Photo are coming!

(Above: Entrance to Gallery 80808/Vista Studios for Blues Chapel and Last Words. Click on image to enlarge.)

Blues Chapel and Last Words enjoyed a fabulous opening reception complete with Eboniramm's live blues vocals last Friday night. Since my exhibition is partnered with a late night martini/music bar, I'm in the space until midnight Thursday - Saturday.


(Above: Main gallery space....location of Blues Chapel. Click on image to enlarge.)

Even today, Sunday, the show is open from noon until 6 PM.....so my ability to blog is very limited....but the images and video clips are GREAT! This post is just a "teaser" for the coming photos!


(By the way, there have even been a few sales! Many people were teary eyed while reading the free motion epitaphs hanging in the air on chiffon....and walked away clutching literature from the exhibition sponsors!) Everything went PERFECTLY!

Jeffrey Day's blog post on Blues Chapel and Last Words

Jeffrey Day covers Blues Chapel and Last Words on his blog, Carolina Culture!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Don't even think about sleeping this weekend

Thursday, Feb. 4

Exhibitions take you from the church to the graveyard

Susan Lenz began working on her series “Blues Chapel” in 2006 and “Last Words” in 2008. She wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but it turns out they made good neighbors like a church and a graveyard.

“Blues Chapel,” an homage to women in the blues. and “Last Words,” fabric pieces based on gravestone rubbings, open today at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios.

“Blues Chapel” started as a part of a thematic show at the gallery, “The Blues on Lady Street,” to bemoan the never-ending streetscaping in front of the studios. Lenz admitted that she didn’t quite grasp the idea, but she did start learning about the blues, something she didn’t know much about. A strong feminist Lenz made 24 saint-like images of great women in the blues - Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Alberta Hunter and others. Many of these women had hard lives – suffering at the hands of the music industry, men, drugs and alcohol. (She pointed out that she was saying this two days after singer Beyonce won six Grammy Awards.)

These individual portraits grew into something bigger and turned into an installation complete with altar and candles in her tiny studio. Not long after, the Sumter Gallery of Art asked her to show the works in a much bigger space.

“Oh, I’m going to have to build a church,” Lenz said she thought at the time.
So she did adding “stained glass” pieces, a bigger altar, more candles and flowers and two church pews.

The genesis for this work was as random as for “Blues Chapel.” While at a residency in Maine in 2008, she was reading a book about quilting and it suggested using rubbings from graves in quilted fabric.
“I started doing these rubbings, but I thought it the back of my mind, ‘I’ll never use these,’” she said.

She was wrong about that. “Last Words” is made up of 30 grave rubbing quilts, 25 photo transfers with stitching and sheer fabrics embroidered with epitaphs.

Since stopping by those family plots in Maine, Lenz has done rubbings from California to Columbia and many places in between as well as England. The rubbings are from graves dating from 1596 to last year.

“I found one that said ‘Never accurate, but never dull,’” she said. Another for an artist couple (not yet dead) read “Actor to Ashes, Dancer to Dust.”
“You get a wonderful sense of these people,” Lenz said.

The show has a serious side. She wants people to think about how they will be and want to be remembered (not to mentioned disposed of.)
“I hope this opens up a dialogue for that to happen,” she said.

To help with that planning, the “Last Words” has sponsors: Shive Funeral Home and Fletcher Monuments. Both will have literature at the show. (Flipping open a monument book, Lenz was pleasantly surprised that a headstone could be had for $300.)

The artist had some extra work she wasn’t planning. When “Chapel” was shown in Denton, Texas, starting in November, one of the “stained-glass” pieces was sold. She figured the installation would work fine without that one piece. Then two weeks ago a Greenwood bank purchased the other five. (“Blues Chapel” has been shown several places; “Last Words” piece have been in regional, national and international exhibitions.)

“I've been working like crazy trying to create six new pieces,” Lenz said last weekend. “Same size, same ten-blue hours a piece It has been insane.”

(She finished them with a couple of days to spare.)

An opening reception takes place Friday from 6 to 8.

In conjunction with the show and just down the hallway at the Blue Martini singer Eboniramm performs tunes by many of the singers spotlighted in “Blues Chapel” at 7 p.m. The performance is free. For the second one at 9 p.m. admission is $5.

The show remains on display through Feb. 16. Because it is tied in to Blue Martini, the gallery will be open unusual hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday; noon to 6 Sunday.
The gallery, 808 Lady St., can be reached at 252-6134 and the Blue Martini at 256-2442.

The State Newspaper carries an article on Blues Chapel and Last Words!

Life & Style

Sunday, Feb. 07, 2010

Lenz' 'Blues Chapel' calls for reflection

Susan Lenz holds a special admiration for the sacrifices and hardships endured by some of the nation's most celebrated - and not so celebrated - female blues singers.

"They were true to their art. They took their hardships and they made music out of it," Lenz said.

But many died without the fanfare their artistic careers deserved, she said. "Many of these ladies deserve better."

Artist Susan Lenz, poses in front of a wall of small pieces that are part of her Cyber Fiber exhibit at Gallery 808 in Columbia, S.C., Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 (BrettFlashnick.com/Special to The State)

- Brett Flashnick /Brett Flashnick

• 
  

It's with a passion for honoring those lives and encouraging others to reflect on their own that the Columbia fiber artist has opened "Blues Chapel" and "Last Words," at the Gallery 80808/Vista Studios.

The free exhibit, which opened Thursday, runs through Feb. 16.

"Blue Chapel," features 24 images of female blues artists that are positioned throughout a space that depicts a chapel and is filled with the sounds of blues music.

The accompanying "Last Words" is an abstract cemetery, featuring various gravestone rubbings that share the stories of the dead through the words and images carved in their gravestones.

The exhibit combines art quilts, mixed media photos, and fibers.

"Everything here is about creating memories," Lenz said.

Lenz first got the inspiration for "Blues Chapel" in 2005 while viewing an exhibit in the National Women in the Arts Museum in Washington, D.C., where staff members had created a room dedicated to blue singers.

"When I started this, I knew nothing about the blues," she said.

But while viewing the exhibit she was struck by the women's perseverance and their stories.

"Immediately, I got it. I got the sacrifices. I knew what the blues were about," she said. "When I was reading these bios, I could really identify with making art, even if people weren't paying attention."

So she wrote down the names, and has selected 24 of the 25 woman from that same list which includes Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Alberta Hunter.

Renz admits she settled on 24 singers rather than the original 25 because that number provided a better fit for her display. But she hopes viewers will be as moved by the women's stories as many have been by their music.

"Early female blues singers lived in a male-dominated society, in a segregated country and worked in an industry that took advantage of their lack of education and opportunity," Lenz said. "They struggled, made sacrifices, and sang of their woes. They helped change the world for today's young, black, female vocalists."

In the accompanying "Last Words," Lenz combines quilts of grave rubbing, photographic images of angels in mourning and a series of chiffon-stitched epitaphs to create a space about remembering.

She collected many of the stories found in the epitaphs while visiting various cemeteries around the United State and in England.

Her hope is that visitors to the display will reflect on their own lives, and she said what memories each person holds closest is up to them.

"I'm hoping they'll walk away with an ongoing dialogue in their mind about memory and remembrance," she said.

IF YOU GO

Blues Chapel and Last Words

WHERE: Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady St., Columbia.

WHEN: Continues through Feb. 16.

GALLERY HOURS: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

ADMISSION: Free

SPONSORS!

(Above and below: Stained Glass XX. 57" x 18". Framed: 64" x 24". Free motion embroidery and melting on polyester stretch velvets and acrylic felt. Click on images to enlarge.)



(Above and below: Stained Glass XIX. 57" x 18". Framed: 64" x 24". Free motion embroidery and melting on polyester stretch velvets and acrylic felt. Click on images to enlarge.)

Everything is coming together for the exhibition! The final two faux-stained glass fiber pieces are complete (and Steve is installing them into their frames even as I'm typing!) Yet, the best news is that the show now has SPONSORS!

Of course, I'm partnered with the Blue Martini, a late night bar located in the same building as Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. They're catering the reception and hosting Eboniramm, a local blues singer, for the evening. Now, however, I've got real sponsors....important businesses that are directly related to the concept of Last Words....in fact, they are totally important to the overall theme of the dual installations.

This show is about REMEMBRANCE and MEMORY. This will be obvious in the "cemetery" portion/Last Words.....but it is also central to Blues Chapel. Many of the 24 early female blues singers that are part of the focal point died poor, alone, forgotten, and under appreciated. Janice Joplin helped pay for Bessie Smith's gravestone....years later. Ma Rainey's obituary listed her occupation as "housekeeper". Blues Chapel pays tribute....remembers and honors the contributions of these amazing ladies. My sponsors know all about this! They specialize in the ways of remembering those who have gone before us!




Shives Funeral Home was the place I toured last summer. The experience touched me deeply that day but continues to direct many of my ideas. It was influential....and helped me make personal choices too. There advertisement sums up the questions my work suggests.....Do Your Loved Ones Know Your Wishes?

Fletcher Monuments is another local business. Though I had no earlier connection to them, I know of their work. Their brochure, which will be available during the exhibition, features a beautiful, ornately carved Gothic stone....which I've seen every time I visit the local cemetery (which is rather often!)

The Christian Counseling Center is another very important group in our community. Their grief counseling session is the most affordable way to handle the emotional impact that death can bring to those left behind. I know my work depicts the subject...and might possibly remind people of their personal anguish. I'm relieved that I'm able to provide a positive outlet to anyone who might be suffering.


I hope is that those seeing the exhibition, on-line or in person, will be touched by the work. As an installation artist, I try very hard to convey a message....to establish a sort of dialogue with the public....to suggest a concept that is personal....to make people THINK! Hopefully, the work will inspire people to consider the ways in which they want to remember others and the ways in which they want to be remembered in the future. The art is meant to ask questions like, "What words would I like on my grave marker?" and "When was the last time I visited my grandparents' plot?" and "What will I be remembered for? What will mark my life on Earth?"

It is one thing to pose the questions....it is another to provide a way to find an answer! The sponsors are just the key. Their literature will be present. If someone wonders about their future plans, there will be a way to put the plan into action! If someone, reading all my free-motioned epitaphs, decides that their parents' grave needs one.....they will be able to learn how this could be done....hassle free....no obligation....just the subtle possibility to put a thought into action!

Four new Faux-Stained Glass Fiber pieces FINISHED!

(Above: Detail of Stained Glass XV. Click on image to enlarge.)

My sister Sonya told me I needed a "studio assistant" but, in truth, I already have one. My wonderful husband Steve has been assisting the impossible schedule that is allowing me to work over eight hours a day on my faux-stained glass fiber pieces while still managing our "paying jobs...framing". He's driven my commissioned piece to the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville, NC; restocked our antique booth at Terrace Oaks Antique Mall in Charleston, SC; delivered my successfully juried piece in the Florence (South Carolina) regional juried show; bought a bolt of WonderUnder (Bond-a-Web) from Hancock Fabrics; and ironed several 12' black curtain panels for the upcoming exhibition. He cooks and cleans too! If this isn't "studio assistant"....I don't know what one might do!



Thus, I've used my soldering iron on the first four of six faux-stained glass pieces....needed for the upcoming exhibition that opens this Thursday! (The original six were SOLD just two weeks before the show!) Yes, melting acrylic polyester felt and stretch velvets embedded with previously painted WonderUnder does smell....and the air likely isn't very healthy to breathe....so I wear my ventilation mask!


On Saturday morning I photographed the four and started on the final two pieces. Saturday night I mounted them onto their over-sized Edelweiss linen mat boards. Today Steve installed them into their frames....ready to go! Four down....Two to go! (These photos were taken in our back framing room....not my studio where other people/artists would be exposed to the odors!)


(Above: Stained Glass XV. Approximately 57" x 17". Polyester stretch velvets and previously painted WonderUnder and metallic foils on acrylic felt. Free motion embroidery using 100% black cotton thread. Melted. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Stained Glass XV. Below: Detail. Click on images to enlarge.)



(Above: Stained Glass XVII. Below: Detail. Click on images to enlarge.)



(Above: Stained Glass XVIII. Below: Detail. Click on images to enlarge.)

WORKING!

I'm splitting my time between working at Mouse House (my antiquarian and limited framing business with my husband Steve) and my studio....where I'm knee deep in polyester velvet, painted WonderUnder (Bond-a-Web) and enjoying hours of free motion stitching on at least four large faux-stained glass pieces!

My friend Kim Bendillo of Garvin Designs took these photos Monday night. By day Kim plans the interiors of major architecture projects. Next week, however, she is "setting my cemetery". We discussed the upcoming installation while I snipped shapes and ironed them into place.

As of last night, four panels (approximately 58" x 18") were constructed and two are completely stitched with 100% cotton thread awaiting my soldering iron....then melting, mounting, and framing. I'm quite sure four will definitely be done....and, if possible, two more!

Artificial Flowers, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt...and a "Good" Problem to Have!

(Above: Artificial Flowers, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. Crayon on fabric rubbing, heat set; recycled artificial flowers from cemetery dumpsters; vintage linen table runner; recycled fabric and felt batting; beads and beaded trim; hand and machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Artificial Flowers, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. Detail. Click on image to enlarge. Words: On Earth a Bud, In Heaven a Flower.)

This is the last art quilt I planned to finish before my upcoming exhibition. The show is scheduled to be installed on Wednesday and Thursday...February 3rd and 4th. So, I'm ahead of schedule on this score. I'm really excited, especially since Kim Bendillo of Garvin Designs is "setting the cemetery". There will be over 30 Grave Rubbing Art Quilts on display as well as 25 piece in my Angels in Mourning Series....plus the sheer chiffon banners with free-motion embroidered epitaphs hanging under the skylights at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios.


(Above: Detail, Artificial Flowers. Click on image to enlarge.)

All the flowers came from my many dumpster diving trips to local cemeteries. After retrieving the blossoms from the trash, I dissected each one....discarding the plastic and wire....leaving only the fabric. I washed them, lay them flat to dry, and separated the tiniest flowers into separate plastic bags. I knew I wanted to stitch these little flowers on something. I didn't know at the time that I'd create this quilt. In fact, I already have an art quilt with these words on it. It is called On Earth a Bud. Thus, I'm calling this one Artificial Flowers. When I made the earlier piece with this epitaph, I did attach a few small, white blossoms....but I didn't think of really going over the top with them....until more recently! It was lots of fun to stitch and bead. Also, the background is mostly machine stitched. I liked this variation too.


(Above: Twelve Grave Rubbing Art Quilts....as designed and pinned....on the floor....last September. Click on image above.

Last September I designed and pinned twelve Grave Rubbing Art Quilts. These represented more work than I possibly thought I could finish....but I got them done! In fact, the newest pieces in the series, Ready for Burial and Artificial Flowers, weren't even planned at the time. I wouldn't have believed that I could stitch so many so quickly.

It is a good thing I work fast!

(Above: Artificial Flowers, reverse. Click on image to enlarge. Created from a badly stained, plain white old tablecloth and vintage linen calendars. The calendars were from my mother and sister who cleaned out several boxes and a storage unit last spring.)

(Above and further below: My studio as I left it yesterday. Please note Artificial Flowers laying on the floor in the back!)


(Above: The six faux-stained glass fiber pieces created for Blues Chapel last June....now sold!)

I need to work fast....faster than ever before. Last June I created six faux-stained glass fiber pieces. Above is a photo of them...finished, framed, ready for exhibition. They were part of Blues Chapel at the Greater Denton Arts Council's Gough Gallery from November through the first week in January. They were intended to be shown at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios when I stage Blues Chapel again. When one sold, I still had five....until late last week. Countybank in Greenwood, South Carolina just bought the other five. Now....with less than two weeks before the opening and only nine days before installation, I find myself with a "good" problem....working faster than I've ever worked before. The studio is an absolute disaster area. Yards of polyester velvet with WonderUnder (Bond-a-Web) ironed to the back are everywhere. I'm almost out of painted WonderUnder too. These pieces are approximately 58" x 18". After non-stop work this weekend, I've got three ready to stitch....then solder, melt and frame. Gotta run now....no more time to blog!

Commission from Grovewood Galleries

(Above: In Box LX. Commissioned by the Grovewood Gallery for their client. Click on image to enlarge. Approximately 12" x 32"...and will frame up to about 20" x 40". I'm just waiting on the framing selection.)


(Above: Detail of In Box LX with signature box. Click on image to enlarge.)

Although I've been busy getting ready for Blues Chapel and Last Words, my solo exhibition at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios (February 5 - 16), I spent most of the past weekend working on a commission from the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville. The client wanted the piece to be a horizontal and avoid hot pinks and purple and pastels. This is the result.


(Above: Detail of In Box LX with date. Click on image to enlarge.)

Most of my In Box pieces can hang as either a horizontal or a vertical. I've stitched my initials or name and date in the corners in ways that allow for either orientation. Knowing, however, that this would be a horizontal. I signed my name in the lower left box and dated it in the lower right with all the letters lining up to the "bottom".


(Above: Detail of In Box LX. Click on image to enlarge.)

This series was originally inspired by the architecture of Freidensreich Hundretwasser, the Austrian artist who designed fanciful, eco-friendly building with brightly colored mosaics and wall treatments. I'm currently reading a great biography....more inspiration!

Getting ready for the exhibition and NEW WORK!

(Above: Bread of Idleness, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 39 1/2" x 20". Crayon on fabric rubbing, heat set; vintage linens; hand and free motion embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

(Above: Bread of Idleness, reverse. Rusted vintage damask, vintage doilies, and a piece of material from my mother recycled into a rod sleeve. Click on image to reverse...and especially to see the word "BREAD" crocheted in the doily.)

There is excitement in the air at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. The new year started off with Jeff Donovan's mid-career retrospective and this Friday opens the 10th Winter Exhibition of new work by Stephen Chesley, Mike Williams, Edward Wimberly, and David Yaghjian. Jeff, Stephen, and David all have studios at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. All these artists are among my friends. (I consider Stephen Chesley my artistic mentor.) It is exhilarating to be around while artwork is being installed....especially when the next show is Blues Chapel and Last Words!

(Above: Detail of Bread of Idleness. Words: She looked well to the ways of her household and ate not the bread of idleness. This rubbing is from the Warstone Lane cemetery in Birmingham, UK. Almost all the graves are very, very old and there haven't been available plots for years. The language and word choices are very interesting especially during the Victorian era. This is such an epitaph. Click on image to enlarge.)

The energy has fueled my preparations! This week I've finished the "next to the last" grave rubbing art quilt, devised hanging rods for all 30+ art quilts, made identification labels, distributed the exhibition cards to various locations all over town, taken photos and blogged about my partner Blue Martini, and sent more press releases. I also updated the "church bulletin".


(Above: Church Bulletins for Blues Chapel. Click on image to enlarge.)

Every time I've mounted Blues Chapel, I've had a "church bulletin"....complete with readings, hymns, and a homily. Of course this "sermon" in print consists of several pages, a thumbnail of each Blues singer featured along with a brief biography. The last page includes a benediction...well....here's the last page:

Benediction: (Recorded by Nina Simone)

And I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish that I could break
All the chains holding me
I wish I could say
All the things that I’d like to say
Say ‘em loud Say ‘e clear
For the whole world to hear
I wish I could share
All the love that’s in my heart
Remove every doubt
It keeps us apart
And I wish you could know
What it means to be me
Then you’d see and agree...Every many should be free…

Postlude: Yonder Come The Blues by Ma Rainey, 1926
“I worry all day, I worry all night. Every time my man comes home, he wants to fuss and fight. When I pick up the paper to read about the news, just as I’m satisfied, yonder comes the blues…”

AMEN

The flowers were given this month with sincere appreciation, thanks and acknowledgements to Mr. John Whitehead, Columbia Music Festival Association; Deb Dyer and The Staff of the Greater Denton Arts Council; Karen Watson, Sumter Gallery of Art; Jessica Coppin; Gita Larson; Chuck Herin, Pegheds, Inc.; Dorothy Warren, Tourism Coordinator at Region 2 Discovery Center in Edgefield; Allen Coleman, Executive Director at the Pickens County Museum of Art and History; Kim Bendillo, Garvin Designs; Mary Langston; members of Susan’s Artist’s Way group; The Blue Martini; Shannon Purvis; Porter Barron; the cyber community of fiber artists reading http://artbysusanlenz.blogspot.com; Dr. and Mrs. Henry and Linda Lenz; Steve, Mathias, and Alex Dingman; and especially the musical inspiration of these early, female Blues professionals.

I'm excited that Kim Bendillo has agreed to "design" my cemetery. She's very, very talented and a professional interior designer....the kind that earns her living at a full service architecture firm making selections for major building projects like dormitories, churches, office buildings, and the like. Like Steve and me, she's a graduate of The Ohio State University. I know the cemetery is going to be FABULOUS!

Kim is also one of the people who participated in the Artist's Way group I recently facilitated. The group has continued to meet monthly....checking in on one another's artistic adventures. Last time we met was at Kay's house....and it was a blast. Kay is QUITE a cook and a very generous hostess. The group is assisting as volunteers to install Blues Chapel and Last Words. Lucky me....a professional designer and an entire crew of helpers! There is definitely an air of excitement and fun!