Bioluminescence 9

Description

Bioluminescence 9

Climate change has shaped the conceptual ground of my work for the past five years. Through industrial embroidery and luminous polyester thread, I produce materially precise yet sensuous forms that slow perception and compel sustained attention. Layered thread generates shifting internal color—an optical phenomenon that turns the embroidered surface into an active field of light rather than a static image.

This sustained looking creates a contemplative pause, opening an emotional and ethical space for empathy toward planetary systems and the conditions required for a habitable future.

The Bioluminescence series responds specifically to warming oceans, where newly proliferating microscopic flora displace and reorganize existing ecosystems.

Machine embroidery, recycled polyester felt, trilobal polyester thread, wood armature, painted round reed, waxed nylon “gut”

[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]