House Party!

Behind the FAULT

There are hidden treasures in Dean Ebben's show In the House of the Mineral Spirits.
Behind the screen of Fault are cyanotypes, drawings , small rusty objects, lit by the projection on the front.

Dean Ebben Video "Bound" Susan Hensel Gallery

Progress & Thank you! City Pages!

Coco Mault at CityPages wrote about the show as did Jessica Armbruster. We could not be MORE pleased!

The "house " is complete...well, maybe, except for the chimneys. It is the screen for In The House of the Mineral Spirits, Dean's newest, just completed video. The video is stunning!

In the House of the Mineral Spirits

opening Friday, January 14

6-10pm

performance begins 7pm

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.

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

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.

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!

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

Leap of Faith opening

The gallery and Artspace filled with revelers on Friday.

a good time was had by all. See more photos on Facebook and on the website!

Leap of Faith awaits the crowds.

We can hardly wait to meet you tonight! You will see video, paintings, drawings, artists books, photography, mixed media, digital art, tiny art and large art.

The installation at ArtSpace was completed today, with the hanging of Anita White's silk pieces.



The installation is complete at Susan Hensel Gallery, breathlessly awaiting the opening reception.

A wonderful opening was had by all

HOW TO BUILD AN IGLOO, Friday, September 18, had a great party. There are just a few more days to see this wonderful show. It comes down on Saturday, September 26. Hurry to see it!

The igloo melts tomorrow

Andrea Miller came over today and installed the sod for tomorrow's performance. The gallery smells fresh and clean! A couple of people walked in tonight and one said, " No, it can't just be the grass, it smells like perfume, like a wonderful perfume!"


Tomorrow the ice and the coal mantle arrive. Andrea will begin interacting with the materials at 2pm and going how long? The doors will be open until 5 anyways. Read and article about the performance, published today!
An article by Susannah Schoulweiler on MinnPost about How to Build an Igloo

How to Build an Igloo?

Summer is finally here...warm but not too hot...and we are thinking about igloos!Local artist Andrea Miller will be wrestling with coal and ice and sod in my gallery as she wrestles with the issues of global warming and her own carbon footprint. The show starts Saturday, September 5, more or less at 2pm, with a performance by Andrea using these materials. You are invited to observe anytime between 2 and 5 pm. We really do not know how long the performance will take...how long does it take an ice shelf to melt?

After the performance is complete, Andrea will clean up and re-organize the remains into a multimedia installation that will open to the public, with the usual fanfare of good food and drink, on Friday, September 18, 7-9pm.

Installing Pentimento

We started installing Claire's show today. Zach and I worked all day, and I, into the night.The work is beautiful.It is now more or less set up on many pedestals. The labels are ready and most of the lights are set. There are 32 unique works of art to be seen, glimmering in the lights.

THE PENTIMENTO BOOKS & INDETERMINANCY
by Claire Jeanine Satin

Come welcome her to Minneapolis on Friday, July 10, 7pm-9pm.