INVENTORY METHODS, in the WINDOWS

INVENTORY METHODS, by Susan Hensel

QR code to take the survey

Gideon stands guard

Gideon wonders what I am up to

INVENTORY METHODS

Preparing to install 160 tubes

Preparing to install

INVENTORY METHODS : do the math.

Inventory Methods is an artwork about accretion and subtraction; accumulation and reduction.

It is a record of old pajamas discarded as useless and accumulated as rags.

It is a record of weights, each tube containing 4 ounces of waste materials: rags.

It is a declaration of the beauty that remains in the devalued, worn, discarded.

It is a record of an ongoing process of reduction and a questioning of the nature of what, and who, we devalue and discard.

Each tube represent 4 ounces of weight lost: a reduction in body size, a quest for health and a consideration of the pressures on bodies to conform to cultural standards. 

Gaining and losing weight is very public.  Unless one hides away from the eyes of others, the process is subject to value judgments, comment, encouragement, discouragement, vilification. That which is intensely private and personal, becomes a public spectacle, subject to comment.

With this artwork I want to direct the commenting process, developing community conversation at the intersection of numbers and beauty. I will use a QR code to bring people into an active commenting process.

When did curves become unacceptable?   When did fat cease to represent wealth and fertility?  When did advanced age become frail and disrespected?  When did age, weight, beauty and numbers begin to intersect with moral judgements?

As I lost weight, I wanted to mark the progress, but also name as beautiful that which was subtracted.  I accumulated art as I reduce my size.

There are 160 tubes.  Do the math.

Take a survey to add language to INVENTORY METHODS

IN the Windows, December 2013

I have always had some problems managing calendars.  I get lost in the days of the week, the months and their corresponding number systems.  For the most part I do get to all my appointments on the right day and at the right time.  But there are glitches.  December is such a month, a glitch month.  I created an unintentional hole in the window schedule.  So, at the last minute, I had to fill the windows.  So this month the work in the windows is mine.

 

These deconstructed suits are part of a series that keeps me thinking and re-working, over and over.

 
I keep returning to them, adding pins, skeletal structures of thread.  I ponder the deconstruction of a symbol of power.

Deconstructing Power

One of the many things that women share world wide is wage disparity with men.  In the US, the average gender wage gap, is 23%.  When considering the wages of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, the gap narrows to 17%, but the number of women holding the position also reduces.  Women are roughly 51% of the population in  the US, holding 4.2% of the top positions in Fortune 500 companies.

What is it, then, that represents this overwhelming male power?  Perhaps it is the suit.

Deconstructing Power is a series of stitched assemblages that consider the artificiality of the power suit, designed to enhance male images of power. Developed out of European styles of the aristocracy, the power suit, once established, changed little and now is the near ubiquitous symbol of power for the urban male.  The deconstructed suits are stitched onto floral/feminine upholstery fabrics with their artifice prominent. Once splayed open, they become simply the stuff of which they are made: cleverly woven textiles cleverly assembled for effect, often by the hands of women.

Peace Fibres- stitching a soulful world

Serendipity has been such a strong feature of my life. When one is able to cultivate to attitude of welcome, of "yes", one can see the connections and the offerings that the world has to give. Today was another opportunity of "yes." While working diligently on number crunching and financial projections ( yuck!), I received a phone call from a Minnesota author wishing to see the current exhibition.

While Libbie Soffer was here, I attended Shepherd's Harvest and she went to the Textile Center and we both met Karen Lohn, the author of Peace Fibres. Karen and her friend Katie, a contributor to the book, spent time among Libbie's textile stories. A thoroughly delightful respite from numbers!

Suited for Metaphor

Suits for lean times.
A suit for the runway.

Libbie Soffer and Carolyn Halliday work at times along the edges of fashion, fashioning wearable and unwearable suits for metaphor.

ars domestica by Libbie Soffer

through May 28.

My Father's Religion by Carolyn Halliday

June 4-July 12

reception June 17, 7-9pm

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

Color of Conflict closes soon

The show is nearly done! Only a few days remain to see this powerful show...it comes down January 1!

A sleepy John Hensel, just after arriving from Michigan on an AMTRAK bus.
The opening was a blast. Many people braved the cold, slippery roads and the ubiquitous holiday parties to welcome John "home" and to celebrate his achievements as a photographer.

Wool Market Fun

The South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market was, once again, well attended and so much fun. Even if no one came, I think we would enjoy ourselves! What's not to enjoy about people engaged with fiber?
This darling little one finished her fiber day with Grandma at our place. She had started the day by making fairies at the Fiber Studio and ended by making a Wild Batt with me.


Jenn Cuff spent the day spinning (So did I;-)) Although I have no photos to prove it, my friend Carla brought in her Navajo spindle and taught us how to use it. Several of us took turns on it while she tried out my new Majacraft Wheel. Her hand can be seen somewhere in this fluffy, curly single made from loose locks. I spun 3 skeins during the day, totaling nearly 300 yards.

You never know what will happen at a wool market. If you stay long enough, you are bound to learn something new or make a new friend.

Next market? July 24.

The wool market will probably resume in September. Stay tuned.

Leslie Sobel to BE HERE! MEET HER AGAIN!

The month of May is always a time to take a step back and acknowledge the splendor of our surroundings in bloom. In step with this, Susan Hensel Gallery is proud to present Earth & Air by Michigan-based artist Leslie Sobel, whose sculptural paintings celebrate nature's beauty and explore issues of climate change. Working in the encaustic technique, a painting process using heated wax, Leslie's creations are rich in color, teeming with texture, and alive with light! Inspired by images of the Earth from space, Leslie builds layer upon layer of wax, crafting miniature mountain ridges, glaciers and waterways that seem to "pop" right off the canvas.

Have a chance to meet the artist, and see this charming and impressive body of work in person! Join the Susan Hensel Gallery on May 21st, 7-9 p.m. for a reception and informal artist talk. Hear how Leslie first became interested in making art about the environment, and find out more about her years of experience making imagery in wax.

GREET SARA CHRISTENSEN BLAIR

RECEPTION FOR SARA CHRISTENSEN BLAIR

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1-3PM

I have the unexpected pleasure of meeting Sara Christensen Blair this weekend, and so will you!

Sara is one of the artists represented in UNCOMMON TEXTILES which runs through February 27. She will be in town to deliver work to the Textile Center and graciously consented to spending the afternoon with us! COME BY AND MEET HER! TEA and TREATS will be served;-)

While you are here, check out the hand felted art and artyarn of Rachel Starr Suntop.

A Community Call for Art

CALL FOR ART

THE ARTS OF COMMUNITY

March 19- April 16, 2010 At Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis

Sponsored and curated by SMARTS, South Minneapolis Arts Business Association, a new association of artists and arts related businesses that unite to connect, cooperate and support the arts in South Minneapolis. The focus for this first annual show is COMMUNITY. The jurors want to see work from, about and in support of community, communi- ty building, and the glories of South Minneapolis. Other themes will be considered as SMARTS would like to promote a broad range of South Minneapolis artists. The exhibition will also serve as the launch of the SMARTS guide which is a map of visual and performing art destinations, artists, education and art service businesses in South Minneapolis. The SMARTS GUIDE will lead visitors to arts businesses and destination points in South Minneapolis.

For more information on SMARTS please visit www.southminneapolisarts.org.

WHO MAY SUBMIT

All artists living and working in south Minneaopolis may apply. The borders are roughly south of Franklin Ave, east of Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, north of HWY 62 and west of the Mississippi River.

MEDIA

All visual media are welcome, including video. Our exhibition has some restrictions in terms of size and form of piec- es. Specifically: sculptural/3D work should be able to be shelved on walls or rigged from the ceiling . Work requiring pedestals may not be accepted. Please contact Intermedia Arts before proposing work that is unusually large, heavy or fragile for the exhibition. Call or email: 612.871.4444 or info@IntermediaArts.org with questions.

HOW TO APPLY

Send accurate jpegs of the work you plan to show to info@southminneapolisarts.org . Statements about the work are welcome. Please provide your complete name, email, website, address and phone # in the body of the email. Accept- ed artists will be expected to provide a resume and artist’s statement about their work and press clippings, if available.

SALES AND INSURANCE

Intermedia Arts will retain 40% of artwork sales during the span of the exhibition. Intermedia Arts will insure the work for the duration of the show.

PUBLICITY

• At least 1000 postcards will be distributed • local, area and national press kits will be sent • email publicity

DATES

February 8th - jpegs for up to 5 works due at info@southminneapolisarts.org

March 12th or March 15th - Accepted work due (ready to hang/install) at Intermedia Arts from 10am-6pm. Friday,

March 19th - Artists reception, 7-10 pm at Intermedia Arts Monday,

April 19th - Pickup of artwork from 10am-6pm

In deep afternoon light, the gallery awaits

In the deep, slanting afternoon light, the gallery awaited its first visitors of the evening! It is that quiet, golden hour when I sip a glass of wine, toasting a show well hung and anticipating a show well seen.

Installing UNCOMMON TEXTILES

Zach, being far more detail oriented than I, measured out and installed Sara Christensen Blair's multi part pieces, 24 MONTHS and CYCLIC



For CYCLIC, the installation of a rainbow of crocheted pill bottles, he figured out the math and plotted the curves.


Being far more organic in practice, I worked with Rachel Starr Suntop's felt pieces. They were rather like wayward children, having tantrums about who they were next to, yelling "MOM, he looked at me funny!" or "She touched my stuff!" I hung and rehung on our plaster walls for hours...fractions of inches making a difference! But finally the "family" of felt settled down and agreed to all get along;-) DO come Saturday and see how we did!

Uncommon Textiles opens soon

UNCOMMON TEXTILES: two directions

opening reception, Saturday, January 16, 7-9pm
Sara Christensen Blair does crochet, cross-stitch and quilting, but unlike anything you have seen before. She takes these traditional female arts, associated with washcloths and whimsy, and transforms ideas and objects into meditations on the experience of being a woman in the 21st century.

Rachel Starr Suntop, takes traditional felting, associated with warmth and utility, and sculpts landscape memories, emotional touchstones from her travels in Scandinavia.