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. […]
How Shows Travel or the value of a body of work! How do my shows travel? By UPS!!! Duh! […]
Bending Toward Beauty online solo show While we certainly hope that the pandemic is waning…there are some remaining opportunities that developed during the darkest days: online exhibitions! […]
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 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? 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! […]
Life is always full of Twists and Turns. So is my new artwork. More years ago than I care to count, I lost my husband to a freak accident, leaving me with a two year old. Sad? yes. But there is always learning to be had. The day after his father’s death, I told my son that his Daddy would not be coming home. His 2 year old response,”OK. Let’s play zoo.” So many unforeseen bridges were left to cross ahead, but the imperative, as demonstrated by a two year old, was “going forwardness,” to continue to grow, learn and live. Those imperatives do not disappear.Creativity is our birthright. It has survival value. We need it to grow-up and into our lives, no matter what they may be. […]
FLOW, a new show with Odetta Digital is open today. Works from Susan Hensel Projects are part of it. FLOW, the new artsy show presented by ODETTA Digital is “live on-line.” Four of my Seed Pod series are included. Another one of the Seed Pods is at the “little SCULPTURE show” exhibition and Art Sale at KANEKO (Omaha, NE). That exhibition will be on view October 1st -October 24th, 2021 in conjunction with the 2021 International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to Jun Kaneko and KANEKO Soiree celebration. […]
Where does new work come from? Somewhere between Pebble beaches and Urban Living. read about the development of New Work at Susan Hensel Projects Not too long ago, I got back from vacation on the shores of Lake Superior. To me, it is the greatest of all the Great Lakes. It is cold, deep and wild! Rarely swimmable and always dangerous to inexperienced fishermen and boaters. I go there every year to decompress, hear myself think and “wash off the city.” […]
