY, for any price.

Twenty one artists or arts collectives from eleven states and Great Britain intend to be part of this show. Four artists, in particular, will be showing in depth. Local artist:Tim Abel, Illinois artist: Karen Hanmer, Colorado artist: Alicia Bailey, and Iowa artist: Emily Martin. Tim Abel is new to the Susan Hensel Gallery, showing works with an emphasis on sculptural as well as textual characteristics. Emily Martin , Karen Hanmer and Alicia Bailey have all shown with Susan Hensel since before her move to Minnesota in 2002. They have all exhibited, have taught or will teach at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, in the Open Book Building.

This show has several special elements this year. For the second year the students of Hudson High School , in Hudson, WI, will exhibit their books.

In addition to the opening on March 2, there are two free events scheduled.

Friday, March 16th at 7 pm

THE CRIT SQUAD

Mary BergsBarbara GilhoolyTheresa HandyMonica ReedePatty ScottCarolyn SwiszczMichon Weeks )

are offering FREE CRITIQUES. They ask, “Are you stuck at an impasse?” Bring your problem-creation for help. Or come and watch us do it with our own work?

Monday April 16, 7pm

well known book artists Peter and Donna Thomas will be in town from California to share their work with you. They will be presenting a FREE gallery talk:

ARTISTS BOOKS ARE THE BEST BARGAIN IN THE ART WORLD

The two of them are best known for their miniature limited edition artists books on a variety of topics. They are also the authors of the book More Making Books by Hand.

Images:

Timothy Abel | Alicia Bailey Sally Canzoneri | Jon Coffelt | The Crit Club
Susan Hensel | Barbara Gilhooly | Karen Hanmer | Peggy Johnston | Emily
Martin
 | Diane McGurren | Amanda Nelson | Pamela Paulsrud | Amanda
Nelson
 | Orawin Rungsinan | Jamie Runnells | Cathy Ryan | Elena Mary Siff
Mary Tasillo | Sarah Brown Peter & Donna Thomas | Mike Elko

1 | 2 | 4

Links:

Alicia Bailey | Jon Coffelt | Barbara Gilhooly | Carolyn Swiszcz | Mary Bergs | Theresa Handy Monica Reede | Patty Scott | Michon Weeks | Karen Hanmer Susan Hensel | Peggy Johnston | Emily Martin | Diane McGurren | Sara R. Parr | Pamela Paulsrud | Orawin Rungsinan | Jamie Runnells | Elena Siff Mary Tasillo | Sarah Brown | Mike Elko

More…

April 28th, 7-9 pm

Laura Fulk and Andrea Horne present a different kind of fashion show! $5 cover charge: proceeds benefit Chrysalis.

Images: 1 2 3 4

watch a movie of the exhibition

More…

Paintings and Poetry by Riki Kölbl Nelson

Opening Friday, May 4, 5-9 pm

Experience the loud, assertive feisty hybrid creature with the shimmering tail! A creation of Northfield artist and poet Riki Kölbl Nelson.

Return Friday, May 25, 7-9 pm

for a poetry reading with Roosterwoman and Penchant (a.k.a. Northfield Women Poets)

Images: 1 2 3

More…

sculpture and installation by Mary Ellen Long

July 13- August 30, 2007

A quiet consideration of thirty years in the forest, evidence of quiet observation, and the effect of time.

Return Saturday, August 4, 7-9 pm

for DREAM CASTING, an original performance by Sandy Beach

Written in response to FOREST WALK, this reading is sponsored by our favorite group of poets: TIC, Talking Image Connection

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

More…

story and collaboration by Alicia Bailey and Melinda Laz

September-October, 2007

A Catalog of Lovely Things is an exhibition featuring individual and collaborative works by Denver artists Alicia Bailey and Melinda Laz, Alicia and Melinda met in a printmaking class in 2001, and since then have been informally meeting to discuss the business and concepts of their work.

_ Though they each approach art-making differently, both artists use narrative as an important element in their work. The works in this exhibit are their first collaborative pieces.

Alicia Bailey is known for her work in the book arts, but also produces other 2- and 3-dimensional work. The work she includes in this show is from the series Lovely and Amazing, a tribute to her great-aunt Ruth Wheeler, a beloved biology teacher and feminist who lived and worked in North Denver for 70 years. Ruth found the natural world a place of endless delight. She left behind a collection of biological specimens, letters and photographs which have been incorporated into a series of three-dimensional collages.

Melinda Laz is a printmaker. Her print techniques include making use of old family photographs by transferring them onto polymer etching plates. Her work in this show is from a series titled Of Fantasy & Make Belief, an ongoing series of works on paper that references fairy tales and other scenes from domestic life. In this narrative series, the characters include vintage photographs of adults and children (many of her own family members) that appear in dream-like situations. The work also explores ideas about domesticity and perceptions of home.

For their collaborative work, the artists worked together in the studio, each incorporating materials and images from their individual projects. The result is a series of mixed-media monoprints created first by their printing together, and then by each taking several of the printed images back to their own studios for completion.

MORE…

casting shadows

November 9-December 28, 2007
Opening receptions November 9, 5-9pm at Susan Hensel Gallery
ArtSpace at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church (1620 East 46th St.)

Thirty eight local and national artists cast light and shadow on faith in 2 locations:

As I worked with the images submitted this year, themes seemed to present themselves. I have always contended that artists, like most people, are concerned with the ultimate questions that faith addresses: Is there purpose? Is there a god? Is there hope?

Among the artists of this increasingly competitive show are Christians, non-christians, churched, unchurched, agnostics. I saw them questioning everything, wondering aloud, sometimes laughing at the human condition, and always, hoping fiercely. I would have to say that this is an optimistic group of artists, creating beauty and seeking peace.

Leap of Faith, in its third year, has lept the bounds of the Susan Hensel Gallery and spread to Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church.  Lake Nokomis, a progressive Presbyterian church, has a commitment to the arts, education, and justice.  With a sense of renewed commitment, in 2007 they have opened their doors to visual artists with ArtSpace and have begun renting rehearsal space to various dance and theater companies.

Participating artists and their states:

Barbara Barnes Allen, WA
Christy Kelly-Bentgen, MI
Mark Carlson, MN
Judy Dodds, MN
Andrey Feldshteyn, MN
Barbara Adams Hebard, MA
James Michael Lawrence, MN
Sarah McCoy, IA
Pauline Mitchell, MN
Elizabeth Raggett, MI
Orin Rutchick, MN
Beth Eilers Sullivan, MN
Julia Wilkins, MN
Sherry Barber, TX
Mandy Brannon, MN
Max Collins, MI
Betsy Dollar, MN
Devin Gallison, MN
Pat Izzo, MI
Uppercase Collective, CA
MaryJo Pauly, MN
Mary Rivard, MN
Eric Santwire, MN
Sara Witty, MN
Bruce Basch, WI
Laura Burlis, MN
CristinaDe Almeida, WA
Steve Edmundson, MN
Lucy Grantz, MN
Elaine Langerman, DC
Dayna Mase, MN
Donna Ghel Miller, WI
Michel Pleau, MN
Jane Rosemont, MN
Mary Simon-Casati, MN
Melody Villars, MN
Bonnie Wolf, CA
Kate VanCleve, MN

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Return Saturday, November 17, 2 pm for
POETRY BY PENCHANT
a reading and book signing by Penchant, formerly Northfield Women Poets.

Images: 1 2 3 4 5

Burlis, Carlson, Collins, deAlmeida, Dodds, Dollar, Edmunds, Feldshteyn, Gallison, Grantz, Izzo, Bentgen, Langerman, Lawrence, Uppercase, Mase, McCoy, Miller, Mitchell, Pauly, Pleau, Raggett, Rivard, Rosemont, Rutchick, Santwire, Simon-Casati, VanCleve, Villars, Wilkins, Witty, Wolf, Barber, Basch, BarnesAllen, AdamsHebard, Brannon

MORE…

An installation by Karen Hanmer

January 18 — February 29, 2008

Prolific book, print, and installation artist Karen Hanmer created a piece specifically designed for The Susan Hensel Gallery for this exhibition. Viewers were able to experience with her a space as clean and clear as a summer night in the Boundary Waters. As the artist, herself, much intended, the constellations pictured in the work also formed constellations between those in attendance.

Related Events

On Saturday, February 23, a horde of guests returned for GAZING AT STARS, a reading by TIC, Talking Image Connection. TIC is a group of Twin Cities writers who respond to art. They meet with the artist, spend time with the show, go home, and write poetry and prose in response. On February 23 they returned to the gallery to perform their pieces, which were received exceptionally warmly. A limited-edition chapbook of the reading was made especially for the event. Reading that night were Alison Morse, Jean Larsen, Ace Moore, Jeff Skemp, and Charlotte Sullivan.

On Saturday, March 1, Karen Hanmer returned to host a closing brunch. She was very grateful for this opportunity to create a new work for this space and wanted to share more time with the viewers. Food was provided by Firefly2 Coffee Bistro, next door.

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

MORE…

Handmade With Care

March 14-April 26, 2008

Opening Reception
Friday March 14, 2008, 5-9pm

This national exhibition of artist books returns for its eighth year in a row with a special focus this time around on handmade paper and/or the mark of the hand.

Also, for the third year, students from Hudson High School in Hudson, Wisconsin will share their visual journals concurrently with Reader’s Art.

Related Events

Return @ 7 p.m. Saturday April 26 for DogEarEye&Nose:
A reading that will shake, rollover, fetch, and damage a rare book!

This performance piece in response to the show promises to be a real treat! Written by playwright and Artistic Director of Cheap Theater, Erica Christ, and performed by Richard Rousseau, Laura Winton, Joan Calof, and Tom Cassidy. Save the date!

MORE…

An Installation of Wearable Books by Betsy Dollar

The installation, The Wedding Party, is a grouping of twelve wearable books. These characters have The Wedding Party, is a grouping of twelve wearable books. These characters have The Wedding Party come together to celebrate matrimony. It is a joyous occasion; yet, everyone present has a different idea of what marriage is, and should be, in the 21st century. Join the party and see where you stand.

Appointments available through May 30.

Outside, In the Peace Garden

WITHOUT SHADOW A new installation by Andrea Miller in the Peace Garden on the north side of the gallery.

June 6th—July 7th, 2008

Opening Reception
Fri, June 6th, 2008, 7—10 p.m.

Seeking to fuel discourse about political art-making and politics in general, Revisions of the American Dream was a juried exhibition that brought together 13 artists from all over the nation, and even two living abroad. The show was curated by Zach Pearl, Assistant Coordinator for the gallery, and served as both a way to unite the community and also to unite artists under the heading of “What Matters”.

For the exhibition, the gallery walls were adorned with excerpts from the Constitution that both bissected and dissected the artwork. The work itself ranged from interactive sculpture to kinetic book art to oil painting.

The opening reception for Revisions was bustling and successful, enticing guests with some homemade red, white, and blue cupcakes as well as the warm winds of Summer.

Images:

Postcard | Guerilla Flags | Mosher | Kincaid | Renzella

Installed: 1 2

The Opening: 1 2 3

The Windows: 1 2

Artist links

Andy Kincaid
Brenda Ingersoll
Carolyn Anderson
Christopher Williams
Contra-Tiempo Dance Co.
Curt Lund
David Levine
David Sebberson
Dustin Traylor
Elizabeth King
Jon Renzella
Libby Barrett
Matthew Mosher
Pete Edwards
Rabi Sanfo

MORE…

Opening Reception
Fri, August 8th, 2008, 5 – 9 p.m.

Based on the simple question Do you ever feel like someone is watching? and the power of the feminine gaze, Just Looking was an intricate and invasive installation of interactive art by Susan Hensel herself. The culmination of just under 3 years of preparation, Just Looking was comprised of a wall of over 600 self-portraits of the artist set into a grid that then served as a backdrop for live projections of people attending the opening.

Susan’s son, John Hensel, also debuted a series of recent photographs. The series, entitled Eyes presented super-macro shots of just that…eyes! A tight comparison of miniature details from one eye to the next spoke of themes of identity and unity which were an excellent compliment to the content of Susan’s installation.

Two limited edition books were also made from select self-portraits from the series and are available for purchase for $25 each, or $40 for the pair.
To purchase call 612.722.2324 or e-mail Susan.

Click the titles below to view them.
Witness
I Am My Own Witness

Guests returned on August 27th for a special Artist’s Unite meeting and neighborhood potluck for which Just Looking was up and running again.

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

MORE…

September 12-October 29, 2008

view catalog

Opening Reception 5-9 p.m.
Friday September 12th

A special performance
by James Leonard @ 7:30 p.m.

A nationally selected exhibition of 15 artists that presents a spectrum of images about political activism. With this show, Susan Hensel gallery is pleased announce the return of artist/designer Kari Gunter-Seymour whose thought-provoking posters and postcards will be on sale during the opening. The gallery will also welcome New York artist James Leonard to give a one-time special performance from his larger work, “The Warbonds Project”.

James Leonard appears courtesy of the Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, NYC, and by a parternship between Minnesota Center for Book Arts and the Susan Hensel Gallery.


Meanwhile, in the Peace Garden :

ANEMONE A new installation by ceramic sculptor Jane Gordon in the Peace Garden on the north side of the gallery.

Images:   1 3

Images:

Mike Elko 1 2 3 4 5 | Kari Gunter Seymour
Elena Siff 1 2 3 | Mary Tasillo 1 2 3
James Michael Lawrence & Peter Wilson 1 2 3 4
Jeff Lohaus 1 2 | Karen Hanmer 1 2 3
Sarah Hauser 1 2 3 | Carol Morris 1 2
Michael Kabbash | Janet Culbertson | Patricia Dahlman
The War and Peace Print Project | James Leonard

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Leonard’s Performance: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Artist Links:

Janet Culbertson
Patricia Dahlman
Mike Elko
Karen Hanmer
Sarah Hauser
Michael Kabbash
James Michael Lawrence & Peter Wilson
James Leonard
James Lohaus
Carol Morris
Kari Seymour-Gunter
Elena Mary Siff
Mary Tasillo
Kate Van Cleve

November 7 — December 29, 2008

view catalog

Opening in 2 locations!

Reception — 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, November 7th @ Susan Hensel Gallery!

18 national and locally selected artists present their interpretations and reactions to the concepts of faith and devotion.

For the second year, Artspace @ Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church will host one half of this exhibition and welcome everyone and anyone in to experience its beautiful space and progressive values.

Artspace
Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church
1620 E 46th Street // Minneapolis, MN 55407
(612)721.4463 // Office Hours : 9 am to 2 pm, Tues. — Fri.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

DON’T MISS THE ARTIST TALKS!

ART & HEALING w/ Sara Haig
9 A.M. // DEC. 14TH
@ Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church

In the sanctuary, an installation by local artist Sarah Haig grapples with the affects of abuse and the empowerment of giving voices to the victims. She will speak to adult education about this piece on Sunday, December 14, at 9 am.

ART & THE CHURCH w/ Debra Elmore-Nesheim
9 A.M. // DEC. 21ST
@ Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church

Debra Elmore–Nesheim reclaims and recombines found materials as an act of faith and worship. She and her husband Steven will speak to adult education on Sunday , December 21, about Reclaiming Art for the Church. They are involved with an arts ministry with St. Michaels in Bloomington.

Both talks are free and open to the public!
Call 612.722.2324 for more information!

Images:

Jacob Ackerson 1 2 3 4 | Alex Appella 1 2 | Vigee Blue 1 2 | the Combat Paper Project 1 2 | Jeff Rathermel 1 2 3 4 Debra Elmore-Nesheim 1 2 3 | Andrey Feldshteyn 1 2 3 4 | Marcia Haffmans 1 2 3 | Sarah Haig 1 2
James Michael Lawrence 1 2 | Marvel Maring | Melinda McCannell-Unger 1 | Sarah McCoy 1 2 3 | Sara Nesson (Iraq Paper Scissors) | Jeff Skemp 1 2 3 | Karen Wilcox Bonnie Wolf 1 2 3 4

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

@ Artspace: 1 2 3 4 5

Windows by Debora Miller: The Collection 1 2 3

Artist Links:

Jacob Ackerson
Alex Appella
Vigee Blue
Combat Paper Project
Liliam Dominguez
Debra Elmore-Nesheim
Andrey Feldshteyn
Marcia Haffmans
Sarah Haig
James Michael Lawrence
Melinda McCannell
Sarah McCoy
Debora Miller
Marya Morstad
Sara Nesson
Jeff Rathermel
Karen Wilcox

MORE…

Opening reception — 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, January 9th

Takedown reception — 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, February 21st

During a time when many people may be scrimping and saving to hold on to what they’ve got, there’s one man in particular who’s looking to give it all away.

For REVIEW=REFLECT=RECYCLE James Michael Lawrence, a local and prolific digital collage artist presented a survey of over 15 years worth of his work at Susan Hensel Gallery this January with the unusual mission to never see it again once the exhibition was over.

Comprised of a hundreds of prints, Lawrences’ show covered the Susan Hensel Gallery floor to ceiling; a patchwork of pattern, photo manipulation, and brilliant color.

The opening reception was held at the gallery on January 9th, from five to nine p.m, which saw a great turnout and a grin from ear to ear on the face of the artist as well as his long-term and incredibly supportive partner, Peter Wilson.

On February 21st, a take-down/take-away reception was also be held at the gallery, in which all attending were invited to strip the walls bare and take the artwork home, donating whatever amount one was able. This was also a grand success, making the A-List of weekend events to-do in City pages, and even more importantly not a print was left by the toll of four o’clock!

Opening reception — 12 to 4 p.m. Sunday, January 22nd, 2009

In his first solo show, Susan Hensel Gallery’s Assistant Coordinator Zach Pearl presented a recent body of work that addresses his thoughts on the ever-changing aspects of life in one’s mid-20’s. The series was comprised of 19 “portraits”; faces emerging from islands afloat in an ocean of white space. Each drawing was comprised of multiple layers (five on average) of paper, vellum, and acetate.

Once installed: 1 2 3

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5

For more of Zach’s work.

MORE…

SMALL, SMALLER, SMALLEST

MARCH 6 — APRIL 15, 2009
Opening Reception Friday, March 6, 5-9 p.m.

View the exhibition catalog

The 9th installment of this venerated artist book show saw books of small, smaller, and even tiny stature. As always, Readers’ Art 9 was a nationally-juried exhibition, with 21 talented artists selected to participate, as well as the budding talent of students from Hudson High School in Wisconsin.

The pieces this year were united in scale, but they varied widely in technique and media, giving a broad perspective of contemporary book arts for the gallery’s guests. From the playful pop-up Of Eyes, Mouths & Bodies by Kaylie Abela to Maryann Riker’s jar full of books hinged between shirt buttons; the spectrum of approaches to the concept of “miniature” made for an impressive and diverse showing.

Among the selected exhibitors, three artists were featured in-depth:
Jill TimmJody Williams & Patrice Baldwin.

Artists’ Images:

Abela | Alexander | Anderson | Baldwin 1 2 | D’Amico 1 2 | Gawne | Geistfield | Hensel | Jager | Morris 1 2 | Nelson | O’Brien | Renbeck | Riker 1 2 | Rosenberg | Sun | Timm 1 2 | Van Cleve | Westergard | Wiener | Williams 1 2

Once installed: 1 2 3 4 5 6

The Windows: 1 2

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5 6

MORE…

APRIL 18 — MAY 11, 2009
Opening Reception Saturday April 18, 5-9 p.m.

View a catalog of the show

Recently accepted into the 2010 Venice Bienale, New York City artist Jon Coffelt was kind enough to fly in and install Communion; a show of over one hundred handmade miniature sculptures, tiny articles of clothing. Deceptively simple upon first impression, visitors to the gallery soon came to find out that the garments were much more than just “clothing”.

The Install:

2

The Opening:

2 4

Watch the Video

It was a show that demonstrated Jon’s mastery of many things: of clothing construction, of hand stitching, of concept. It was a body of work that honored all the anonymous but supremely important people who have impacted our lives.

“Each piece represents a person,” says Jon. “Many of those people have passed, and so the piece of clothing is a fragment. The pieces are just fragments of ourselves—people that we may have been at one time, or will be at some point.”

The name of the show (Communion) refers to the collaboration that happens between Jon and the person who commissions the miniature garment to be made. It also symbolizes the sense of community that is generated by seeing all the pieces displayed at the same time.

MORE…

View the exhibiton catalog

JULY 10 — AUGUST 28, 2009

Opening Reception
Fri. July 10, 7-9 p.m.

w/ an artist talk
by Ms. Satin @ 7:30 p.m.

PENTIMENTO : A LECTURE
Sat. July 11, 3:30 p.m.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Lecture made possible by a partnership between Susan Hensel Gallery and Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

Bridging the gap between narrative sculpture, bookmaking, and the abstract theories of the composer/artist John Cage, Claire Jeanine Satin brings only a handful of the over 100 book-like objects that make up her series Pentimento to Susan Hensel Gallery for the remainder of the summer. Ms. Satin’s work is challenging, complex, and most of all enchanting. Exploring avenues of language and iconography through dense layers of typography, image, and lots and lots of acetate, Satin’s Pentimento series is something that no photographic documentation can do to justice.

The opening held on the 10th of July was a cozy bunch of attendees that got to her Ms. Satin’s logic behind her work and enjoy the bewildering nature of her creations up-close-and-personal.

Don’t miss the chance to see these pieces while they still bless us with their presence!

Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5 6

MORE…

SEPT. 18-25

Live Performance
Sat. Sept. 5, 2-5 p.m.

Opening Reception
Sat. Sept. 18, 7-9 p.m.

Andrea Miller, a local and emerging artist who recently dove into the foray of performance and installation, is making work that focuses specifically on the relationship between the flux of our physical landscapes to that of our emotional landscapes. Exploring the question, “How do we find shelter in an ever-changing world?”, Miller’s newest piece, “How to Build an Igloo?” will opened September 18th at Susan Hensel Gallery in South Minneapolis. It was an experimental performance documented through an installation, and Miller intended for it to serve as a springboard for dialogue about the struggle to find mental and emotional stability in our environment, despite our knowledge that it is rapidly deteriorating.

Miller’s performance, happened on September 5th at Susan Hensel Gallery at 2 p.m. The public was invited to view the performance at one’s leisure between 2 and 5 p.m. The performance was recorded and incorporated into the installation that opened on the 18th.

Using an odd and symbolic mixture of materials such as sod, an ice shelf, and a blanket woven from charcoal, Miller visually mapped her carbon footprint.

Images: The postcard

The Performance: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The Opening: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

The Movie: How to Build an Igloo

MORE…

October 3 — 30, 2009

Opening Reception, October 3, 5-9 p.m.
Still Walking: The Poetry of Tenacity, October 15, 7-9 p.m.
Closing & Community Potluck, October 30, 6-9 p.m.

Local artist Mark Edwin Carlson is primarily a painter, but he always seeks to convey a sense of the greater narrative; a socially conscious mission that provides the foundation for each new body of work. In TAKE ANOTHER STEP, Carlson’s most recent installment, he chronicles his own experience of walking the Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3 Day in honor of his mother who is a proud breast cancer survivor. On his 72 hour journey, Carlson says that he witnessed, “people who were stunningly positive, and acts of gratitude from people I’d never met.” Each work in TAKE ANOTHER STEP also tells the story of the women that he trained and walked with. That is to say, it begins to tell their stories, as each is ripe with history, struggle, and eventual triumph.

Please join us in viewing these technically amazing and life-affirming works. Also, don’t miss a free and very special reading by local poets, hosted by Lisa Calame-Berg, entitled, Still Walking: The Poetry of Tenacity (date and time listed above).

CLICK TO VIEW


The Opening
Still Walking: The Poetry of Tenacity

MORE…

November 6 — December 28, 2009

view the exhibition catalog

Opening in 2 locations, at Susan Hensel Gallery & Artspace

Opening Receptions Friday November 6, 7-9 p.m.

24 national and locally selected artists address the concept of the Sabbath. What is it to rest? Is it a Sunday thing? A Friday thing? What part does rest play in our spiritual lives? In any part of our lives?

For the third time, Artspace @ Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church will host half of this exhibition and welcomes everyone and anyone to attend.

Artspace
Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church
1620 E 46th Street // Minneapolis, MN 55407
(612)721.4463 // Office Hours: 9 am to 2 pm, Tues. — Fri.

CLICK TO VIEW

MORE…


Artist Images
The Install
The Opening
The Windows
My Life On A Toothpick by Anita White

January 16 — February 27, 2010

Opening Reception Saturday Jan 16 7-9 p.m.

Susan Hensel Gallery ushers in 2010 by showcasing two women artists whose work trangresses the historic boundaries of craft and practices that are traditionally considered “a woman’s work”. Rachel Starr Suntop’s handmade felt pieces tell her story of her recent travels to Iceland, and Sara Christensen-Blair explores issues of reproduction and the body through pieces like Deterioration and 24 Months, made of birth-control pill cases crocheted into doillies.

CLICK TO VIEW


The Install
The Opening

View a catalog of the exhibition
Read an article about the exhibition

10 years ago, Susan Hensel recognized that her community needed to experience the Book as something more than the conventional paperback romance or the illustrated nursery rhyme; they needed to experience it as narrative object. Opening at the Art Apartment in East Lansing (an experimental gallery space that Hensel helped to found and operate) A Reader’s Art was the first exhibition in Michigan to feature the book arts exclusively. It gained instant attention from local and national press, and it delighted visitors by presenting them with the chance to touch and interact with the artworks.

As the years have gone by, themes have been applied and focuses on particular media have come into play. But, at the heart of it all is still a passionate and down-to-earth gallerist who wants to educate and inspire the members of her community. This year’s show was guest-curated by Jon Coffelt, and features 51 artists ranging from the internationally renowned to the locally emerging. Coffelt, who is a NYC-based artist/designer/gallerist was instrumental in organzing the first two exhibitions at the newly opened book-centric gallery space, Central Booking in Brooklyn.

View the list of exhibitors

CLICK TO VIEW


The Install
The Opening
The Windows by Debora Miller
Poetry Reading w/ members of Laurel Poetry Collective

May 1-May 30, 2010

Opening Reception & Potluck:
May 1, 6:30-9 p.m.

Meet the Artist! May 21, 7-9 p.m.

Our planet is a vast and magnificent system; an intricate network of events and organisms. What is the cope of this network? What is the best way to see it? From the edge of the atmosphere, or in the cells of a plant? According to Leslie Sobel, the answer is both! Her work examines concepts of scope, visual and ethical perspective, and how the bigger picture is shifting. Concerned with issues of climate change, Sobel has created a body of work that serves as a survey of our planet’s sheer beauty and an eulogy for its disappearing vistas.

Read an article about Leslie & her work

CLICK TO VIEW


Setup/Install
The Opening
The Windows

COLOR OF CONFLICT

a collaboration between John Hensel & Susan Hensel

Dec 1, 2010-Jan. 1, 2011

opening reception Dec. 17, 7-10 pm

The object is yarn. The subject is war. The exhibit is photography.

Color of Conflict, opening at Susan Hensel Gallery on December 1, is a collaboration of photographer John Hensel and artist Susan Hensel.

Always a multimedia artist who seeks narrative, Ms. Hensel has brought the world of fiber art into her studio practice. Color of Conflict is a show of photographs that wrest the meaning from a series of yarns that Susan has spun. These yarns, containing army toys and the colors and forms of armed conflict, can be knitted. But their true horror is revealed in the photographic display.

In the art world, one talks about transgression. Transgression can be loosely defined as breaking expected boundaries or expectations. Yarn is expected to be soft, warm, useful, at times even life-saving. It is often associated with leisure, craft, and women’s work. Rarely is it thought of as an object, a material, or a subject of fine art. In this project, yarn paradoxically uses its traditional softness to express a hard/harsh/violent reality. It uses its allusions to its life-saving properties( warmth, padding, protecting) as a field of discussion about war and death. It uses a “women’s art” to discuss a “man’s pursuit.”

It took a man, photographer John Hensel, to bring the meaning to light.

MORE…

In The House of the Mineral Spirits

installation, video, performance & works on paper

By Dean Ebben

January 14-February 28, 2011

A HOUSE PARTY!

closing reception

Friday, February 25, 6:30-10pm

The House of The Mineral Spirits is a play on words and meanings. The idea of the house is a metaphor for one’s inner self. “We all have spirits, ghosts, even demons that haunt us in our past, present, and future.  The mineral spirits are poison, alcohol, things that evaporate. They are ethereal and clear.” MORE…

Dean Ebben’s work always begins as a biographical narrative, taking on a life of its own, building with the response of the viewers.  He sees this show as a “wisdom work,” seeking wisdom through the exploration of ideas, materials, mythology, and narrative.  By using his own observations and experiences in a subtle visual context, he requires the viewers to look carefully and ask themselves what they find significant

In a world of mass culture, which inflicts sensory overload, people tend to become desensitized to visual culture.  Ebben asks the viewer to stop and look closely to find what is significant. Finding wisdom through observation and reflection.

Video of Performance:

March 4-April 23, 2011

opening reception March, 7-10 pm

CITY: A LANGUAGE WE SPEAK- a reading

April 8, 7-9pm

The tradition continues! Reader’s Art, a national survey show of artist’s books, opens at Susan Hensel Gallery, Friday, March 4, from 7-10 pm. This is the broadest, deepest, biggest show of the year at the gallery, pulling 29 artists from 14 states…more than 50 works of art from luminaries and unknowns, local artists and artists from as far away as California and Texas. The topic under consideration changes from year to year…this year artists were asked to think about Urban Living, whether down and dirty or witty and urbane.

MORE…


COMING SOON

arte domesticus

by Libby Soffer

May 6-May 28

opening reception, Friday May 13, 7-10pm

“Mending Circle Performance”,

bring your mending and your stories

May 6,9,16,17,18,&23: noon-5

Dialogue & more mending with the artist: May 20, 5-10

installation by Libbie Soffer

by Libbie Soffer

May 1-28, 2011

opening reception May 13, 7-10 pm

Mending Circles:

May 6,9,16,17,18 & 23, Noon-5pm

Mending Circle Soiree

May 20, starting at 5pm

an evening edition of the Mending Circle to include refreshments with a dialogue led by fiber artist Carolyn Halliday, beginning around 7 pm.

Philadelphia based artist Libbie Soffer works with metaphors of the home and women’s home-based work. With haunting simplicity, Soffer transforms everyday objects into ‘visual poetry’ to talk about the interior space of the body and the power of childhood memories. By stripping clothing down to skeletal remains, dressing house structures in transluscent materials, and inserting hidden, shadowy language, Soffer creates opportunities for the past and present to co-exist.



Opening Next

My Father’s Religion
by
Carolyn Halliday
June 4-July 12, 2011

Opening Reception June 17, 7-9pm

Carolyn Halliday is a local artist who knits with uncommon threads to create uncommon meaning. From spools and spools of copper, thousands of stitches were knitted to form a forest.  From June 4 through July 12, that copper forest, My Father’s Religion,  will be at Susan Hensel Gallery.

 

My Father’s Religion

by Carolyn Halliday

June 4-July 12, 2011

opening reception June 17, 7-9 pm

MORE…

Carolyn Halliday is a local artist who knits with uncommon threads to create uncommon meaning. From spools and spools of copper, thousands of stitches were knitted to form a forest. From June 4 through July 12, that copper forest, My Father’s Religion, will be at Susan Hensel Gallery.

Carolyn Halliday learned the basics of knitting as a youngster. Like most women who grew up in the 1950’s, she was expected to learn the domestic arts. Her first knitted object of memory was a sweater of sorts for a cat who was uninterested in wearing it.

Growing up in Duluth, she was inundated with nature. “I grew up in a family that spent all of our free time outdoors, camping, etc. All we ever talked about was what bird we had seen, or what might be blooming.” The natural world is a constant source of material and inspiration for Carolyn’s work.

My Father’s Religion is an installation, a forest that you can walk through. It is an homage to her father. He was a man who resisted going to church. He took his family to the forest as often as he could. It was in the forest that he found his spiritual home. My Father’s Religion clearly speaks to that and to the necessity of preserving our woodlands. Join Carolyn for the opening reception, Friday, June 17, 7-9pm.

This exhibition is shown in conjunction with:


JULY/AUGUST

in-studio vacation
Opening Next

early September

Project Gutenburg

by

Jeff Rathermel

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23-November 18, 2011

Opening Reception September 23, 7-10pm

Closing event:

November 11, 7-9pm

Keep in Touch: Physicality in Contemporary Art

The Artist in conversation with

Marianne Combs & Paulette Myers-Rich

.

Saved words, broken books, new appreciation

More and more, we are giving up the tangible for the digital. Project Gutenberg Project responds to this by celebrating the material beauty of the book and the value of tactile experience. Using book remains to create two and three dimensional work, this project both embraces and criticizes the power of technology to shape our understanding of the world.

The idea for the project grew out of a donation received by the Minnesota Center for Book: broken, dis-bound, trashed books. There were great works of literature, minor literary works, beautiful papers, illustrations, bits and pieces of varying quality that were the remains of the process of digitizing libraries undertaking by Project Gutenberg. In order to save the words, the books were destroyed. The organization could use little of what remained. Jeff Rathermel looked at these remains with the eyes of an artist who has been devoted personally and professionally to book and paper arts for years.

Project Gutenberg Project may be viewed simply at face value – a commentary on digital libraries and the “demise” of physical books – but it also has deeper underpinnings that explore notions of aesthetics, immediacy, cultural values and the basic human need to engage all senses to most effectively and satisfactorily experience the world they live in. And the reasonably priced objects and publications are just plain beautiful.

March 16- April 26

opening reception March 16, 7-10 pm

Now in its twelfth year, Reader’s Art, a survey show of artists books, examines the concept of home. From nostalgia to politics to bodily integrity, forty two artists wrestle with the longing for home.

 

IN THE WINDOWS:

SHAROL NAU

Sharol Nau is a Northfield artist who is obsessed with mathematics. She is NOT a mathemetician, but attended a math and art conference on a whim and found the confluence of art and mathematics fascinating.

Local Idiosyncrasy Print exchange
This year’s print exchange, organized by Cole Hoyer-Winfield, focuses on the locations we live in, specifically, their unique characteristics and quirks. Participating studios include American printmakers from Recess Press and Bikini Press (Minneapolis), and Brazilian printmakers from the Solar do Barão do Serro Azul, and Atelier Piratininga (Curitiba and São Paulo). A total of 25 artists were involved this year, each with their own unique process and imagery, from monotypes to reliefs, screen prints to embossments.

MORE…

Local traditions, stereotypes, and cultural traits are all factors that affect our trajectories as artists, whether they be positive, negative, or somewhere in between. In exchanging prints with artists from cities and countries distant from our own we may see another perspective of each other’s production and learn how to see our own home through a new lens.

IN THE WINDOWS!

30 Dogs in 30 Days

by

Kat Corrigan

Kat Corrigan paints again! Kat is a superb Minneapolis painter, a master of the brush, the flow of the paint, the color. She paints many things. She paints every day. This month she paints dogs… 30 of them in 30 days!

Closing Reception & Conversation with Debora Miller
was moderated by Julia E. Babb
Friday, February 22, 7-9pm
Dessert and hot cocoa!
In Memorium: Debora Ann Miller left her body and pain behind on February, 27, after a very long journey with cancer. She was determined to live her life, not her disease, and created her last work of art at 2:45 am, on February 24. She leaves behind a family and many, many people who love her and will always remember her as a remarkable example of how to live a life with grace and creativity. I was lucky to be able to exhibit her art work three times. It was an unbelieveable privilege to work with her.I’m Not Me, She’s Over ThereThere is that saying, “You come into the world alone, you go out alone.” That has never pertained to me. An identical twin, I have always had another. We used to imagine the sofa and TV our mom must have swallowed so we could relax while in the womb. Outside the womb, life takes its directions. My twin and I do not live in the same city anymore, but twins we remain. This physical distance translates to a missing that cannot really be defined. Influenced by Diane Arbus’ Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967 and Bernd and Hilla Becher’s use of fixed position on varied subjects or locations, I address the ideas of longing, memory, divergence, and duality. Preserved in glass jars, we gaze out; alike and different. Taking the images in front of significant places from our shared past was a collaborative process. The title derives from a statement I made once when greeted by a mutual friend. For whatever reason, I assumed he meant to be greeting my twin and said, “I’m not me, she’s over there.” It was a stunning moment that uniquely revealed the layers of convoluted identity inherent in twinship.

 

As the youngest child of three, I was loved,cosetted, perhaps spoiled…but not always listened to. As a girl growing up in the 1950’s, my statements were often discounted….leading in my case to delayed medical diagnoses and lifelong consequences from injuries deemed incosequential.To this day it infuriates me when I am not heard, when my opinions are discounted.

IN THE WINDOWS!

Paintings and Proverbs

by

Pam Gaard

The website got put on hold due to webmaster injuries! The windows in May and June were graced with the work of Pam Gaard and her series Paintings and Proverbs.

Learn More

 My paintings are a strong and consistent, ethereal grounding for my soul. I’ve never focused on training or technique; in fact, I’ve run from it. Something in me absolutely refused to be trained in art. Though I’d love to learn established techniques, there’s beauty in allowing space for the unmanifested. What has developed over the years has come from sitting with and contemplating the canvas itself, or the brush strokes after applying a layer of color. The images emerge in front of me and I turn the canvas until I’ve chosen the most intriquing landscape. I do the best I can to fill in the impression I’ve received with the colors and movement that will bring it to life. Because I never begin with a preconceived notion, whatever might be waiting there simply moves through me. I am ever in awe of what comes. Whether holding a concept, a person, musician, or absolutely nothing in mind, what arises in these moments entangles parallels that bring me back to this process again and again.

It’s another world, what happens. Otherworldly beings in an otherworldly dimension. It’s the spirit and energy, Divine Spirit, inherent and inextractable from the whole, whether or not in part; and it is glorious. My keenness for the lighting of the witching hour comes through, I think, helping to catch the unreal in the very real levels of perception.

I’ve come to see that this is the consciousness that shines through when I put paint on a brush, apply the brush to the canvas, and listen to what is there.

Of the paintings on exhibit at Susan Hensel’s Gallery, Gifts 1, 2, and 3 show the result of this process in 2007. Hope, Faith, and Love shows a later incarnation, 2010. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

Learn More

Julia Elizabeth Babb is a multi-disciplinary artist focusing on broad concepts and deeper philosophical meanings. A professional calligrapher’s daughter, Julia developed an early love of letters and the letter arts and later, an understanding of the history and mystery behind them. These pieces then, are her contribution to an on-going conversation about letters, words, language and ideas.

~~”Aleph” is a sort of portrait of the first letter of the alphabet, a celebration of and a meditation on the beginnings of things.

~~”Below As Above So” is a new twist on an old idea. Instead of being written across the page from left to right, the words are arranged so that they must be read up and down, or down and up depending on whether one begins reading from the left side or the right.

Learn More

Deconstructing Power

Deconstructing Power

One of the many things that women share world wide is wage disparity with men. In the US, the average gender wage gap, is 23%. When considering the wages of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, the gap narrows to 17%, but the number of women holding the position also reduces. Women are roughly 51% of the population in the US, holding 4.2% of the top positions in Fortune 500 companies.

What is it, then, that represents this overwhelming male power? Perhaps it is the suit.

Deconstructing Power is a series of stitched assemblages that consider the artificiality of the power suit, designed to enhance male images of power. Developed out of European styles of the aristocracy, the power suit, once established, changed little and now is the near ubiquitous symbol of power for the urban male. The deconstructed suits are stitched onto floral/feminine upholstery fabrics with their artifice prominent. Once splayed open, they become simply the stuff of which they are made: cleverly woven textiles cleverly assembled for effect, often by the hands of women.

Learn More

Music and Art

Sergio Mojica was born in El Salvador and grew up in New York City. A self taught artist and musician he believes that music and art influence each other. Some of the musicians who have shaped his art have been Carlos Santana and Thelonious Monk to name a few. He sees his art as a marriage between the old folklore of Latin America and the European influnces such as Surrealism, Abstraction, as well as Expressionism. It is somewhere between these vast universes that Sergio exists while trying to defy category. He says, “I still refer to some of these art movements as “cool” since their age to me is irrelevant. These styles were cool then and they will forever be “cool” to me. I am influenced by countless artists musically and artistically, even by writers such as Rod Serling or subversive poets like Roque Dalton. My inspiration comes from every day people and life.”

Your Content Goes Here

The Quilting Bee/Artist Salon Project

The idea for the project is modeled on traditional quilting bees in which women brought fabric scraps to each other’s homes and assembled the scraps into quilts. They worked side by side creating functional objects of great beauty. This is no longer a common practice in our culture; in fact, there are few opportunities for side by side making. Working with our hands in the presence of others is a condition that creates intimacy and a feeling of comfort, even amongst strangers. The level of engagement and enthusiasm of participants in the salons surprised me and confirmed my idea that there is value in creating opportunities to make in the context of community. I am very grateful for the artists who donated work, for the many people who came to help stitch and for the organizations that hosted the events and the exhibition.

Mary Bergs is a Minneapolis artist who works with found materials and objects, combining them into installations, collage, and community based art projects. Bergs works with objects that have been discarded or devalued, through careful selection and arrangement she examines the poetic nature of the material world and the beauty found in everyday experience. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in the Midwest. Her work is included in the artist registry of the Drawing Center in New York. She is a recipient of a 2013 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant, Jerome Travel Study Grant and a MSAB Artist Opportunity grant.

Learn More

Music, Wine and Soul

Artist Statement: My mission is to bring light to the positive, beautiful and spiritual side of life through my art, stories and bringing together an inspiring group. I aim to do these while respecting the earths beauty and resources, much of my work is done on repurposed materials. I love to paint the things that bring us closer to our most inspired, authentic and soulful selves. In my shop you’ll find music artwork, soulful yoga and meditative artwork, sports, florals and more. I often infuse my artwork with poetry and uplifting messages. All things that inspire different sides of me and my clients. There are times to sit back, reflect and to quietly listen to our inner voices, there are other times where we are ready to go out let the world know we me mean business, and have things to share. As I’ve tried to narrow my body of work to just one artwork style I’ve really realized that many are necessary in life, the yin and yang that makes the world go ’round. Let’s celebrate our strengths, empowered lives and our soft, reflective, intuitive sides simultaneously.

Noelle Rollins ia a painter from Crysal, MN with special interest in Music and yoga..

Learn More

R O B Y N H . H E N D R I X

A R T I S T ’ S S T A T E M E N T & B I O

I create delicate, textured watercolor paintings of whimsical imagery inspired by landscape, nature and biology. My work is informed by an upbringing in the Palouse landscape of Eastern Washington, time spent abroad in Ecuador and Australia, and a passion for education and community development. The playful, semi-abstract imagery I use is derived mostly from free-association drawing and “doodling” which brings out specific forms that I repeat and re-mutate over and over. These organic “characters” are very plant and nature-inspired (trees, seed pods, stones) but are often interpreted as both microscopic (bacteria, DNA, or neural transmitters) and macroscopic (constellations, galaxies, or nebulae). The addition of more architectural elements hints at my curiosity about the similarities between the things we build, and the things we are built of.

I work as an Artist Organizer with the Friendly Streets Initiative and coordinate social media for the Irrigate project. I was a 2013 Intermedia Arts Creative Community Leadership Institute fellow and previously served on the Board and Exhibitions Committee for the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM). Thanks for taking a look! Please visit robynhendrixart.com to see more of my work.

Learn More

AYANNA MUATA

A R T I S T ’ S S T A T E M E N T

My name is Ayanna Muata (aka Waning Moon Photography), and I am a Minneapolis based photography artist originally from Chicago.

Photographic History:
I bought my first digital camera about a decade ago, and I’ve been creating digital photographic images for roughly the last 10 years, with the bulk of my main portfolio being produced only in the last 4-5. I taught myself how to use my camera and how to manipulate digital images using specific photo editing software by using various online and print resources, by connecting with others in the field, and by trial and error.

The Work:
My work largely consists of a combination of digital collages, conceptual art photos, custom and standard portraiture, memes, and tableau.

Content and structure:
Since late 2011 I’ve been working more and more with black and white and muted color images, often with wide variations in textures, contrast and tone. I’m very drawn to the energy and mood of the 1800s, the Harlem Renaissance, and the general décor and music of the early 1900s. As a result, more often than not there is some kind of tie to a previous time period which is either apparent or simply gently implied, although there are still significant sections of my work which lend more toward a more “contemporary” aesthetic.

Most recently, my focus has been on generating images that can either stand-alone or are a part of a multi piece series, often a sort of tableau (whether collaged together or shot directly) that tell bits and pieces of a story, however obscure. Sometimes the mood is more serious. Other times more satirical. Although the images are non-linear in their approach, the idea is to create something that is rather fluid in experience, whether one chooses to go one direction with it or another. In that way they can be taken in on a broader emotional spectrum, and one is admittedly often sometimes left with more questions than answers.

Some describe my work as beautiful, dark, confusing, and even disturbing at times. But it always evokes some emotion. The images are dense and packed with symbolism. Thought provoking, a kind of visual meditation. Often depicting some kind of painful experience, but the idea behind it is not to bring people down, but rather to find healing in the idea that one can take a difficult life experience and turn it into something creative that others can connect with in their own unique way, hopefully fostering a kind of “emotional solidarity” in the acknowledgement of the diversity and complexity of our collective human experience.

Learn More

 

Nathan Motzko

THE ODDLY SHAPED CHARACTERS OF NATHAN MOTZKO

Young illustrator Nathan Motzko creates strangely tangled characters, using simple patterns, with sketches deriving from specific sounds, especially instrumental hip-hop samples and ambient music.

“Music helps create a picture in my head of oddly shaped people that have awkward posture and droopy faces. I work a lot with shapes and patterns in my illustrations because the look of contorted body postures combined with these elements creates a movement in my work.”

He is currently studying Illustration and Graphic Design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and takes inspiration from the works of Barry Mcgee, Bill Rebholz, and Margaret Kilgallen.

Some describe my work as beautiful, dark, confusing, and even disturbing at times. But it always evokes some emotion. The images are dense and packed with symbolism. Thought provoking, a kind of visual meditation. Often depicting some kind of painful experience, but the idea behind it is not to bring people down, but rather to find healing in the idea that one can take a difficult life experience and turn it into something creative that others can connect with in their own unique way, hopefully fostering a kind of “emotional solidarity” in the acknowledgement of the diversity and complexity of our collective human experience.

 

 

Now on display in the Susan Hensel Window Gallery are fifteen paintings by Iraqi artists and is presented to you by Iraqi American Reconciliation Project (IARP), a Minneapolis based non-profit. This exhibition which features paintings on raw canvases tells a story about a group of artists who began sending their paintings to Minnesota in the hopes of being heard and understood.

In 2005, a group of trained, professional artists in Najaf and Karbala, Iraq who were affiliated with IARP’s sister program, the Muslim Peace Maker’s team sent their art work to IARP rolled in the suitcases of those participating in peacemaking exchanges between the U.S. and Iraq. IARP had the loose canvas paintings stretched and framed and then displayed them in coffee shops, churches and galleries. Over the years these paintings have been shown in over fifty galleries and public spaces in Minneapolis. IARP’s art program has greatly expanded to include a documentary video series, bookmaking program as well as several curated exhibits that have toured the country. As the ten-year anniversary of the Iraqi Art Program approaches we believe that it is only appropriate to highlight some of these paintings and to take a look back at the messages of peace and understanding that they inspired.

To learn more about the artwork and Iraqi American Art Project please visit:

Iraqi American Reconciliation Project
Iraqi Art Project

Contact:
info@reconciliationproject.org
952-545-9981

 

INVENTORY METHODS
Inventory Methods is an artwork about accretion and subtraction; accumulation and reduction.

It is a record of old pajamas discarded as useless and accumulated as rags.
It is a record of weights, each tube containing 4 ounces of waste materials: rags.
It is a declaration of the beauty that remains in the devalued, worn, discarded.
It is a record of an ongoing process of reduction and a questioning of the nature of what, and who, we devalue and discard.

Each tube represent 4 ounces of weight lost: a reduction in body size, a quest for health and a consideration of the pressures on bodies to conform to cultural standards.

To participate in the project, answer this survey.

To learn a lot more about this project click here

Who is Limpio?
Limpio is Matt Litwin. Matt is a travelling man, currently residing in his hometown until the next airplane takes him to a new locale to make art in community.

From Limpio Designs:

Every city’s biggest assest is its people and its vibrant, diverse neighborhoods, but sadly violent crime and crime against property are eroding the confidence and quality of life for many residents. With Limpio Designs I am able to work with local street artists to use original murals and street art to strip away destructive gang symbols, and rethink oppressive environments. I also work with community non profit organizations and schools to find ways of replacing negative scars, and help fill abandoned spaces with new images that evoke community pride, renewal, and hope for the future.

Limpio’s Story: I’ve been traveling around and exploring different fields of art since a young age. I started getting into community murals in Chicago, and the idea of it all really interested me. Currently I am focused on creating murals that revitalize abandoned spaces, and explore concepts that encourage inspiration and pride through public art. I would say collaboration and positive engagement within communities are two large factors in my art practice.


QED
by
Nicole Hoekstra
My approach to collage is based on my assessment of vigor and the review of the world in nature-in the aspects of grandeur. I believe in people and in the facets of human life, and the relation of man to nature. I have not set out to make art about one subject or another. At the same time, I have not set out to make work that is social commentary, but as my work developed, the descriptions started to emerge and a pattern began to evolve. This body of work is an excavation of the inheritance of the past. It delves into the connectedness of the real and abstract. Often referencing American history, my work explores Modernity and its relation to fine art. Although, there may not be formal similarities between the projects they are linked by reoccurring material features. In most of my work, I have appropriated work from people that were part of the Works Progress Association

See more of Nicole’s work .


Wonder Me Mosaics
by
Kristin Dieng
Art means something unique to both artists and viewers, and artists’ motivations for creating art vary widely as well. For me, a lot of my creative motivation comes from trying to respond positively to a chronic illness, and the ways in which that illness (chronic, intractable migraines) have affected my life. As those with migraines know, you spend a lot of time in the dark. Alone in a bedroom. In your head. Battling pain, depression and thoughts of constrained possibilities. All places that are dark physically or mentally. So for me, since losing my professional career (a much-loved international career involving Africa, the Middle East and Asia), I have struggled to find some meaning in being confined, and alone, so much of the time. I have started creating art (on my good health days!), and I am finding that I keep to the theme of beauty as a way to fight the darkness of migraines. I enjoy creating designs involving nature, bright colors and light. Instead of highlighting the disability in my art, and making it visible, I find that instead I try and use art to “fight” the disability, and the costs of disability. For more than a decade I enjoyed creating a variety of forms of fiber art (i.e. quilts, wall hangings, applied clothing, children’s blankets, crocheted items, etc.). I now, however, primarily focus on creating stained glass-on-glass mosaic art.

See more of Wonder Me Mosaics
Wonder Me Etsy Store.


Lori Anne Baumgartner

 

 

Waveforms
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 realm of mysteries and monsters. As we mastered shipbuilding 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 Baumgartner

Peppino Earthman is a seasoned professional photographer for 25 years. Peppino started out shooting family events and events for friends. Later Peppino traveled the Southern United States and Midwest; he has photographed some of the controversial places for their beauty and uniqueness. Peppino has photographed several metropolitan cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, New York, St. Louis, and the California Coastline.

Family, friends, and colleagues have stated Peppino is naturally content when he has a camera in his hand. Photography is Peppino’s passion, he has spent hours shooting photos of everything in his path. He appreciates the beauty of architecture and what landscapes has to offer and wishes to share this beauty with mankind.

“As a professional photographer/Visual Artist, Peppino has traveled the Southern States, Mexico, Canada, Italy, Cuba, & South America to shoot some of the most historical, controversial, and beautiful sites some long forgotten…Peppino sees the unseen beauty of what the earth has to offer and some of the places most people want to forget. Peppino has also shot some of the most beautiful women in the world and is always looking for new assignments to build his portfolio; and currently looking for reliable models, which can be ready for a shoot in a reasonable time, willingly and availability to travel.”

The photographs displayed were shot in Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. The area of expertise Peppino has chosen is: Architectural, Landscapes, Urban, and Events. Peppino doesn’t Photoshop any of his photographs; his belief is in “Natural Beauty”…Nothings perfect and that’s the way it was intended, why photo shop to turn it into make-believe.

“Life isn’t measured by the number of Breaths we take… But by the moment we take our Breath”

Contact for assignments
Peppino Earthman:
Earthman and Associates Ltd
Email:earthmanandassociates@gmail.com
Mobile: 612-770-5670
See profile on Linked-In

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 the 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.

see More of Lyz Wendland’s art at www.lyzwendland.com

These works started as exercises while preparing for an art quilting workshop. Architectural and natural sources are the starting points, leading to abstractions with form and color.

The process led to an exploration of sewing, piecing, and construction techniques in an effort to best express my reactions to the essence of the inspiration images. Several pieces, however, are color studies in and of themselves, motivated by the need to examine the feeling of a particular color.

The works, writing, and teaching of Jean Wells, Rayna Gillman, Ruth B. McDowell, and Gwen Marston have guided me.

MORE…

I am fascinated by stories about raw human impulses: malice, envy, obsessions, sexual urgings, abuse, and also by moments of shame and vulnerability that everyone seems to have lived. The narrative impetus in my work comes from such experiences, from memory, but I also use what I hear, read or invent. Humor, spontaneity and rhythm are present in my drawings. The final aim is to tell a story in the vein of artists such as Paula Rego and Kara Walker. Using the comic strip and storyboard format, I make my characters reappear in different situations as the drawings pile up. The viewer is invited to become familiar with them, learns to decipher their thoughts and intentions through slow viewing. What seems like a simple smile may turn into a charged and complex sneer after careful observation of the interactions and events illustrated in the drawing.

I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to the United States as an adult. I grew up a girl in a sexist culture, in a Jewish family during and after a chauvinistic murderous dictatorship. My experience as an immigrant fuels my ideas and perceptions. Immigrants are often pushed into a helpless and awkward state because of the possible inadequacy of their language, social behavior, and financial situation. I am interested in the sensitivity of the immigrant as well as in the emotions she brings about on the people that surround her. As Edward Said puts it in Culture and Imperialism: “Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”

Artist’s Bio

María Korol was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1980 and moved to the United States in 2004. Her former education in classic and modern dance shifted to an interest in the visual arts while studying at the University of California, Irvine. Since then, she has shown her paintings and drawings nationally and internationally in places as far afield as Bogotá and New York. She holds a Master in Fine Arts in painting and drawing from Indiana University, Bloomington, where she taught drawing, two-dimensional design, and color theory classes. She taught drawing in Florence, Italy for six weeks in the summer of 2014, and at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Design last year. She is currently Assistant Professor of Art and Gallery Director at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She is a fellowship recipient with the Akademie der Kunste for the 2016 residency in Berlin, Germany, and will be the Visiting Artist and Painting Professor at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia for the 2016-17 academic year.

Learn more about Maria Korol

MORE…

September/October 2016


Mississippi River: water washes

Annie Hejny

Annie Hejny was born in St. Paul and studied at the University of St. Thomas and St. Catherine University, earning a double-major B.A. in Elementary Education and Studio Art with honors (2012). Participating as a mentor and artist in the Twin Cities community.

MORE…

She has volunteered with Free Arts Minnesota, blank-slate theater, VISION, and founded the PAINT Project, a collaboration between local establishments to implement mural painting events in 10 countries during 2010-2013. Since 2014, Annie is a member of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA) and the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM). As an emerging visual artist, she intentionally explores the spaces from her daily life and larger travels to create highly saturated paintings. Recent exhibitions include Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis, MN), 6x6x2015 (Rochester, NY), and One Wall (Chicago, IL). She currently resides in St. Paul and works at the Casket Arts Building in Northeast Minneapolis. This summer she participated in the Women’s Art Institute at St. Catherine University. Most recently, she converted her single-stall garage into Gallery Three, a pop-up exhibition space for local artists.

Learn more about Annie Hejny

IN THE WINDOWS!

November/December 2016


Patricia Bronstein and Susan Huhn-Bowles

Patricia Bronstein, November 2016

Through a coincidence, these collages are being shown at a time where I hope they will give some joy and humor, and provide some relief to those (including me) who need it. This country has suffered a devastating setback. What do we tell ourselves about our country? Many are struggling about what to tell our children?

MORE…

I’ve always liked college because it allows you to say anything by juxtaposing images. Look closely at these works. I think they are sweet and funny. I hope these make you happier because as Bette Davis in All About Eve, “fasten your seat belts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.” She really says “fasten your seatbelts, we’re in for a bumpy night.” This is a film from1950. Either quote, the only car model that had seatbelts at that time was a Nash. Congress did not mandate them until 1959.

Learn more about Patricia Bronstein

The Spirit House, Altar and Tree of Faith
by Susan Huhn-Bowles

The Spirit House, Altar and Tree of Faith is the representation of my hope for unity and peace.

As humans we are all physical and spiritual beings. Our religions and beliefs guide and sustain us. However, they can also divide us and distort our social behavior. We can be born into specific belief systems based on our parent’s beliefs and cultures. We also have the right and obligation to ourselves to search our hearts, listen to our soul’s voice and find what the most sustaining beliefs for ourselves.

This also means not being judgmental, demeaning or hateful to those of differing faith.

This is my prayer.

Learn more about Susan Huhn-Bowles

IN THE WINDOWS!

January/February 2017 Mary Alterman

Mary Alterman

“The aim of art is to present not the outward appearance of things but their inward significance.” Aristotle

MORE…

As an artist, I celebrate and return to the spirit, the spiritual, the joy that is the longing in my gut, which informs my gestures and movement. Like a musician, I paint from every part of myself, body, heart, mind, and soul.

Learn more about Mary Alterman

IN THE WINDOWS!

March/April 2017


Joan Kloiber

Joan Kloiber

My intention with these artworks is to provoke a laugh, a smile, a warm heart, even a giggle; to lift the spirit, to brighten the day. Nothing more, nothing profound – but then, isn’t a smile profound?

Learn more about Joan Kloiber

MORE…

IN THE WINDOWS!

May/June 2017


STANDING UNITED
a paper installation
by Besty Dollar

 

 

Back in the day I fought very hard for the equal rights amendment, twenty years ago I seriously considered running for local office; but over the last decade I have done my best to avoid politics in all forms. It is a departure for me to make work that is overtly political. Subtle political references appear in my work, but it is rarely the focus as with Standing United.

The current administration has driven me to despair and back into action. I sign petitions daily, I listen to NPR regularly (at least until I have an anxiety attack), I make more donations, and I have been attending rallies and marches. This piece very simply reflects what I have observed at the rallies: like-minded people coming together out of deep concern, not just for their own well-being, but the well-being of everyone no matter their color, gender, ethnicity, orientation or religious affiliation. People are coming together to peacefully protect the future of democracy.

Standing United depicts a line of generic figures alternating between male and female in a gradient of skin tones from “black” to “white”. From their feet run red ribbons that cross and weave a web. The symbol there is the sameness of our blood no matter our skin color. The ribbons also evoke the stripes of the American flag. The ribbons run together into peace sign lamps. I chose to make the peace signs lamps because I want the beacon of peace projected to the community as a buffer to the feeling that we are teetering on the brink of violence at every turn of events. This is a hopeful presentation. I hold the hope of peaceful and creative resolution, hence the figures in union and a light of peace.

The paper is all made by the artist. It is abaca fiber that has been beaten in a Hollander beater for approximately six hours. The sheets are formed by spraying the pulp onto a form in layers. The lamp bases were made from book board and covered with the handmade paper.

The lamps are for sale, $50 each.

Learn more about Betsy Dollar

IN THE WINDOWS!

July/August 2017


Patricia Haynes & Pauline Mitchell
sculptures

 

 

Patricia Haynes:
Drawing and painting have been abiding interests of mine since childhood. In dozens of classes, I have benefited from a group of magnetic teachers; I experimented with a wide range of media and subject matter under their tutelage. Eventually, life drawing became my primary focus.

Then, in 1999, enrollment in a pottery class was unexpectedly inspiring. I was introduced not only to a new medium, but more importantly, to an unexplored perspective. Quickly bored with the idea of throwing a perfect pot, I rolled out slabs of clay. Designing three dimensional forms with these slabs left me breathless with excitement. And, the discovery of clay’s responsive qualities gave me pure joy. The soft surface begged for shaping and texture. My years of studying the human form enabled me to reach into a new world. Earthenware forced and enabled me to develop new ways of thinking about how to express the figure. That combination of figure drawing and the magic of clay led to this body of work. I am constantly challenged and surprised by each new piece.

Pauline Mitchell: ONE IN EIGHT

“One woman in eight who lives to age 85 will develop breastcancer during her lifetime.”-National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

I am a survivor. On Valentine’s Day in 1995 I had a bi-lateralradical mastectomy. Why radical? I wanted the cancer out, now!

For a long time, it was difficult to look at myself in a mirror. Oneday I accepted that these are my battle scars and I had earned them.Battling with cancer changes a person.

Before surgery I would take a long time getting to know people.Sometimes, so much time, that I never did get to know them. Aftersurgery, I realized that my time might be very short and I didn’thave the time to wait or to be shy.

I have learned to make decisions and make them fairly quickly.

My goal is to live one day at a time.

Why this body of work? To heal…and to share with others who have been on the same journey

These small art quilts continue the investigation of experimenting with color, shape and composition in fabric that I began in 2015.

In earlier works, abstracting specific images (often architectural or landscape) drove the process.

In the pieces now on view, I worked somewhat differently, often striving to create a visual representation of a feeling in reaction to an event, place, or concept. Some works are experiments in combining form, mass, color, and using  close hues, an effect which fascinates me. Trying to paint abstractly using pieced fabric continues to inform how I work.

The teaching and works of  Jean Wells, Rayna Gillman, Gwen Marston, and Pam Beal have inspired and guided me.

This series of watercolors on both board and handmade paper is the result of several years of developing different techniques of using water-based pigments.

I have always be drawn to abstracts and created this work based on my fascination with the colors of the arid landscapes of southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. I wanted to experiment with the idea of what it would be like looking up deep within the water or high above the Earth. I wanted a different perspective of the world around me.

MORE…

Raven Miller
www.ravenmiller.com
ravenriverbirch @gmail.com

Adepts, Accidents, and Anecdotes
by Tom Roark

In 2008, I saw twenty Robert Shetterly portraits americanswhotellthetruth.org. The paintings portrayed Americans from Sojourner Truth to Martin Luther King. All spoke loudly for justice, peace, and truth.

MORE…

I felt that peace happens for reasons beyond good intentions and wanted to look closely at thinkers and doers who either cultivated the conditions for peace, or, sometimes, stood as exemplars of what not to do.

I write “Faces of Wisdom” for Duluth’s Zenith City Weekly Zenith City News. Each column is accompanied by a portrait drawing. Some of those — and a few other pictures — are included in this display. Drawings fifty bucks each, paintings seventy-five. Original Fuller and Sapolsky lost, so NFS.

1. Bluff old guy in a plaid shirt, Gregory Bateson was author of Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity, and Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred. His daughter, Mary Catherine, said Gregory, a consummate systems thinker, “was convinced that if this new understanding were widely shared, people would act differently on matters of ecological balance and war and peace.”

2.  Smiling woman with a warm coat, Donella Meadows, helped model the world economy for the Club of Rome in 1972. She was the author of The Limits to Growth, and Thinking in Systems.

3. Domehead, Buckminster Fuller said he could have invented flying carpet slippers, but wanted to turn humanity into “four billion billionaires” by “doing more with less.” For him the choice was between “utopia and oblivion,” and that we must develop technology to feed, shelter, and give grace to humans directly, not as spinoffs from military or commercial projects.

4.  Calligraphic thing on black: a splash of color.

5.  Hippie retreat with sting ray. The New Yorker wasn’t interested.

6.  Little kid in his best suit, Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Holocaust, was the product of a theory of child development repressive enough to be hilarious…if it hadn’t turned little Heinrich into the archetypal monster-Nazi who slaughtered millions and killed himse to avoid hanging. The column was really about a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist article that correlated violence with corporal punishment and sexual repression.

7.  Woman peeking from behind a door, Mary Catherine Bateson, was amanuensis for her father’s Mind and Nature, and finished Angels Fear after his death. In her own Composing a Life, she advocated for taking five dynamic women as models in a world in which our lives are increasingly constrained.

8.  Guy in hat, shades and braids, Stephen Gaskin, preached a Christian-Buddhist spirituality discerned on LSD. Gaskin founded The Farm, a large commune in rural Tennessee (Choice #2: Anoka), was active in permaculture, and green politics.

9.  Bushy-bearded guy, Robert Sapolsky is a neuroscientist and ethologist who has studied hierarchy and stress in one troop of baboons since the 1970s. Tuberculosis wiped out the troop’s high-ranking males. The survivors formed a troop that was less violent, more affiliative, and fun. It persists.

10. Yellow, green, purple, with ink drawing on grocery bag: More color.

11. Elfin aviator, with shrub and Doors audience.

Tom Roark
sugarlessroark@yahoo.com

March/April 2018

Where We Come From: Our Stories as Art
by Jennifer A. Schultz

I am exploring book forms through the lens of textile art and mixed media. I’m particularly interested in the tactile qualities of the book, and in the form of the picture book. A reference point for the viewer might start with children’s picture books, cloth books, and visual stories for the pre-reader ages. Such books are sensory objects conveying a priori knowledge: the sequential narrative; the image as an icon; decontextualized content that allows us to develop our skills analyzing abstract concepts.

MORE…

My books are not children’s books, but an effort to reengage the average adult reader through a slowing-down of the experience. My books deal mostly with landscape as content: the way in which we are defined and affected by the changing shape of the physical world in which we live and with which we identify.

Learn More

Geometric Events
A single stitch is made by stretching a thread between two holes. The line formed by it can be loose or tight. It can be thick or thin, depending on the diameter of the thread. It can be long or so short that it barely exists. But, it can never exist as more than a single defined geometric event, a sort of singularity. The combinations of these singularities create planes, lines, forms, and geometrical space.

Since receiving a Jerome Foundation Project Grant for Textile Art in 2014, my intense media focus has been on digitizing for machine embroidery. The process is highly technical, using several software packages that can only be described as a non‑intuitive cross between Photoshop and Illustrator.

Digital embroidery lends itself to the study of geometry. The combination of high tech with “women’s work” provides a delicious contrast of hard/soft, nostalgic/current, objective/non-objective. It also lends itself to modular repetition and re-combinations. Themes can be played out quickly in the computer and then stitched and sampled oh so slowly on the machine; combined with and without mixed media in a wide-ranging exploration of forms in space.

In this chaotic time, digital textiles seem like a way to begin to bring order to the world. Order is, however, always unstable, a glimmer of hope, cut off by random acts of chance or intent. It is no different from digital embroidery. In the computer, all things seem orderly, put together, and logical… as though the human propensity for chaos did not exist. In the production, chance operates human error, flawed thread, broken needles, run out bobbins, high humidity, low humidity, fabric popping out of hoops, and the panicked phone call from a friend. Repair savvy, canny attention, and a spirit of wabi-sabi are essential.

MORE…

IN THE WINDOWS!

August/September 2018

Nadine Mercil

My artwork is many things; fragile, elusive, revolting, dramatic, an authentic and visual representation of my inner emotions as I see or define them. My art, at times, may be provocative, but provocation is not my primary goal. My primary goal is to develop or create a visual diary of my life, souvenirs of my time here on earth.

My pendants are mementos of my relationship with an abusive man. They are not meant to be worn – at least not by me – but there is the possibility that at some point they may hang around someone’s neck. I started out using photographs from family albums, but after going through this supply, have turned to other families photos (bought and sold on EBAY) and since one in three women are abused, I believe there is a strong possibility that some of the women in the photo’s I have purchased have also been abused.

I think it is important to make this work, because there is often a shroud of secrecy around domestic abuse and I want to remove the shroud and tell the truth, or my truth, about what takes place or what has happened to a woman who has suffered domestic abuse/ violence.

My work is continually evolving. Depending on what is going on in my life my art can be light and airy – relatively so – or dark and disturbing.

I have a very strong desire to be seen. Domestic abuse often makes me feel invisible, that I don’t count, that what I think and feel does not matter – my art challenges that assumption – my art doesn’t have to be pretty – it doesn’t have to be perfect, it can be dark and disturbing, it can be whatever I want it to be, I am free to express myself however I wish – because I rarely show my work, I do not give a great deal of thought to how an audience might react – because the audience is usually just me.

LEARN MORE

IN THE WINDOWS!

October/November 2018

Lynda Angelis

“Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient”
– St. Thomas Aquinas

MORE…

In abstract painting, the subject is rarely important to the viewer: it is the painting itself – its colors, shapes, and textures- that arrest the eye. To say that a painting is strong is a compliment. Its strength may come from the combination of its colors or subject matter or something subtle that not all viewers will feel.

I am deeply motivated by the concept of abstract expressionism. I find this genre without borders and as valid and alive as when it was first explored by the great pioneers of modern art. I create my own vision of this exploration and utilize what to me is true urban and sometimes is very much reminiscent of street art. My approach to a painting is unplanned, spontaneous and often accidental. It is multilayered with many untold stories underneath the finished paintings.

“A craftsman knows in advance what the result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.”
W.H.Auden

LEARN MORE

IN THE WINDOWS!

December 2018-January 2019

Blythe Davis

 

ARTIST STATEMENT – BLYTHE M. DAVIS

My Wild REcycleD bike pieces are inspired by Pablo Picasso’s 1942 work, Tête de Taureau ive_(Bull’s Head), and are created using collected bike components heading for reuse, recycling, scrap, or landfills. The parts I use have been found or purchased from Twin Cities bike shops and local community members. Some of the wood bases are created from thrifted game boards, old signs, cabinet doors, cutting boards or purchased raw wood plaques.

Visually, I am often inspired by the rough and ragged aspects of the world – those that have withstood the battle against time, space and weather. Bike sculpture allows me to visually experiment with the conflicting states of harmony and struggle, finding beauty in what others might deem ugly. These bike components have seen many miles and maybe some better days, but I think the unique wear, tape, rips, scuffs, and scratches add visual interest and appeal to each one-of-a-kind art piece.

Though not a proponent of hunting for sport, I find the concept of using trophies to display one’s achievements an intriguing social practice. With these pieces, I aim to whimsically celebrate our incredibly vibrant Twin Cities bike culture while finding a new creative life for these bike parts.

If you have bike parts you would like to donate or bike components you would like turned into a commissioned art piece, please contact me. Additional work can be seen at BlytheDavis.com or on Instagram at blythemdavis_art.

Blythe also works in encaustic. While not on display in the windows, you can see a few examples here and many more examples at the Women’s Art Festival.

TO PURCHASE:

Please email blythemdavisartist@gmail.com.

LEARN MORE

IN THE WINDOWS!

February-March 2019

Mari M. Mondanelli

Debris Collection

Debris Collection represents fractured moments. With a camera, I have explored the world, gathering evidence of these instances through bright color, intense patterns, and unusual shapes. In an intuitive process, I play with relationships between these visual elements. As my memories come together, the work finds its own voice and reveals new possibilities.

Mari Marks Mondanelli is an emerging artist who sets no media boundaries in her artistic practice. Motivated by new challenges, cultures, ideas, and places, she enjoys travel and considers it an important stimulus to her work. Her intuitive and experimental process lends itself to creating abstract work, which builds relationships between bright color, unusual shapes, and intense patterns. Mondanelli works with many mediums including painting, collage, installation, drawing, fibers, sculpture, and photography. Mondanelli has exhibited her work locally, nationally, and internationally.

LEARN MORE about Mari

MORE…

IN THE WINDOWS!

April-May 2019

Alice Savitski

 

The Price We Pay

Alice A Savitski – Artists Statement
Price we Pay – body of works

The price we pay to keep a secret
The price we pay to stay silent
The price we pay to look the other way
The price we pay to say, “It’s not my business.”
The price we give to hold back
The price Christ gave for us to be forgiven
The price that was paid for us to feel grace
The price that is given to all of us (Psalm 16:8 AMP)

The price we ALL pay.

This body of work has been created to illustrate the heavy price paid by victims of domestic abuse. Even after the abuse has stopped, the suffering continues for many. For some the pain is permanent. Speaking as a victim of domestic abuse, I must work through my memories, emotions and endure the psychological disorders I have as a result.

I currently live a peaceful, calm and balanced life – but some days my past will haunt me. In 2012 I was committed for attempted suicide. Treatment helped me greatly and gradually I began to feel safe again, but the psychological burden of the violence I suffered will still rear its ugly head and I will start to remember these harrowing events in a “flood of emotions.” This body of works began in June 2015. The first memory arose on a warm summer morning where I found myself panicking from the ghosts of my past. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. For ten short minutes, in the clutches of sheer terror, I had no idea where I was. This body of works I hope will display those feelings and the recovery progress.

Glitter: The unconscious mind
Circles: Cycles of abuse
Bird(s): One bird signifies victims of abuse being set free, or the knowledge of hope. Two birds signify partnerships (for good, bad or indifferent). Three birds signify the Holy Sprit, God and Christ.
Lines: My and/or abused victims’ experience of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental illness, limited finances and psychological problems after leaving the abusive relationship.
Splatter paint: My feelings of entrapment, isolation and shame

I am an emerging mix media artist who is creating body of works that educates the public about domestic abuse and how it impacts all of us. As a victim of domestic abuse, I have been able to overcome violence through prayer and the Holy Spirit. I work through past experiences by creating beautiful healing sprit-driven bodies of work to display my physical and mental emotions. In 2012, an unknown donor gave me a gift of self-awareness and self-love treatment at North Memorial Mental-Health Clinic. Because of this donor, I have a new outlook on life, and I know that I AM WORTH it. NOT Worthless. Within weeks I’d learned many amazing life skills such as boundaries, to forgive others and myself, how to work through my feelings without committing suicide by talented compassion therapists.

Over the past five years, I have made great gains in my personal life; I have exhibited at Healing Art shows at hospitals and clinics in Southern Minnesota, HealthPartners Hudson Hospital, WI and art galleries in Minneapolis, MN. Presently prints of my work are being sold through Art Force, located in Minneapolis, please contract for items sale

LEARN MORE about Alice

IN THE WINDOWS!

August-September 2019

Kate Sciandra

 

Kate Sciandra

Artist’s Statement

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 also creating an image that has an aesthetic distance, sometimes reaching into the abstract. This generates a tension that is compelling for the viewer, drawing them into an even deeper relationship with the subject and the work itself.

LEARN MORE about Kate

IN THE WINDOWS!

October-November 2019

Gwen Schagrin

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, an improvisational reworking of patterns combined with a new approach to three dimensions, and scrap piecing.

MORE…

As always, I am motivated to create and explore by improvisationally 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.

IN THE WINDOWS!

January 2020

Kate Vinson

 

Of the Land

by

Kate Vinson

My work often comes from a place of mind, body, and spirit. As a sculptor. I use easily accessible materials to create contemporary forms. These forms are grounded in an organic sensibility interpreted with an element of transformation. I enjoy exploring philosophical constructs such as: being/becoming, existence/potential, ways of knowing, universality, and the lived experience.

I seek to create opportunities for the viewer to engage, experience, question, and explore one’s connection to self, the world, and humanity. As a catalyst my art can present ways for the viewer to explore the daily and breadth of life as well as a relationship to universal consciousness.

I grew up two hours south of the Bridge in North Central Michigan. As a high schooler, I was a photographer on the yearbook staff, intending to be the next Margaret Bourke White.

I have worked across the country in non traditional educational settings, everything from Outdoor Adventure Education to Elder hostel. I eventually relocated to Mankato, Minnesota for graduate work. While there, I studied Experiential Education and obtained a teaching license in Art Education. I currently work with high schoolers exploring sculptural art forms.

Website: www.mnartists.org/vinsonke Please contact the artist for sale of the work vinson.kate@gmail.com

IN THE WINDOWS!

February-March 2020

Sandra Brick

 

all?

by

Sandra Brick

all?

The U.S. Declaration of Independence begins with the assertion that all are endowed with “certain unalienable rights.” Specifically, the nation’s founders listed, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The last three words of the Pledge of Allegiance, an expression of loyalty to country and flag, promise, “justice for all”.

With these shirts, I wonder if the US Government is protecting these “unalienable rights” for ALL. Is our government truly providing justice for all?’

I ask the viewer, “Are you a bystander just waiting to see if the promise of the Declaration of Independence is upheld or a upstander making sure everyone’s unalienable rights are protected?

Bio

Working with my hands has been an integral part of my daily life since childhood. Being a textile artist is, for me, an ongoing activity. I dye and stitch and invent new ways to embellish fabric. By sculpting with fiber, I incorporate space and texture into my designs. Creating art involves solving problems, discovering possibilities, merging ideas, and sharing who I am.

Over the past 20 years I have developed a diverse body of work including a set of 42 embroidered pieces that visually interpret haikus written by a local poet, 24 visual “translations” of memories written by a local Holocaust survivor, ten separate works of art depicting different themes for an interfaith artist circle.

Embracing ambiguity is the start of my process. Knowledge is part of the process. Yet there is room for discovery and confusion. For me, art is really about being open to surprise.

Recently I have started aiming my work toward exploring social justice. Can the needle be used as a call to action?

Learn more here Textured Elements

IN THE WINDOWS!

October 2020

Nina Marine Robinson

 

NEUROTANGLE

by

Nina Martine Robinson

NEUROTANGLE

I am an emerging St. Paul based contemporary textile artist whose creative process starts with a sewing machine. Neurotangle, created in 2019, is an early exploration into utilizing repurposed clothing as a metaphor for neurodiversity. In 2018, my 23 year old son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, specifically Aspergers Syndrome. Many individuals on the spectrum have self soothing behaviors called “stims.” These repetitive actions help to calm nerves and soothe them during high stress situations. For my son it is the deconstruction of his pants. Consequently, I spend hours mending belt loops, pockets and patching. My recent installation work is a response to this repetitive behavior. The deconstruction of the clothing and the repetitive stitching to create new forms is my expression of Autism and neurodiversity as it applies to my particular experiences. The term neurodiversity was coined to describe variations in the human brain regarding mood, learning, attention, sociability and other mental functions in a non-pathological sense. My goal in sharing these installations is about creating awareness of and being a conduit for interaction between neurotypical and neurodiverse people.

“Eros and Thanatos” Exhibition (2017-2020)

A short video demonstrating the performance piece and sound of Eros and Thanatos. the artist enters the room unannounced and begins to draw and erase, over and over again until the observers begin to breathe in sync with one another and the artist.

LEARN MORE

Susan Hensel News

LEARN MORE

About Susan