ars domestica- COMING SOON

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.

Color of conflict nears...

At the core of COLOR OF CONFLICT, at the heart, at the start:

COLOR OF CONFLICT

a collaboration between Susan Hensel and John Hensel

The subject is war. The object is yarn. The exhibit is photography.

COLOR OF CONFLICT, now on exhibit at Susan Hensel Gallery

reception: DECEMBER 17, 7-10pm.

The Gallery is pregnant?

Things are brewing, even as sabbatical continues. It is an exciting time in the quiet gallery. Nothing is hanging on the wall. Everything is pregnant with potential!

The windows are growing and blooming with the art by Debora Miller. Drive by, especially after dark to see them at their best!

Soon we will have another South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market: October 23.

In December a new show will open...its title is unknown...but it is a collaboration between Susan Hensel and her son John Hensel. John is a fine photographer who is able to take an idea, a glimmer, really, and make it sing. I had a weird idea that involved yarn that told a story. His photography makes that potential story real. Stay tuned for dates! The party will be sometime over the Christmas holidays, since that is when he visits Minneapolis. And then, Dean Ebben's show will open in January. Dean is a local guy who moved on to New York. He comes back every year to see family and to teach at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. On January 14 he will open IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINNERAL SPIRITS at Susan Hensel Gallery with an installation and a performance. Stay tuned!

Like I said, nothing is HERE, right now, but the place is pregnant with the future! How exciting!

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.

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.

installation

The gallery is a quiet studio, talk radio in the background. This Saturday, it will light up with the second South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market. Ideas have been knocking around in my head that involves the little dresses again, but in 3-d with fiber. SO, I today I began.

I like the relationships that are developing among the parts, although it is still too linear, simply curated objects rather than a full 3-d experience. I think the placenta dress needs to hang in space rather like the stuffed dress at the left.But with the wool market arriving in a couple of days, I will leave it as is for now.

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.

Reader's Art 10 the opening

Many thanks to local photographer Michael A.Shapiro for photographing the evening. The 7 pm opening was a crush of people shortly after 6:30 pm.

One of those tiny dots is the curator, Jon Coffelt.Performance artist Julia Babb speaking with Susan. Julia will have a performance at the Pillsbury House on March 31 and April 1. I was a very short person lost in the sea of people. That's me, clutching my camera. I could not get shots much above people's navels! That's Zach gesturing in the gloves. The party closed down after midnight. Stay tuned. On Monday we will have more photos from Zach.Jodi Reeb-Meyers with her miraculous floating book! Steven Berg of Steven Be, a Yarn Garage Workshop.

Reader's Art & Debora Miller

Minneapolis artist Debora Miller is working on a window installation, murmur, for Reader's Art 10. Last night, the windows glowed with the first images. There will be more. Even tonight there are some tree shapes projecting from behind.
Stay tuned for completion...or better yet, drive by.

Black & White and read all over

There will be much to read in Reader's Art10. Today I am showing you some of the black and white pieces. They are so very different from one another but share the same desire to communicate.

Sally Wood Johnson
Jill Slaymaker
Cole Hoyer-Winfield

Books are accumulating

WATER BOOK VENEZIA V, LIBRO D'ACQUA DELLA LAGUNA #2 by Claire Jeanine Satin
Scream at the Librarian by Mark Wagner
I Always Had Wings by Camille Boggs

Opening Boxes

Uncommon Textiles is packed and awaiting the Fed Ex and UPS pick-ups.

Now it is time to unpack and inventory the Reader's Art boxes. I hope to publish a photo from each of the participating artists before the show opens. So, come back here on a daily basis!

The first photo is of She's Fallen Down Dead, by Eileen Arnow Levine. The second is Shadow Presences by Sara Garden Armstrong. the third is Adrift by Robert Leveroos.

Reader's Art10 is coming soon

WOW!

It's been TEN YEARS since this thing began in East Lansing! This year, Jon Coffelt, formerly of AGNES Gallery, has curated the show. He has chosen 51 artists from all over the world to demonstrate the current trends in artists books!

Read an article about the history of Reader's Art Here

Stay tuned! The catalog is in progress and the boxes are arriving.

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.

The opening Shots of Uncommon Textiles

The opening was filled with people who had never been to the gallery before...the fiber people came out. It was kind of a quiet opening, but I think fiber does that to a person. It is soothing. You should come be soothed as well.