Progress toward performance

Intrepid. Deliberate. Calm.

The steps toward the performance Friday are being taken. Rather like planning for a mountainous trek, the Sherpas are gathered (Dale Kennedy, Dean Ebben Senior, Me), the materials organized and assessed. Weights and measures are taken.

The scene, from the metaphoric peak I seem to have imagined, is being set.

Dean Ebbens, Similar Journeys

Read about Dean Ebben's recent show at St. John University

Dean's In the House of the Mineral Spirits will be the re-opening show, at the end of a 6 month sabbatical, for Susan Hensel Gallery in January 2010.

More Rust Belt to Artist Belt info

The conferences started in CLeveland. You can read about the most recent conference and watch powerpoints at this link. This is way cool stuff! Artspace, who is very active here in the Twin Cities, was one of the presenters.

http://www.cpacbiz.org/business/CreativeCompass.shtml

Leslie Sobel arrives soon!

Her ideas and her images precede her! The gallery and I have been living with Leslie Sobel's lush surfaces and images for nearly a month. Friday you can come and meet her. The reception, free as always, relaxed and informal, as always, is 7-9pm on Friday, May 21.

Graffiti prevention stencil

While musicians played at Cupa Joe's, Zach, Eric & I began the demonstration stencil process.
We taped the stencil edges up with duct tape. Zach rolled little loops of tape and placed them behind the floppier edges. Surprisingly, the wind made the styrene flap around a bit.We masked the area around the stencil with paper. Nothing fancy, newspaper would work.


Zach and I sprayed several colors through the stencil. It was important to hold the sprayer away about 8 inches or so, to reduce over spray on the really rough stucco. When the stencil was removed, the design was pretty clear. I did not expect sharp edges.

We flipped the stencil over, and did another round of colors.
The bottom of the stencil was too hard an edge for my taste. So, Zach and I taped off an area and filled it in with the remaining green and purple paint.

Zachary Pearl was the artist who designed this first stencil for Corcoran Neighborhood. He gracefully agreed to help do this one. It was pretty easy. We spent maybe 2 or 2 1/2 hours including clean-up. It is helpful to have a friend help you tape the stencil to your surface. It is surprisingly heavy and floppy. Once it is up and masked, it is easy to paint.

Take Another Step puzzle

another puzzle piece arrives. Will it ever fit together?
MARK EDWIN CARLSON: TAKE ANOTHER STEP

OPENING OCTOBER 3, 5-9PM
BE THERE!

The igloo melt-eth

Don't forget the opening reception this Friday for How to Build an Igloo. The video and installation are nearly done. The reception is from 7-9pm.

What forms might healing take?

I became aware of the Combat Paper Project and the Warrior Writers about a year ago through a contact at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. The email said they thought these artists were right up my alley. Subsequently, I showed a Combat Paper Portfolio, made of handmade paper from pulped uniforms, a catharsis for the group of vets who produced it, a catharsis for the vets who viewed it here at Susan Hensel Gallery.

Art takes various forms: comforting, recognizable, new, challenging, frightening... Healing does too. The Combat Papermakers and the Warrior Writers offer the opportunity for local vets of any conflict, of anytime, free of charge, to collaborate in a creative re-invention, a re-organization, a re-formating...a new way of thinking about the personal costs of their service.

The Combat Paper Project in Residence at MCBA September 21–28, 2009

MCBA and Susan Hensel Gallery are proud to host The Combat Paper Project for a week-long residency in MCBA’s studios. Through papermaking workshops, local veterans are given the opportunity to use uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into fiber and formed into sheets of paper. Later, text and imagery created by veterans are printed on the sheets. The public is welcome to visit MCBA’s studios and view the project in progress through the duration of the residency. Registration info at mnbookarts.org.

Please support this residency with your attendance, your donations, or your voice. Please tell others about this. It is far too important to ignore.

Full details are available at mnbookarts.org.

While the video edits...

Andrea Miller is busy editing the video of HOW TO BUILD AN IGLOO and thinking about the contents and contexts of the installation that opens with a gala reception September, 18, 7-9pm.

But meanwhile, there are things to think about.

The first is the COMBAT PAPER PROJECT and the WARRIOR WRITERS PROJECT. Both are coming to MCBA, in the WEEK FOR PEACE, September 19-28. "From uniform to pulp, battlefield to workshop, warrior to artist"... a healing set of events designed for combat veterans and their friends. There are many different opportunities to participate or attend.The public is welcome to visit MCBA’s studios and view the project in progress through the duration of the residency.

Special events are scheduled to encourage interaction with the veteran artists, but visitors are welcome anytime during MCBA’s open hours. Check the website or call 612.215.2520 for more information.

Coming in October...This image is just one corner of the central image associated with TAKE ANOTHER STEP by Mark Edwin Carlson. Stay tuned for more pieces of the puzzle!

Emily's Windows!

Emily Hertle is a lovely young woman who is graduating from Perpich High School ( the arts high school) today and will be attending the College of Visual Arts in the Fall. She came over before the graduation ceremonies to install her window.

Do drive or walk by. It is lovely.


Artist Statement
Emily Hertle



While making garments I became aware of a pattern among my work, and
would describe my ideas as having three levels: the material, the
garments relationship with the body, and documentation. While
preparing for this show I developed a goal of looking at the world
through an artistic lens. I recently took that into a literal sense
and picked up a camera. I decided to direct a photo shoot for each
garment, To do this I brought together two friends to do modeling
and makeup. The pictures taken then became the background, all of the
sites are on the PCAE campus and either reflect inspiration or the
material used in the garment.

Natural Skin
Japanese rice paper, cattails

Oak Leaves Refined
Dyed abaca

Drink the Rainbow
Plastic drinking straws and wrappers, tulle

Plan ahead!

Opening April 18. Stories will be told! Jon Coffelt does far more than make tiny clothing. He tells stories. The title Communion encapsulates the collaborative process between Jon and the person commissioning the piece of clothing, melding clothing with memory. Communion also expresses the sense of the community that is generated by seeing all the pieces displayed at the same time. "Each piece represents a person. 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."

An interview with Sarah Haig

An interview with Minneapolis Sarah Haig about Words Unspoken: breaking the cycle. Sarah recently moved to Minneapolis from upstate New York to pursue and Master of Fine Art degree. The installation will be on exhibit November 7-December 20, 2008 in ArtSpace at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church, 1620 E. 46th St., Minneapolis and part of the show Leap of Faith 4: let peace reign.

Sue: Tell me about Words Unspoken: breaking the cycle.

Sarah: It is a large scale installation that makes visible and present the anonymous words of survivors of abuse.

Sue: What sorts of materials is it made out of?

Sarah: It is sheets of muslin, Plexiglas, photos, drawings and words. The muslin is huge, hung from the ceiling. It was stained, burned, ripped to create the right energy for the words.

Sue: Where did the words come from?

Sarah: The words were anonymously donated by survivors of abuse. I made this while living in a small town in upstate New York, where everybody knew everbody. I put the word out that I was looking for people’s stories.

Sue: Did you advertise? Send emails to groups?

Sarah: No, I just told a few people who told a few people who told a few more. Then I began receiving letters and emails. In the end I received 12 responses.

Sue: Did you edit them?

Sarah: No, I used them exactly as they were written.

Sue: Even the poetry? That was donated?

Sarah: Yes, a surprising number of the responses were in the form of poetry. I wondered if it was somehow easier for some of the people to deal with their experience that way.

Sue: Did you know the respondents?

Sarah: No. It’s a small town, so I could guess…but really, it was an anonymous response. I wanted it to remain that way because, really, the abuser and the abused…they could be anyone.

Sue: What kinds of responses have you gotten to Words Unspoken?

Sarah: The public responses seem to fall into three categories: sympathy with the victims; personally relating to the experience; appalled. Some people just didn’t get it, or were so uncomfortable that all they could do was make a bad joke and leave. But more people came up to me wanting to add their experiences to the show.

Sue: Have you done that? Add their experiences to the show?

Sarah: No, but there is on going work with the show and I do invite anybody to contribute their own stories. I am still in contact with a few people who ultimately identified themselves to me. I started a conversation with one person in particular who is very successful. We are having an ongoing conversation about how overcoming the fear and pain of the abuse has helped and empowered her. I hope to use something from this conversation to supplement the show.

Sue: What do you want people to “bring away” from the show?

Sarah: Mostly I want people to become more sensitized, more aware of the prevalence of abuse. I want people who have not experienced abuse to understand that anyone, and surely someone they already know, has experienced this. And for those who have survived abuse, I want them to understand that they are not alone.

Sue: What are you working on now?

Sarah: Oh I am in the frustrating stage of creativity: gathering information. I have sent letters to 70 shelters asking if I may distribute index cards, soliciting whatever residents or clients of the shelters want to tell me. I don’t yet know what form the art will take…but it will take some form and give some voice to another under-recognized population.

In the neighborhood

(Dan Bisgaard, Kanti Jocelyn-Bisgaard, Peter Wilson, Sul and David)

Do you know these people? They are making a difference.

South Minneapolis continues to develop as an exciting place for art. Artists James Michael Lawrence ( who will have a show at the gallery in January) and Peter Wilson sent me these photos of murals just down the street from me at Laurra Auto Service, the corner of 18th and Cedar. I had the opportunity to meet the artists, Sul and David, the other day. What a delightful meeting! These two men are devoted to using the arts to improve the neighborhood. KUDOS!
The murals are painted by Sul, the words evidently provided by David.