Ophelia's Dream

I just got word to day that one of my poems was selected to be read on Northern Community Radio, kaxe.org.  SO PLEASED!  Not only am I "coming clean" about writing poetry, this poem is part of a much larger project I have written about and illustrated in the past.  

The Ophelia Project, an installation and performance I have been working on for several years, is the location for this poem.  There are many other mixed media/drawings,  more poems and other tech media that will be part of the event.  I expect the event to be ready in the fall of 2013.  The picture above is the first to be highlighted in the performance, introducing the character named Ophelia.  This is her poem, "written" perhaps at a later stage in her life.

Listen to Susan Hensel read the poem Ophelia's Dream

Small work on a gallery day

I spent the day showing I'm not me, she's over there, in the gallery today.  A quiet Monday, a mild cold, a few visitors.  Once I had gotten caught up on a few administrative detail, the call to create whispered.  I had wanted to pull out some of the suit scraps  left over from Deconstructing Power and see what happened.

Deconstructing Power #2

Deconstructing Power #1

Deconstruction Power #3

Deconstructing Power #4

Ash Wednesday, and the art will be hung

Good Friday: Descent from the cross

The Lenten series of mixed media pastels is finished. It has expanded and contracted: been drymounted, framed, cut and reassembled, turned into more pieces.  I will hang it in the sanctuary of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church for  the duration of Lent, which begins this week with Ash Wednesday.

Holy Saturday: In the Tomb

The Empty Tomb

I don't actually know if I will hang all of them.  Rumors of the Messiah and The Betrayal are new today.  So new, that I do not know if they will fit visually in the space.  I will take them over Tuesday and see.

Rumors of the Messiah

 The Ash Wednesday service is Wednesday night, 7pm, at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church, 1620 East 46th St, Minneapolis.  This marks the beginning of Lent.

The Betrayal

Easter: He is Risen

Lent approaches

The large Lenten pieces went off to the framer this week to be dry mounted along with other pastels and rolls of unruly paper.  I am anxious to see what they really look like when they are trimmed, squared and mounted flat.

Deconstructing Power on a disjointed day

Today was an odd day.  Beastly cold.  Spent time waiting for the electricians who never came.  Went to the little studio  to work on the Deconstructing Power pieces only to have a poor little dying mouse lurch out of somewhere and discombobulate me.  He was quivering, and panting, having a hard time righting himself.  While I do not want mice to live inside with me, I felt so bad for his misery.  With horror and sadness, I removed him.

   Then I did a little more work on this piece and moved on to the next, only to discover that I had no thread with me and that I need to be able to hang  them on the wall to see what I am doing  and I had no stapler with me.   So I moved on the the shoe pieces.  Last week I finished the assembly of the shoe rubbings.  Today I began composition of the skeletal parts of the wing tip shoes.

Embroidery tests for projects

This piece, of bright white polyester on unbleached muslin is a test for the Ghost dress.

 Odd though it may seem, baby pictures on camouflage fleece is a legitimate test for a future project that deals with the concepts of safety and armor.

Further embroidery lessons

I love lace.  I collect old crocheted lace, most of it stained and damaged from love...the way I like it best...holding close the stories of their making and their use.  the hands of many people handled the delicate fabric.

No way as moving as old lace, it still intrigues me that the embroidery machine can stich lace patterns...some of which can stand alone.  Way too cool.