Lambent Journey Tools| New work| Susan Hensel Projects

2024-12-12T16:25:16-05:00Art, Embroidery Art|

Lambent Journey Tools | New work| Susan Hensel Projects I just finished a new iteration growing out of the Neotectonic series It is always curious to me how things happen to become. As a sculptor, I am materially oriented.  I first think of materials and what each can do.  Can it bend? Can it fold? Can it hold its shape? What happens if  I make it bigger?  what happens if I make it smaller? How about pink? How about another color?  How can I incorporate it, whatever it might be?  Does it need metal? Plumbing parts? And then, only then, do I wonder what it is saying  to me! […]

Titles Are Weird Things | New Work | Susan Hensel Projects

2025-04-14T16:22:10-04:00Articles, Embroidery Art|

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 withholding and it takes help to find the title. That was the case with this piece. I knew that the piece was talking about weather changes, ocean currents, magnetic poles...all kinds of climate change things!  The oceans are key to our survival even as they rise and consume our shorelines and, in concert with rising temperatures, create huge, destructive storms.  My imagery was based on weather maps, navigation maps, longitude lines coming together at the poles, movement that seemed to whirl on the edge of chaos. I started brainstorming: Mapping Currents Heat Maps Mapping Time Change Map None of those were right.  When Sarah came to work, we brainstormed together: Change Sutra Climate Sutra Topographical Sutra We talked about the function of a title in my  abstract art.  I use titles to give clues to my thinking, to open up questions in the viewer so they can ask their [...]

Making a new artwork! | Chromatic Wave 4 | Susan Hensel Projects

2025-04-14T12:05:46-04:00Articles|

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. […]

Can Beauty help us | Perhaps a manifesto | Susan Hensel Projects |

2025-04-14T15:34:19-04:00Articles, News|

Can Beauty help us? Perhaps a manifesto Can Beauty help us? I make art to learn what I am thinking and feeling.  While it is always an internal investigation, I am engaged with the world and culture around me. I am a quiet contemplative, a delayed emotional reactor, a visual glutton.  I think and mediate, I get mad the next day and I just simply have to look…all the time. From this essential disposition and with study and thought I have adopted a theory for my artmaking that I call “radical beauty.” So, here goes!  Starting with a few appropriate quotes. […]

ART is…Episode 1 |a series from Susan Hensel Projects

2025-04-14T15:37:51-04:00Articles, Exhibition|

ART is…Episode 1 ART is…Episode 1. Artists are often asked: “Why is THAT art?” Sometimes the person goes on to say, “Isn’t art supposed to be beautiful? ” or “It doesn’t look like anything!”. We artists are always flabbergasted, challenged, unprepared and at a loss for words when asked these questions. For us “THE ART QUESTION” is sort of a settled question or we would not be spending so much time making it! But we are an inarticulate lot! We fumble around to answer your questions! We take Twists and turns and chase rabbits down rabbit holes! So, I thought I’d spend a few blog posts musing on this topic! Maybe you will find it interesting, enlightening, revealing or hogwash! […]

Why Residencies? | Musings | Susan Hensel Projects

2025-04-14T15:41:51-04:00Articles|

Why Residencies? It’s been a long time since I attended one. They do present certain challenges. Most of my adult life I was either a single parent of a child or a dog, neither of whom could attend residencies with me. Residencies are available all over the world. They range from yurts and tree houses to resort like accommodations. You can find residencies on a working farm. You can find residencies in the mountains of somewhere. They can be as basic as pit toilets and tents and more glamorous than anything you live in. Many, if not most artists, have day jobs that don’t accommodate the need to get away to attend to your “true career.” And then there is the expense! […]

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