COMING SOON! Special Event: Jennifer A. Schultz and WHERE WE COME FROM

This is a one time only special event!

March 16-May 18, 2018

Where We Come From/Jennifer A. Schultz

Reception Friday March 16, 7-9pm. 



WHERE WE COME FROM is an exhibit of small books created by artists from Buffalo, MN as well as bookworks by Jennifer A. Schultz. Each explores the ways in which landscape- the physical place we live, the places our people come from- helps determine our identity.  Buffalo artists participated in two bookmaking workshops taught by Schultz at Wright County Historical Society last August.

Jennifer A. Schultz was a recipient of the 2017 Minnesota Artists initiative Grant. She led workshops in Buffalo, MN, collecting stories and teaching people how to put their stories into book form.  

This weekend event is your opportunity to see what's been cooking up in Buffalo and to enjoy seeing more of Jennifer's work in the Window Gallery.

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 opening soon

Changing Landscapes by Elizabeth Carls

LONGING FOR HOME: Reader’s Art 12

March 16-April 26

Susan Hensel Gallery, 3441 Cedar Ave S, will take a break from retirement for the annual book extravaganza, Reader’s Art 12: Longing for Home , Friday March 16 with a reception and celebration for the artists from 7-10pm.  

This long running show is a national/international survey show of artists books originated by Ms. Hensel when she lived  in East Lansing, Michigan. Now in its twelfth consecutive year, forty two artists form the US, Canada and France responded to the call for artists books that considered the following questions:

What does home mean to you?

Is home a place, a building, a feeling, a belief system,a family, a way of being in the world?

What do you long for?

Not surprisingly, in these transitional times, many artists dwelt in nostalgia for a past time that may or may not have been their own.  There are also political pieces dealing with immigration, and environmental destruction of the planet.  There are pieces that deal with the body as the ultimate home, with identity.  There are beautiful, ethereal books; crudely natural books; creepy books; humorous books; elegant books.

Among the forty two artists are many local folks:  Carolyn Halliday, Phillip R. Luoma Anderson Elizabeth Carls, Maggie Miller, Mary Bergs and Beth Dorsey.

Most of the books may be handled and read. After all, what’s a book if you cannot read it?

Come join the fun, Friday, March 16, 7-10pm.

§  Reader’s Art 12 : Longing for Home

§  March 16- April 26, 2012

§  Susan Hensel Gallery

§  3441 Cedar Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55407

§  

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An orderly procession

Project Gutenberg, the online archive of literature, ironically destroys printed books in order to salvage the information. Ironically, the process turns well ordered, collated text into a collection of dis-bound, chaotic materials that may or may not convey conventional information to us.With the project gutenberg project Jeff Rathermel has collected this discarded material and compiled and re-oredered it into comprehensible collections of information. He has reconsidered the book in all its parts and has chosen attributes to highlight.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

The reception of the art was magnificent!

The reception for My Father's Religion coincided with dulcet, balmy weather and the weekend of the Minnesota Quilt Conference. My friend Debra, an art quilter, had come from NYC to see the quilts.
And a group of Korean art quilters were invited to exhibit at the convention. Their work was outstanding! And, they came to meet Carolyn at her reception. We ate cake for CR's birthday, drank wine, listened to live music next door at the Crown Cafe and generally had a wonderful evening!

The show continues through July 12. Do come by.

Hours are Mondays 10-5 and other days by very generous appointment.

Of nature and manmade materials...

Silver Birch Coffee Pot by Carolyn Halliday

Tell me about the role the natural world plays in your work.

I've been inundated my whole life with nature; 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. I birthed a son who has been obsessed with nature since her was 8 months. So the natural world is a constant source of material and inspiration for my work. Now that I have 2 ecologists/biologists in my family----my son and his soon to be wife, I am actively collaborating with them on work. They inspired the work Druse, referencing the danger of zebra mussels as invasive species. (Made of knit wire with zebra mussel shells) And I am very currently working on pieces that reference Darwin. Part of the point of My Father's Religion, is the necessity of preserving woodlands.

Where does the title My Father's Religion come from?

My Father’s Religion grew from my experience growing up with a father who loved the woods. My father’s religion was in the woods. The family spent all of their free time in the Northern Woods. At the time I would have preferred to stay in a hotel. Nonetheless, my father passed his religion onto me.

Open Now: My Father's Religion June 4- July 12 Opening Reception: June 17, 7-9pm

shown in conjunction with:

ars domestica- the red dress in waiting

Out of the chaos of boxes come wonders. This red dress awaits our ministrations. It is a show stopper!

ars domestica

by Libbie Soffer

May6-28

opening reception May 13, 7-10pm

Mending Circle

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

Mending Circle Soiree: May 20, starting at 5pm. A dialogue led by fiber artist Carolyn Halliday will begin around 7pm.

ars domestica- simple forms

ars domestica

by Libbie Soffer

May6-28

opening reception May 13, 7-10pm

Mending Circle

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

Mending Circle Soiree: May 20, starting at 5pm. A dialogue led by fiber artist Carolyn Halliday will begin around 7pm.

Libbie Soffer-balancing act

How have women balanced all the cares and necessities of their lives?

Libbie Soffer contemplates women's caregiving role through simple means, simple forms.

ars domestica

by Libbie Soffer

May6-28

opening reception May 13, 7-10pm

Mending Circles:

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

Mending Circle Soiree: May 20, starting at 5pm. A dialogue led by fiber artist Carolyn Halliday will begin around 7pm.

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.

Reader's Art 11 installation begins

The boxes are stowed, the tools are laid out, the artworks are more or less sorted by how they will be displayed. So, we begin.

post-its alert me to titles I might find obscure when I affix the wall labels.

I answer the phone, give in person interviews, check for accuracy in the records.

Coco Mault from the City Pages wrote a very nice piece about the show. Thanks Coco!

{note: one of the images in athe masthead is complements of photographer Michael Shapiro.}

House Party!

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 Install Begins

I am excited! This show will grow as the week proceeds. Today, the first load of parts arrived and the primary screen was built. It always begins as a mess! Bags of parts and tools, boxes of framed gouaches.

What will tomorrow bring?

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

installation, performance, works on paper

by

Dean Ebben

January 14- February 28, 2011

OPening performance and reception for the artist

Friday, January 14, 6-10pm

Dean Ebben: rolling in the dark

It seems to me that Dean Ebben's mythology is one of mystery, struggle and redemption.This was the reason I invited Dean Ebben to develop a show for Susan Hensel Gallery. I had seen his video If I could roll it out of me (still from the video above). In this video a man, Dean, places himself in a "wilderness" to roll until he could physically roll no more. It captured my attention on a deep level. It began as child begins, with a simple joyful act. I remember ecstatically rolling down cool grassy hills as a child, smelling the earth, the worms and beetles, the new growth under a warm summer sky. But we grow and we grow-up and the simple acts change. They are more difficult and fraught with meaning and mystery. Come see this video and more :

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

installation, performance, video,works on paper

by Dean Ebben

Jan 14-Feb 28, 2011

at Susan Hensel Gallery

opening reception Friday, January 14, 6-10pm with a performance commencing @7pm.