Midwestern Biennial & Susan Hensel Projects CHOICE POINT(SAUL) from Susan Hensel Projects will be on view at the 76TH ROCKFORD MIDWESTERN BIENNIAL , OCT 9, 2020–JAN 31, 2021, at the ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM […]
“Hope is a fragile thing, Peter continued, as fragile as a flower. Its fragility makes it easy to sneer at, by people who see life as a dark and difficult ordeal, people who get angry when something they can’t believe in themselves gives comfort to others. They prefer to crush the flower underfoot as if to say: See how weak this thing is, see how easily it can be destroyed. But, in truth, hope is one of the strongest things in the universe. Empires fall, civilizations vanish into dust, but hope always comes back, pushing up through the ashes, growing from seeds that are invisible and invincible.”-Michael Faber […]
What have you been doing during this pandemic? I’ve been reading about business! What have you been doing during this pandemic? I am looking at the gallery scene, mostly in the US. I have been listening to interviews with people like David Zwirner and Jeffrey Deitch. Reading online magazines: The Art Newspaper, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, Artsy, Artspace. It has been very interesting. Like many artists, nearly 100% of my planned exhibitions were delayed or canceled. I’m not yet suffering financially, although most artists are. Most galleries are in or about to be in dire straits. Some of the artist-run spaces I know are closing. So are some of the mid-sized spaces. Studio crawls are attempting to go virtual. Museums are shut as tight as a drum! […]
Music, Wordplay, and Numbers This new piece, Log Rhythm, is actually a tribute to my father. Not only did he love to play with music and words, but he also loved to play with numbers. My father was an engineer who loved music, wordplay, and numbers. He could play a tune on any instrument that he picked up. Mostly he played ragtime on our upright piano and comedic songs on the concertina. (I never played ragtime. I thought I was the next Edith Piaf, composing and singing heartbreakingly dolorous songs as a teenager.) At Christmas we would go caroling around the neighborhood with my father leading the pack, playing the concertina. […]
What do jazz and digital embroidery have in common? Part of the answer is in this small interview I did on Jazz88 FM. https://www.jazz88.fm/2020/04/20/artist-susan-hensel/ Radio host Emily Reese has been interviewing artists during the “time of COVID” to see what and how they are doing! What I am doing is this: updating my website, writing blog posts, and, yes, plodding forward finishing some larger pieces, and testing out ideas. I talked about the business side of art. I also spoke about how I work improvisationally at the embroidery machines and how I got started in machine embroidery. […]
Robyn Hendrix Contraption in the Windows on Cedar Project Robyn Hendrix Contraption in the Windows on Cedar Project. What a pleasure it is to present Robyn Hendrix quirky watercolors in the windows! She first showed with Susan Hensel Gallery in 2009. ( The Leap of Faith 5) This suite, playing with transparency and light is entitled CONTRAPTIONS. […]
Piecework- as textiles grow Piecework- as textiles grow. Textiles have always grown incrementally, piece by piece. When it was industrialized, workers were paid by the piece. The work of Libbie Soffer and Carolyn Halliday both reflect the reality of the repetition, the piecework inherent in women's production. In the tiny little picture of Carolyn, you see her working slowly, with both her arms in casts. She broke both her wrists during the production phase and had to piece-out some of the work to family members. ars domestica More Mending Circles: Daytime circles: May 23, noon -5pm Evening Circle: May 20, 5pm My Father's Religion by Carolyn Halliday June 4-July12 opening reception June 17, 7-9
There is a certain mystery that lurks here... Just off the center of the gallery lurks a mystery: a house that neither hides, nor quite shelters space. Enclosed in this house is our basic human vulnerability. It stands like a ghost, a chimera, a reminder that our sense of control and safety is a necessary trope that allows us to live in this world. When you look through it, it softens our vision like sweet nostalgia. ars domestica continues through the end of the month, May 28. More Mending Circles remain. Bring your mending and your stories. Libbie Soffer will provide company, expertise or her own nimble fingers, as needed. Mending Circle times: May 16, 17, 18 & 23, noon-5pm Friday, May 20, 5pm until around 7 pm when Carolyn Halliday will lead a discussion with Libbie about her work. And, remember, the Susan Hensel Gallery is always open Monday 10-5 and on other days by very generous appointment. Susan Hensel Gallery The focus of Susan Hensel Gallery is on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials, and engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique [...]
Studio life for artist Susan Hensel is a lot of things. It is playing with colors, materials, and ideas: the fun stuff. It is making decisions about how to handle material mistakes: also fun stuff. This piece, Jester: Clown of God, started as one thing and became another because of inconsistencies that turned up in the stitch-out. I can’t even see the “problems” anymore, because the piece became itself once I draped it over a chair. The paradoxical heaviness of the fabric against the visual lightness of spirit reminded me of a story by Tomi DiPaola: The Clown of God, about a character who used his unique talent to bring goodness to the world. So absurd, to think that a talent for juggling could be so valued. But isn’t that what art does for us? That’s all well and good…but if you are an exhibiting artist, you will probably need to ship the work that you had so much fun making. […]
The Unique Art of Embroidery is a creative and rare form of art medium. Art comes in all different kinds of style mediums such as oils, acrylics, watercolors, charcoal, chalk pastels, spray paint, and pencil. Some more artistic art mediums can include marble, steel, and wood used for sculpting your work. Embroidery although being a rarer form of art medium is loved all over the world. If you’re interested in learning more about this wonderful yet unique art medium, here are some interesting things you might want to know about The Unique Art of Embroidery. […]
