New opportunities are starting to bear fruit for textile artist Susan Hensel.

Throughout the pandemic, the cultural unrest and economic downturn, it has been hard to believe that the hard work of the studio will be worth the effort. Truthfully I have slogged through the work of finishing things, photographing things,  boxing up things, adding data to my website.  Slogged. However, it has been hard to feel creative or excited in the midst of such huge changes.

But I truly believe that art is more important now than ever. It has the potential to heal, to take people out of their daily troubles, even if only for a moment.  It can be a transcendent experience of peace. So I continued to work and send images out.

Honestly, I had forgotten that I had sent a small check and some images to this new magazine of art THOUGHT ART MAGAZINE.  I was surprised and honored to learn that I was chosen to be the first artist of the month.  The online exhibition continues through July 15.

Thought Art Magazine is devoted to images.  It is the brainchild of artist and curator Ginger Cochran. Ginger serves as gallery director/curator for Armadillo Art Gallery in Denton TX. She has a passion for the emerging artists’ sense of community and strives to create opportunities for all artists to network and build working relationships with other artists, clients, industry leads, and persons of influence for their careers.

About Susan Hensel

Textile artist Susan Hensel also 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. Hensel’s desire to communicate ideas through art continues to be a powerful motivator.

Museums across the nation feature Susan’s artwork. Many of which include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and The Getty Research Institute. There are major holdings at Minnesota Center for Book Arts, University of Washington, Baylor University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Archives pertaining to her artist’s books are available for study at the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle. Additionally, Hensel has multiple grants and residencies.

Hensel’s curatorial work also began in 2000 in East Lansing, Michigan with the Art Apartment and deepened with ownership of the Susan Hensel Gallery. Hensel has also curated over seventy exhibitions of emerging and mid-career artists from all over the United States and Canada.