Art Collaboration with Susan Hensel

in a Global Context

Ensemble Ouvert…Excuse me?

The art world is global.  How’s that for a statement? And it involves Collaboration. And it is all in context.

Living and working in the midwest, it is easy to lose sight of that.  Even though this may be obvious when you think about it, what I do, what all artists do,  is part of a very large, loosely organized global market of culture producers! No matter what, we all collaborate in a global context these days.

But then the question is How do I connect with the larger world of art?  It’s pretty much impossible for Americans to travel right now to most countries of the world due to the pandemic.   Even if we were brave enough to get on airplanes to fly all over the world, many borders are closed to us right now.

About Art Collaboration with Susan Hensel

So what is an accomplished artist supposed to do?  I have been searching for global, online and collaborative opportunities in Europe and the Far East.  Here is my first successful foray into the larger world!

Ensemble Ouvert

Art Collaboration in a Global Context

Ensemble Ouvert is a cross continental collaborative venture that has been in operation, in various forms, since 2010-11.  Three artists are anonymously invited to respond to a received artwork.  In my case, I received 2 clips of music.  Once the response is completed, it is sent back to Ensemble Ouvert where is is entered into “the stream.”  Participants are identified only after the responses are compiled and published.

Symphony

I designed an embroidery, titled Symphony,  in response to 2 audio clips.  One audio clip was syth-jazz with a swoosh of sparkly chimes.  The other clip was a dark rap song.

You can see my stream here:https://www.ensembleouvert.com/2018-20-courant-30.html

This was a lot of fun to do.  It reminded me how strongly I respond to music.  I plan to imagine more work in response to jazz in the future.

Symphony is available in my shop.  It is unframed and very reasonably priced.  The photo almost does it justice.  It is very pretty and the little “stars” are metallic silver thread, which no camera can capture.  Go there to see more details.

[su_box title=”Susan Hensel” box_color=”#2a6bb0″] Susan Hensel is a multidisciplinary artist, with a 50+ year career, who combines a mixed media practice with embroidery across digital and manual platforms. Susan received her BFA from the University of Michigan in 1972 with a double major in painting and sculpture and a concentration in ceramics. With a history, to date, of over 200 exhibitions, more than 30 of them solo, twenty garnering awards. Above all, Hensel’s desire to communicate stories through art continues to be a powerful motivator. Hensel’s artwork is known and collected nationwide, represented in collecting libraries and museums. [/su_box]