In the Windows: Raven Miller's Other Worlds

Raven Miller has brought some much needed color and sun to the windows at 3441 Cedar Ave. S.  Whether standing at the bus stop or driving by, there is much to see. It is positively jewel like at night!

He has said of the show:

OTHER WORLDS

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

Raven Miller

www.ravenmiller.com

ravenriverbirch @gmail.com

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: 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

Time Consumed!

Though Jeff's show project gutenberg project continues, and people do come by to see it, my time has been consumed with saving the building!

It was time to attack stucco repair, before winter heaved more off. As is the usual nature of stucco repair, issues were revealed and the repair quickly doubled in scope and price. There was rotting along the foundation line...now fixed. Phew! It could have been so bad! Really bad!!! But Donnelly Stucco found it in time.

About installing art

 Jeff Rathermel is a master!  His show, project gutenberg project, is a series of groupings around a topic.  The green sheets are the titles of the series.  The red sheets are cut to the precise size of the artwork being installed.  They are laid out in their precise grids before any artwork actually is hung.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

project gutenberg arrived today

Boxes upon boxes and bags upon bags of artwork arrived today.  It is always hard to believe that a well ordered show comes out of the chaos of an install...But then there are people like Jeff Rathermel who are so organized and so experienced that anything other than order is unimaginable.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

Reader's Art opening

The opening was wonderful tonight! There was such a crush of people that I could not take pictures after the first half hour or so. In these pictures you see the first little bit, when Mary Tasillo arrived for Book Bombing, and old friends met up and caught up. Then I was off, welcoming people, giving them gloves, writing up sales, and keeping an eye on refreshments , etc. Now to settle down and rest for a day or two.

In the House of the Mineral Spirits: PHOTOS! VISITS!

I just heard from Dean Ebben, today. He will be coming back into town later this month, arriving sometime on February 22. If you want to actually meet the artist, make an appointment between February 23 and February 28 before we take the show down!

Remember, the gallery is ALWAYS open 10-5 on Mondays and by very generous appointment on other days. We just compare schedules and, voila! you can see the show.

IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINERAL SPIRITS

video, installation, works on paper

by

Dean Ebben

through February 28.

A Language Beyond Words

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

The performance is past, but the show continues. There are multiple videos to be seen. On opening night, in conversation, an onlooker and I agreed that there is "something there" that we could not quite describe in Dean Ebben's videos. There is vulnerability, at times innocence and almost always mystery. We agreed that his work is full of a language beyond words.

Pictured above is a still from the video If I Could Roll It Out Of Me. This is the video that convinced me to invite Dean to create a show here.

The show continues to the end of February.

Susan Hensel Gallery hours: Monday 10-5 and by very generous appointment.

In the House of the MIneral Spirits: PHOTOS!

The opening was very well attended.
The videos were beautiful!

Tomorrow, I will begin to show you how this corner was used!

Meanwhile, rest is in order. If you cannot wait for the upcoming photos on the blog, go to the website and see more!

Ebben has Deep ties to Minneapolis

Dean Ebben has deep ties here. Although he has lived and worked in NYC for years, be grew up in the Twin Cities, graduating from Perpich Center for Art Education(lucky guy!). Through out his educational and professional career he has always returned.

He has been a frequent instructor at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. I think he interned at

Cave Paper (It that right, Dean?).

In the House of the Mineral Spirits, opening January 14, is inspired and fueled by his relationship with the Twin Cities. It is a truly diverse show, as diverse as the community that formed him. It will have drawings on over beaten flax handmade paper from Cave Paper.

In the House of The Mineral Spirits

Jan 14-Feb 28, 2011

opening reception Friday, Jan 14, 6-10 with a performance commencing around 7pm

Rolling with Dean Ebben

When Dean was at St. John University last year, he wove a protective blanket that became part of the performance.

Our space is smaller, more intimate with warm, hardwood floors. But Dean has been weaving another blanket, just for us...for you. The new blanket will be part of the new performance, Friday Dec. 17, 7pm at Susan Hensel Gallery.

Will it be orange?

I do not know.

Will it go home with you?

I do not know.

But I do know that some of the materials of the performance will be transformed during the evening into individual artworks that will go home with you, free of charge.

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

installation, video, performance & works on paper

by

Dean Ebben

Jan 14-Feb 28, 2011

opening reception Friday, Jan 14, 6-10 pm with a performance beginning around 7pm

A GRAND RE-OPENING

A RE-GRAND OPENING

At

SUSAN HENSEL GALLERY

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

Jan 14- Feb 28

The Susan Hensel Gallery has been quiet for the last six months, but that is about to change. On January 14, a new show In the House of the Mineral Spirits, by Dean Ebben, will kick off the final full season of Susan Hensel Gallery before retirement, with performance, installation and works on paper. A reception for the artist will be held Friday, January 14, 6-10pm, with a performance that begins at 7pm.

It will be a visually, aurally rich evening with a gift at the end. Much of the evening will be given over to a performance and series of video projections with live and recorded gamelan music. The central performer of the evening will interact with woven structures, symbolic ice, a starlit sky and sound. In the end, the pieces of the performance are ephemeral and will be transformed on site into free gifts. But the videos and the installation will remain, looping and interacting with the local environment for the duration of the show.

In The House of The Mineral Spirits is a play on words and meanings. The idea of the house is a metaphor of 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.”

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

Dean Ebben grew up in the Twin Cities, graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Pratt Institute. His media is drawing... but not in the way that most people think of drawing...as an elegant line of pen or pencil. He works with multi-media in a meditative manner akin to the discovery process inherent in drawing. In this show you will see video, performance, artists books, sculpture, gouache paintings, and cyanotype.

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.

As things in the show transform themselves, as videos loop to provide different glimpses into new realities, this show will be an exciting and apt beginning to a transitional year in the life of Susan Hensel Gallery.

WHAT: IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINERAL SPIRITS

Installation, performance and works on paper

By

Dean Ebben

WHEN: January 14-February 28, 2011

Reception: Friday, January 14, 6-10pm

Performance at @ 7pm, Jan 14

WHERE: Susan Hensel Gallery

3441 Cedar Ave S

CONTACT: Susan Hensel 612 722-2324

The "Geist" of Dean Ebben

Geist is a word that comes up in discussion with Dean Ebben...There is not a precise definition or translation of it, but it seems to be the "uber" meaning, the unspoken totality or subconscious underpinnings of experiences. It relates to his understanding of the meaning of "wisdom work." Although Dean works in the Museum of Biblical Art, his understanding of wisdom work is not a religious one. Like the writers of deep history, he seeks wisdom through the exploration of ideas, materials, mythology and narrative...He seeks the "geist."

Dean has made a series entitled Geist .They are gouache paintings, painted on over beaten flax that he beat and sheet-formed at Cave Paper in Minneapolis, MN. The images stem from imagination, dreams, personal mythology, media, art history and popular culture.

The series continues with increasing subtlety and will likely be part of his show, In the House of the Mineral Spirits, opening in January.

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

I had a wonderful talk with Dean Ebben today. Those of you who have taken workshops from him, know what I mean when I say he is open and charming, but thinks deeply and carefully about what he is doing in this world.

Dean grew up in the Twin Cities, graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Pratt Institute. His media is drawing... but not in the way that most people think of drawing...as an elegant line done in pen or pencil. He draws in multi-media, works video, handmade paper, cyanotype and goache in a meditative manner akin to the discovery process inherent in drawing.

image from Bound, a series of Cyanotypes Ebben made in Austerlitz, NY. They are the result of a video-taped action of Ebben wrapping his hands and feet.

As he works on his January show, In the House of the Mineral Spirits, Dean is considering this gallery space, this city, this neighborhood and how they will affect the presentation and the meaning of his work. Stay tuned. The actual date is not yet chosen, but the event will be exciting. We spent the morning discussing the use of video projection, performance and evidence that can be possessed by the observers. Gamelans will likely be played!

Reader's Art 10 and such

Whew! The boxes are in the mail! So many books! So many boxes! The next show EARTH & AIR: art for the environment, by Leslie Sobel is hung. I have been building stretchers for a series of my pieces that are being hung in a show this weekend. The gallery looks like a BOMB! went off.

But, a wonderful surprise came in the mail today.

Book Arts Newsletter, No. 57, May 2010, an increasingly large publication out of the UK, arrived today with a review of Reader's Art 10. You can find it online at http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/57.pdf. The nice thing about reading it online is that it is in FULL color. Go take a look. Our article starts on page 34. Here is a quick snapshot of the poetry reading...poets and listeners reading before all the poets arrived.

Opening shots! Reader's Art 1 0

Happy readers in lovely white gloves!