biography | statement

Dean J. Seal is the co-founder of the Visible Fringe, with Yuri Arajs, and has written extensively on the visual arts for Mpls/St. Paul Magazine, mnartists.org (the Walker Art Center Website) and the Skyway News, where he was Arts Correspondent. He has done extensive work in slide collage for theater performance, in Modern Entertainment, with Mr. Elk and Mr. Seal for an HBO Pilot, and for his solo works, including “Authentic Replica 2.1” and the Fringe show “Unleash the Hounds!” He was previously exhibited in a 55408 show at Intermedia Arts, with a sculpture entitled “The Unexamined Theology.” He has written about spirituality and the arts extensively for the Walker Art Center’s website, mnartists.org.

Mr. Seal is the former Producer of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and founder of the Manna Fest (nee Spiritual Fringe), a festival of performance dealing with spirituality as a source of inspiration. He curates an annual weekend at Patrick’s Cabaret called “Spirit in the House” which deals with the same subject. His performing and playwrighting includes venues like the Jungle Theater, Loring Playhouse, Southern Theater, the Guthrie Theater (benefits), and Westminster Presbyterian Church. He also has spent a year as a hospital chaplain, dealing with clinical issues of spirituality and healing at Abbot Northwestern (Minneapolis) and United Hospitals (St. Paul). He has a Master’s Degree in Theology and the Arts, and is currently an Adjunct Instructor of Religion at Augsburg College.

Dropped On My Head! The True Story of an Industrial Accident was shot live at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater ten years ago when I was Managing Director. It is the show I created to tell how I received a 5% permanent brain injury 14 years ago, and how I recovered from it (mostly). It deals with the anger and rage of helplessness in the face of immutable pain. It also “blesses the shadow” by telling the spiritual gifts that come from the trials of dealing with a painful physical trauma.

I know from my work as a Chaplain and as curator of the Manna Fest that Storytelling is a means of healing. It heals the speaker, and heals the listener. It is the most basic form of art therapy.