New Art, New Exhibitions, New Life At Susan Hensel Projects

a meandering post about what’s up now?

The leaves are bright and falling from the trees in brisk, sunny, windy gusts and maybe even slush by the end of the week!

Where on earth did the time go?

New art, new exhibitions, new life at Susan Hensel projects. Well, truth be told, it went to setting up a new home and studio, going to physical therapy, and…yes…RETURNING TO NEAR FULL TIME STUDIO WORK!

Things are pretty settled in this new life now and new art is happening pretty routinely, as are new exhibitions. Above you can see the newest, as in new from the ground up, work: Flora.

Flora is the first newly digitized design in the studio. I was inspired by the rust colored felt and the shape of a bow that was my son’s when he was in middle school. We had traveled to New Mexico over spring break, visiting galleries ( I had a show in one), pueblos and historical sites. He picked up a tourist bow and arrow in Taos. I had forgotten all about it. Unopened for 20 years, its box had moved to the new studio. Eventually I opened it, expecting to see framed art and found the most lovely shape.

I was not trying to make an imitational indigenous piece. I just liked the shape. an elegant arc. I was also interested in developing more ragged, eccentric edges. I tried many things.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/U–9p2SddEY” title=”FLORA and the BIG MACHINE!”]

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Eventually, I built an armature and wet formed red leather around it. Cut and glued 2 pieces of walnut together and fixed it to the armature.

FLORA WAS BORN!

Other artworks, developed from old unfinished works or re-processed work quickly followed. There were things on the work table when I injured myself. Things fell out of the flat files during the move that asked to be reworked and expanded upon.

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NEW EXHIBITIONS ON THE HORIZON

[su_box title=”Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art” box_color=”#2a6bb0″]7th ANJE, November 4 – December 30, 2023 Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, 309 McClellan St, Wausau, WI[/su_box][su_box title=”Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries” box_color=”#2a6bb0″]Drawing from Perception, Invention, and Memory, January 16 – March 8, 2024 Wright State University, Dayton, OH[/su_box]

New Exhibition in Susan Hensel Gallery on Artsy.net

[su_box title=”Susan Hensel Gallery” box_color=”#2a6bb0″]While Susan Hensel Gallery no longer resides in Minneapolis, it still lives online. Our current exhibition is In Sight; Sight in by Martha Bird [/su_box]