Ophelia ... Time lapse video by Heather Bauer

This time lapse video was taken by the talented photographer Heather Bauer between 7:30 - 8:15 on June 2, 2011 during "First Thursday on Main Street" in Columbia, South Carolina. It documents the performance art piece OPHELIA. This collaborative project was the vision of Susan Lenz who also modeled for the work. The graffitti-inspired "suicide note" on the back wall was created by Michael Krajewski. After the one-evening only "performance art", a large, framed photo was suspended above the bathtub ... replacing the mirror. This suspended photo was taken by Heather Bauer and Eric Parton during "dress rehearsal" on May 31th. It pictured Susan Lenz as Ophelia, the tragic Shakespearean character from Hamlet that was a popular subject for many Pre-Raphelite and Arts & Crafts painters.

To read more about Ophelia ... with additional "still" photos, please click HERE!

I Do / I Don't, Before the Installation

This video was taken on St. Patrick's Day 2011. It shows an opulent room in the old Mais Oui building, 927-929 Gervais Street which will be the site of Susan Lenz's installation "I Do / I Don't". The site specific work will focus on marital relationships and include a grouping of vintage and new wedding veils on which the artist has free motion machine embroidered collected statements. These veils and also stitched ribbons will be suspended from the ceiling. The public will have an opportunity to share there impressions and reflections on both marriage and divorce.

Parking Lot

Some people have been more than a little offended by my Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. They're aghast that I apply fabric over a tombstone and make a crayon rubbing because this action requires me to TOUCH the marker.

Well....my husband LOVES this art series. He loves the fact that we can travel just about anywhere in the world and make it a partial, legal tax deduction. He loves cemeteries too....the peacefulness, the beautiful landscaping, the sculptural angels, the touching words that speak from the distant past, the thought provoking personal truths that epitaphs provide, the lingering realities of a limited life span.....and he LOVES scouting out new locations for rubbings.

On a recent trip to watch our elder son, Mathias Lenz Dingman, dance with Birmingham Royal Ballet....he found this location outside Manchester....with the church parking lot that is simultaneously part of a century old cemetery. Well....I might TOUCH the graves....but I've never PARKED ON THEM! I can't wait to visit here too. I'm sure there won't be any outraged people if I'm caught in the act of making a simple grave rubbing on fabric!

The Last Bouquet, Window Installation

The Last Bouquet is a window installation at the Tapp's building in Columbia. Located at the corner of Main Street and Blanding Street, the old department store will hopefully become a permanent arts building. In the meantime, Brenda Schwarz Miller (who took most of the moving images for this video) is spear-heading monthly art openings and coordinating the window installations. Her daughter Syna graciously helped with the artificial flowers.

The artwork includes a piece from my "Angels in Mourning" series called "A Bud on Earth", two large curtain panels covered in crayon grave rubbings, chiffon banners with free motion machine embroidered epitaphs, and eight garbage bags of artificial flowers collected from cemetery dumpsters. The window is on display 24/7 from January 1 - February 28, 2011!

Seattle's International Fountain

Bald is Beautiful

Napa Wine Train

We thought it might be a "tacky"....but we wanted to do it anyway. IT WAS GREAT!
Here's the website!

Blues Chapel at the Greater Denton Arts Center in Texas, Part One

Blues Chapel was at the Greater Denton Arts Council's Gough Gallery from November 22, 1009 until January 6, 2010. This video and the one posted directly beneath it were taken right before we packaged everything up to return to Columbia. These two videos aren't anything "special"... just two video clip straight out of the camera. Yet, the memory is special. The show was GREAT! Blues Chapel will next be seen at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street in downtown Columbia, SC from February 4 - 16, 2010!

Blues Chapel at the Greater Denton Arts Center in Texas

Crater Lake

On November 1st Steve and I drove up to Crater Lake. It was amazing. There was already snow on the ground but the day was beyond beautiful....blue skies, azure waters, crystal clear views to the entire rim!

Susan on a rope swing

This video was shot at the Out 'n' About Treesort outside Cave Junction, Oregon. It was FUN!

Rope Bridge at the Tree House Resort

Steve and I stayed Halloween night at the Out 'n' About Treesort outside Cave Junction, Oregon. Here's a video of Steve crossing one of the rope bridges.

Oregon Sand Dunes

The Oregon Sand dunes were more amazing than we could have imagined. The day was perfect and we went to several different locations to enjoy the mountains of sand. This video was shot at the John Dellenback Dunes Trail....two miles from the ocean....in the middle of what looked like an Ansel Adams' photo.

Workshop with Sara Lechner

This is a video of Sara Lechner's studio and work. The images were taken while attending a workshop during September 2009. Sara's blog is HERE!

Epitaph Installation in Progress

Linda's 70th Birthday Present

Our London Suite

Trees....Poem by Joyce Kilmer....Artist Book by Susan Lenz

I fell madly in love with acorn caps while at the MacNamara Foundation last autumn. Acorn caps were immediately incorporated into my "In Box" series and sewn with beads onto fiber vessels. Basically, I went "nuts" for acorn cups! My mother wanted "something" with acorn cups too. Yet, she already owns a vessel and doesn't really need another framed piece for her walls. She commissioned me to "make something special".

I thought and thought. For several weeks I had no ideas at all. Then, all of the sudden, it hit me! Acorns are part of trees. Trees are special.....really, really special; and they are part of a special memory about my mother.

******
I attended second grade at an elementary school in Columbus, Ohio. There were two rooms of seven-year-old kids, and we were all to be cast in a production of The Wizard of Oz. The other classroom would provide "Dorothy" and several other characters. My classroom would provide "The Good Witch of the North" the rest of the cast. For each role, two students were selected by the teacher to be sequestered in the cloakroom while the remaining students voted between them.

I couldn't believe my name had been called for "The Good Witch of the North". The other girl, also named Susan, was as thrilled as me. We giggled together, and she said, "Oh, I hope I get picked; my mother has already made the costume". A few moments later, the teacher revealed that she's won the "popular" vote. It seemed odd and confusing. All I really knew was, I lost.

That afternoon, I walked home with my two friends, Jeffrey and Kelly. Kelly was mad at Jeffrey. Although all the students were suppose to have hidden their heads between folded arms on the desk while voting, Kelly peeked....and she was the only person in the room to vote for me. Even Jeffrey hadn't voted for me.

I didn't know what to think, how to feel, or what to say. It took several years for me to develop a vocabulary to express "popularity" and to wonder aloud why I didn't possess this quality. Being popular wasn't a concept I understood....but obviously the teacher did. She knew which girl was the least likely to challenge the daughter of a seamstress making the exotic, fairy-like costume. I was cast as a TREE....not even one of the trees that threw apples at Dorothy....a tree wearing crepe paper that bled excess green dye on my arms....a tree in the background doing nothing at all. Though I didn't understand the notions of popularity, I KNEW I HATED BEING A TREE.

The production, of course, was going to be dreadful. My mother, of course, was coming to see me as an ugly, tree. She wanted to take a photo! How humiliating! Naturally, she noticed how upset I was. I told her I didn't want to be a tree. I hated it. I hated everything about it....

....until she recited a poem....right there on the spot...to me, a tree. It was the most beautiful poem in the world, and she made it sound like being a tree was better than any other role, even Dorothy and the Good Witch. I daydreamed my time on stage away thinking about robins nesting in my hair. From that moment on, I loved trees....the way I love acorn caps.

YLI....braiding machine video

TAST: Emmy Schoonbeek