The interview continued...

Mango Seed Quilt by Carolyn Halliday

When did you become interested in knitting with wire?

Around 1996, when Minneapolis was hosting Convergence for the Hand weaver's Guild of America, I was very involved (as a volunteer) with the art wear show. A woman named Kerry McDermot from Arizona, had 2 machine knit copper garments in the show. Something clicked for me and I thought th

at was the coolest thing ever. I went into our basement in search of wire, found some florist wire, and knit a doll.

Dolls? Where did that lead?

So then I got intrigued with non traditional materials. Because I am frequently outside walking and grew up often in the woods, I started collecting stuff that might be used for knitting (tree roots) or was inspired by stuff to work into knitting (sticks, rocks). The tradition of basket making, and the range of materials being used in that textile medium, has influenced me. I also was intrigued with the challenging of shaping and knitting----for example--hmmm-how would I knit that vase shape; how would a make a knit box, etc. The transparency, shadow play,and rigidity of wire were all exciting explorations for me.

Somewhere in all of this, I moved away from the folk art sensibility into work that was increasingly conceptual. I was always seeking and learning and looking for the melding of textile and craft into the world of fine art---a split that continues to intrigue me.

Opening Soon:

My Father's Religion

June 4- July 12

Opening Reception: June 17, 7-9pm

shown in conjunction with:

A Little Background, Please

Love Song, by Carolyn Halliday

Carolyn Halliday, whose upcoming show My Father's Religion, hangs this week, responded to some questions I emailed her. So, over the next few days, I will share her responses with you.

When did yo learn to knit?

My mom taught me the basics of knitting when I was 8. I don't remember knitting particulars, other than a sweater of sorts for the cat, who preferred not to wear it. As a girl, I was expected to learn the domestic arts, and I did and wanted to learn them all, although I was always pretty imperfect in my skills. In JH home ec, I was told I knit wrong, and relearned knitting. Being left handed, I apparently developed a left handed way to knit (which is now handy to use) but I ripped out the whole sweater that I was working on for the school assignment, so I could re-knit it "correctly".

I remember seeing a spinning wheel at your house. Do you spin?

I saw someone spinning for the first time when I was 17, and I thought it was sheer magic. I was smitten with the idea of making thread from a scrap of fluff. But I didn't see anyone spin again until I learned to spin around 1978, and began using my hand spun for knitting and weaving. (I learned to weave around the same time, in the Portland Parks and Recreation Dept---they offered weaving!) Around 1988, I made a teddy bear of my hand spun for a pregnant friend, and got interested in dimensional knitting. So I started doing other animals, especially fueled by my son, who would tell me, "Now make a cow." I made a few different animals and dolls of hand spun and started to sell them at craft shows, like St Cate's. I should mention that when I moved back to Mpls in December of 1981, I immediately joined the Weaver's Guild of Minnesota, and have been forever grateful for the welcoming community and many classes and opportunities that grounded my early artistic attempts. Through the Weaver's Guild of Minnesota, and then the Textile Center, I learned much about dying, surface design, spinning, felting, paper making.

Opening Soon:

My Father's Religion

June 4- July 12

Opening Reception: June 17, 7-9pm

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

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

South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market Arrives!

South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market

at

Susan Hensel Gallery• 3441 Cedar Ave S • Minneapolis

Demonstrations! Refreshments! Yarn! Fiber! Roving! Batt Your Own Wild Batt!

This new experiment will start Memorial Day Weekend...When you are out shopping yard sales, stop by and shop with us! You will find great values in materials and finished textile products from local artisans.

The tentative line up for May 29 is:

Sue Hensel: batts, roving, yarn, Batt Your Own Wild Batt station and/or spinning demo

Kat Corrigan: Frankensweaters and sewing demo

Pauline Mitchell: weaving, tapestry demo

Stefanie Moss: weavings from handyed yarn

Pam Angier: miscellaneous fiber goodness from the Fiber Studio