NOBLE TRUTHS OPEN STUDIO August 10, 6-8pm 3441 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN Why even do this? Artists do “open studios” for a variety of reasons. Wait! What is an “Open Studio” anyways? Oh! Sorry! An OPEN STUDIO EVENT is basically an opportunity for the public to visit your place of work. […]
Being a public-facing artist? “What on earth does she mean?” People make art for lots of good reasons. For some artmaking is a hobby, fit into their days and weeks for the sheer pleasure of creation. They may sometimes share/give away the artwork to trusted friends and family. They may display the artwork around their homes. For some, making art is a way to understand themselves. It is therapeutic, soothing, a mostly private act like journaling. For some it is a spiritual act, like prayer or meditation. For some of us, making art is or becomes a passion that produces more art than one can display at home or in the homes of friends and families. […]
Titles Are Weird Things New Work Titles are weird things. I make new work all the time. Sometimes I know, right from the beginning, what the title of the work will be. But, more often than not, the finished piece takes time to reveal itself. Sometimes the piece is with holding and it takes help to find the title. That was the case with this piece. […]
Making a new artwork! Chromatic Wave 3 at Susan Hensel Projects There is a lot that goes into making any artwork. I thought I’d take you behind the scenes again. I wanted to see what would happen if I up-sized Chromatic Wave 1, Chromatic Wave 3 was just finished last week. Chromatic Wave 1 is only 24 ” w. Chromatic Wave 3 is 77″ tall! Architectural in scale. The digitizing took an afternoon. The stitching took about two days. The cutting, sewing and ironing took another day. At this scale, movement of the pleats into new forms was limited to the triple curve. […]
What is Art Storage? or What are the next steps on the Triptik? What is Art Storage. In the last blog post I talked about finding my way in this long, circuitous career. At the first of every year I sit down and write some goals for the year. It’s more like a task list in my case. My tasks this year revolve around taking care of the artwork and meeting with my attorney to update the estate plans as necessary. […]
What’s your time frame? Career path musings It is hard sometimes to see the road ahead. Could this be particularly so for artists? Maybe. What’s Your Time Frame? We are dreamers, imaginers. Our families have often labeled us as impractical, as though the drive to make art was a choice! I know that describes me. I did not chose art. Art chose me just as much as my gender expression did. My career path has been long. I’ve exhibited, from the midwest, all over the United States in group and solo shows, in small alternative venues and museums. I even have artwork in public collections, some of them major. […]
Genesis of an Artwork Nothing Wasted at Susan Hensel Projects Artworks come from various sources…including failure! Experimentation and intuition are key-words for Susan Hensel Projects. Genesis of an Artwork. When people visit the studio and see me at work, they are often astounded. They expect that everything I do is strictly mechanical…that I design the artwork in the computer and then let the embroidery machine do its thing…turning out perfect, completed hands-free objects every time. Boy oh boy! That hardly ever, if ever, happens! Let me take you through how Solar Tide came to be. You will be astounded, too. […]
How Shows Travel or the value of a body of work! How do my shows travel? By UPS!!! Duh! […]
COVID-19 And Art, Time-No-Time My friends and I named the epidemic the “TIME-NO-TIME”. But, the interaction of COVID-19 and art, the epidemic cancelled my exhibition schedule in one fell swoop. After 50 years of making and exhibiting artwork at almost all times...the work had nowhere to go. Of course, the first response was panic. In order to assert a little control over the TIME-NO-TIME, I decided to study and learn more about the trends in the global art market. I enrolled in an intensive class on artwork economics with Christie’s Auction House, studying under Dr. Clare McAndrew, a world-renowned analyst of global art business. I had been observing the changes happening re: online sales. All indications were that this segment would grow during the pandemic, reduce somewhat as it died down, but remain at 15-25% of sales going forward. Moving Online: COVID-19 And Art Subsequently, several things intersected. I had hired Faceless Marketing, a full-service marketing agency prior to COVID-19, to re-brand me, polish up my personal website as well as my gallery website, and create a real presence on the internet. I was looking for more ways to exhibit even though galleries and museums were shut down. [...]
On some level, the work of an artist is never done.Or another cliché: Old artists never retire. Completing a Commission The Work of an Artist. Sometime ago I received a commission from an art consultant out of Atlanta who had been trying to find a fit for my work. We had been communicating for several months before something landed. The commission came in, requesting that I make 12 “bookblocks,” all different, but in a muted palette of indigo, beige, misty blue and some black. And could I do it in 3 months? Was that doable? probably not unless I began the testing before the contract was signed and delivered! […]
