Reader's Art 14 & 15...and then?Purgatory Pie Press

Life as We Know It by Purgatory Pie Press

I am planning for Reader's Art 15 to be the final show in the series.  I will soon begin work on a compendium catalog of all fifteen years of the exhibition, to be available at the close of the final show.  Wish me good luck, good health and determination to finish this proposed project!

Mission to Japan by Gail Smuda

Progress by Jamie Weaver

Mama by Courtney Lee Weida

Eyes to See by Veronica Winters

A Graph Sampler:New Beginnings by Marilyn Stablein

Paris & Urban Geometry by Michael Shapiro

Learn more about these artists:

Purgatory Pie Press

Veronica Winters

Courtney Lee Weida

Michael Shapiro

Marilyn Stablein

Gail Smuda

Jamie Weaver

Colorful artists books

I am planning to resume  the Reader's Art exhibition in 2014 and 2015. 

Make Up by Carol Morris

Andre Pace

Travel by Maryann Riker

Lean more about these artists:

Carol Morris

Maryann Riker

Andre Pace

Autumn, crows in murmuration etc

Autumn by Jes Lee

Murmurations by Celine Lombardi

Nine Seeds by Vida Sacic

Learn more about theses artists:

Jes Lee

Celine Lombardi

Vida Sacic

A Variety of book related forms

90 Days Project by Joel McKinney

A disparate group of artists books and book like objects sailed my way through the internet.  Pictured here are a 'zine, a stitched broadside and a beautifully printed 90 day compilation of digital collages.

Muse by Gail Kern

How His Trouble Began by China Marks

Learn more about the artists:

Joel McKinney

China Marks

Gail Kern

More artists books

Many books have run across my computer screen...just not enough to mount Reader's Art this year.  But next year, the projected penultimate year, is another story.

Recollections by Arini Esary

portfolio by Sally Johnson

Journeys by Jennifer Hines

Learn more about these artists:

Arini Esary

Sally Johnson

Jennifer Hines

Books I have seen

Triangle Book by Elena Mary Siff

 In the ongoing effort to expose you to artists books that were submitted to the Reader's Art show that was suspended for a year...

Pentimento by Claire Jeanine Satin

Making it Home by Gail Smuda

New Beginnings by Beth Dorsey

All wonderful artists.  Learn more about  them:

Elena Mary Siff

Claire Jeanine Satin

Gail Smuda

I've never had to cancel a show before!

READER"S ART 13 is cancelled!

For the first time in my 15 years or so of curating shows, I did not receive sufficient numbers of proposed artworks to create a show that coheres. I usually receive images for around 100-125 books from which I fashion a show of around 90 books.  This year I received 40 books, only 25 of which "play together pretty well."  As a consequence, I am canceling Reader's Art 13 for this year. This is not a reflection on the quality of the particular works, nor on my willingness to show it.  It is my responsibility to show the work in a way that enhances it, advances the field of artists books, and creates a coherent experience for the clientele. A show that looks scatter-shot does not fulfill these requirements and, indeed, hurts us all. I will, from time to time, share images of some of the artwork proposed.  There really were many lovely pieces  and I would like to share them with you. It is my hope to resume the show next year and to complete the cycle of Reader's Art in 2015.  At the end of the Reader's Art 15 show I plan to publish a catalog of the fifteen years of this show. Crowku by Julia Babbs Candela by Luz Marina Ruiz Sandy Hook by Ginger Burrell Learn more about these artists: Julia Babb LuzMarina Ruiz Ginger Burrell

Call for Art -READER'S ART 13: New Beginnings

WOW!  It's been 12 consecutive years...soon to be 13!  Who knew in the year 2000, when I started Reader's Art in East Lansing, Michigan, that it would still be an annual event 13 years later!   

CALL FOR ARTISTS

 Reader's Art 13:New Beginnings

 March 8-April 26, 2013

A show of artists books with   a focus on new beginnings…political or otherwise. 

In this election year, it seemed reasonable to consider new beginnings. Certainly the politicians are always declaring a "new vision" for America. What new beginnings might you like to see?

While politically motivated work will have an advantage, all work that deals with the wide open theme of New Beginnings will be considered.

This is show of ARTISTS BOOKS. All media and structures that can be construed as a book or refer sufficiently to bookness will be considered. Artists should send between 3-10 jpg's and a resume and/or artists statement. 

Applications are due Jan 15, 2013

MEDIA 

2-d and 3-d are welcome. 

All media welcome, all approaches, even installation and performance. Editions or one of a kind books and book objects  or book referential work. I am always willing to expand the reaches of book art to the edges of the known universe and beyond.

HOW TO APPLY

Send accurate slides,photos, MAC compatible cd-rom of the work you plan to show, with SASE for return, or Email high quality jpg’s.

Written explanation of the work is welcomed.

Appointments may be made for in-person viewing of work.

Accepted artists will be expected to provide a resume and artist’s statement about their work and press clippings. Accepted artists will be asked to provide client lists  as well. 

SALES  AT SUSAN HENSEL GALLERY are encouraged. but not required.  You may send NFS work.

All work is sold on consignment.  The gallery keeps 40% of the sale price.  The artist receives 60% of the sale price.

INSURANCE, SHIPPING, SECURITY

Susan Hensel Gallery carries a basic loss policy that will pay the artist 60% of the sale price in the event of theft or total loss. The gallery building also has a security system and residential occupancy.

All shipping costs are the responsibility of the artist. Accepted work must be sent with return UPS or FedEX barcoded shipping label enclosed; You can set up an online account at UPS or FED EX. No charges accrue until your package is shipped. If a piece sells, return shipping is not charged as the box will not be shipped. All return shipping MUST be by FEDEX or UPS. No exceptions. No COD’s.

PUBLICITY

1000 postcards will be distributed

local, area and national press kits will be sent

email and fax publicity

and your help planning guerrilla marketing

DATES  and CHECKLIST

• slides, jpg’s, photos for up to 10 works,  w/ SASE,  slides/jpg’s due:  Jan 15, 2013.

• resume and/or artists statement

•  Accepted work due March 1, 2013. Return shipping MUST be enclosed with the actual pre-paid labels. Accepted work must be sent with return UPS or FedEX barcoded shipping label enclosed; You can set up an online account at UPS or FED EX. No charges accrue until your package is shipped. If a piece sells, return shipping is not charged as the box will not be shipped. All return shipping MUST be by FEDEX or UPS. No exceptions. No COD's.

• artists reception Saturday, March 8, 5-9 pm

• all work picked up at end of show April 27 -29, please call for times.

Susan Hensel Gallery

art•story•activism

3441 Cedar Ave. S,

Minneapolis, MN 55407

phone/fax 612 722-2324

susan@susanhenseldesign.com

www.susanhenselgallery.com

Redaer's Art 12: Jamie Weaver

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home


Jamie Weaver

West Virginia in Quilts recalls my childhood memories of growing up in rural Appalachia.  My family has long been involved with folk arts and crafts, and I was encouraged to explore these creative outlets both at home and in school.  Looking back, I realize that much emphasis was placed on West Virginia as a center for Appalachian crafts and tourism, and larger issues affecting the state, like mountaintop removal and rampant meth use, were swept under the rug.  When I was in school, we weren’t taught how to be socially, financially, and environmentally loyal to our state – we were told that to be successful adults, we’d probably have to move out of state.  So, with West Virginia in Quilts, I wanted to use a traditional Appalachian craft, quilting, to bring awareness to more serious issues affecting West Virginia. 

            I chose an accordion fold structure so that the book unfolds and spreads out like a quilt.  The title of the book works on a couple of levels:  It is a glimpse of West Virginia through beautiful quilt patterns, and it is also a state in quilts, or covered from view.  Since the truth rarely remains hidden, I let the ugliness underneath peek through the quilts on the surface; when the quilt unfolds, the whole story is revealed.  The front and back are covered with handmade paper that reminds me of quilt batting.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Jennifer Vignone

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Jennifer Vignone

Fall 2011

Kitakata, Gampi, encaustic, linoleum cut, gold leaf, pencil, original text, ink, nails, wood. 

Following is the text of the book.

"Let me die," he says. 
He is yelling it at Mom,
at the nurse, there in his room, 
at me at the long end of the phone 
and at God -- hovering, 
as he'd like to hover, 
freed from his stagnant frame.
"I'm old and want to die in peace."
All the yelling doesn't seem peaceful 
but I know it is what he wants.

We had to remove the gun and knives 
after we caught him with 
the .22 in his mouth. 
Were his hands too arthritic 
as he fumbled for the trigger? 
Or was he, even then, 
thinking it over?
I wondered what it would have been, 
over the phone, to hear the silence after the blast?

"Why didn't I find you on the floor?"she demanded. 
He had threatened to throw himself 
from the bed in an effort 
to kill himself.

In the delicately gnarled strands 
of their life together, 
they felt out the hereafter. 
Mom negotiated the exit 
as he struggled in his unresponsive shell.

Their conversation was peppered 
with allusions to the great beyond.
Its smell was in the air. 
She said to him, ìI thought you'd 
be more of a man," 
in the way he dealt with age 
and what followed.

I think of the time that I cannot grasp.
And what if I could, 
but grasped the wrong moment?
Mother. Father. A woman and a man, 
in time, and running out of time.

A flicker of light suddenly blinding gold and yellow 
and white in hand-to-hand combat with Darkness. 
A bird wing glide suspends briefly before free-fall.
Are there miracles?

I'd never understood the things 
that seemed so important to him -
ancient not-working timepieces, 
tie clips, old radios that he described 
as brand new, his Hathaway shirts 
with their three-hole buttons - until now. 
These were the things he had to offer 
after so many years. These were his legacy, 
not of typical fortune, but of a life.

I have an image of him in my head 
from a photograph of him
as a young man, before knowing my mother. 
She sits now by his side and holds his hand. 
She dials me with her free hand 
and rasps into the phone. 
He sleeps and when he wakes, he gasps. 
I think he is surprised to find himself still here.

Rich laughter chimed like 
heavy glass but I couldn't tell 
what caused such a sound. 
Spirals held me enthralled, 
rapt, terrified. 
I wandered about, 
hoping not to burst, 
but not afraid to die.

Will I, in my final moment,
hear my own thud? 

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home

March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Judith Strom

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home  

Judith Strom- This book is an exploration of our acreage here in Montana.  All the materials for book except the thread for binding & stitching and the computer inks came from our property as did the images.  The paper is handmade from yucca.

As with most of my work this piece grows out of my love of the natural world and most especially the beauty of our home here in Montana.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Marilyn Stablein

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home

Marilyn Stablein - An ongoing series of artist books Notions and Accessories explores an artist’s whimsical narrative history of needlework, notions, and women’s antique fashion and fabric accessories.  By utilizing actual found antique objects I hope to honor and celebrate everyday women’s historical tools and handiwork. Current completed artist books in this series include works devoted to The Bias Tape, Needles, vintage Handkerchiefs, and vintage nylon stockings and a stocking bag.


Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home 
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Esther Smith

 
Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Esther Smith




Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 12- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Claire Siepser

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Claire Siepser

Choices :

This artist’s book is a personal exploration of reproductive choice. With the numerous and intense political messages and brash facts and figures, sometimes it becomes difficult to see the intensely personal nature of the choices we make about our bodies. Despite all the political rhetoric, it remains taboo to speak about reproduction in most circles.

This book acts as a place of calm reflection about the choices I have made and why I feel strongly about women's rights. I have deep convictions regarding my own body but, despite these convictions, this issue makes each of us deeply vulnerable. I decided that I should create a piece that made me deeply vulnerable and shared my difficult trek towards being positive about my reproductive life. I wanted to share my vulnerability with the world in the hopes that it might speak to other individuals trying to make their way in the world.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Elizabeth Schendel

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Elizabeth Schendel- I have always enjoyed looking through my family’s collection of photographs and listening to the stories that have been passed down and told over and over again, and I recently realized that my family’s stories are significant to me not just for what I can learn about the past, but also for the new perspective that I can take on the present. My grandparents’ stories provide insight into their character, into my parents’ lives, and even into myself, as I see their influence on the family and also learn about what influenced them.  Even the family stories that I am not personally aware of have influenced how I view myself and understand the world.  Because of this recognition of both the textual and visual narrative influence, my work makes use of found texts and photographs, as well as original imagery, to create pieces that, while of a personal nature for myself, create a space for viewers to create and consider their own narratives.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home

March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Vida Sacic

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Vida Sacic

Cityscapes project - hand-bound letterpress printed book (4 colors / 64 pages /50 copies produced)

produced during an artist residency at the Center for Book and Paper Arts Columbia College Chicago

The printed book serves as one of two parts of the project - the second being an interactive app that can be viewed on a personal iPad. In both iterations of the books, the same content is used but presented in a way that takes advantage of the medium.

Thematically, in this collection of over 40 illustrations of imaginary landscapes, themes of materiality are explored through images of cities whose landscapes juxtapose buildings from varied time periods and geographic areas. The landscapes mostly combine sights from Chicago, where I currently live, with images from my home town in Croatia. In such spaces realities collide and coexist furthering a notion of vague familiarity mixed with displacement that mirrors the 21st century experience.

I believe that this book is well suited to the theme “longing for home” because of it’s strong personal subtext which alludes to our tendencies to carry our past with us and often find it resurrected in front of us when we least expect it. I find it fascinating that we carry it all with us no matter where we go.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16-April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Robin Ross

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home   Robin Ross  Aerie and Prayers of Being Winged 

Home to me as the person Robin is very much about belonging to community.  Practicalities such as   structure and spirituality both occur and can enhance our belonging.  Home to me as the creature Robin, or as any other bird, is about flying and looking below and above, about survival, wanting long life for continuation of my species.  As creature I am always connected to my environment - questions of spirit and belongingness don't occur. 

I am a painter. I paint paintings and sometimes re-create old unwanted books through the use of carving and painting and drawing.

Book as object and art allows me to enhance what already exists.  I’m both  playful and serious when using serendipity and precision in cutting, manipulating, collaging and painting. The books are unique, and usually graffitied, foxed, water damaged, or otherwise unwanted. This combines my love of language with visual and sensual art. Often the old paper, the smell, and the description of knowledge and poetry inspire what I paint; inversely, what I paint may evoke more writing.  In the case of these bird books, there is very little word-formed writing other than bits of asemic chicken scratch.

Each book is given new life. Previous words and images  peek through or are covered with layers of paint. Each original page is inclusive to what I am painting. It folds and opens; containing a  time past below the surface of the present story I put upon it - each embellishment places history upon history. The changing nature of the paper and print underneath the actual oil paint and ephemeral chance are part of the character of each book. 

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home

March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Maryann Riker

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home  Maryann Riker

Maryann Riker is a mixed-media artist whose artist books and collage works convey a visual narrative to remind one of the past and journeys through which we all travel throughout our lives.  Her works incorporate digital images, Victorian iconography, and other symbols to convey a sense of memory and time as one opens and unfolds the work.   

Her works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally and are in the Special Collections of:  The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Walker Art Center, the Art Institute of Chicago, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Yale University, Mills College, University of Iowa, Rhode Island School of Design, Lafayette College, Rutgers University, Newark Art Museum, Newark Public Library and many other private and public collections.

When not creating, Maryann is writing grants, reading mystery or historical fiction novels, practicing to be a wild wannabe or working on becoming a legend in her own living room.




Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012

Reader's Art 12: Michelle Ray

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home  Michelle Ray-

Admeasure

2011
text and image printed from photopolymer plates and linoleum blocks on handmade and Somerset Book papers, edition of 35
8 1/8" x 3" x 1/4"

The act of naming things creates a sense of relative safety at sea. Like the pilot’s verse that guided sailors through dangerous shoals, Admeasure is about gaining a false sense of control through signifiers and ritual that guide one through a world that is largely uncontrollable. This book explores the dialectic tension between the dangerous unknown and measure, rules and tradition. While at sea, measurements, maritime law, navigation aids and other modes of dominance through organization are easily lost to the forces of nature and the psychology of a journey. The content of Admeasure draws from a variety of archetypal journeys including Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Homer’s Odyssey, Bas Jan Ader’s In Search of the Miraculous and my own time spent in small boats.

Reader's Art 12: Longing for Home
March 16- April 26, 2012