Exhibits at Open Book -
in the Literary Commons Gallery, 2nd floor
and
the Galleries at MCBA
Yuka Petz: The Reality You Were Always a Part of Wasn’t the Reality You Knew
The Reality You Were Always a Part of Wasn’t the Reality You Knew explores transitional states and their relationship to failure and potential through the lens of sustained and broken connections to an ancestral homeland. This installation reflects my experience as a first generation Japanese-American seeking family history across the Pacific and confronting the silence of previous generations.
The 2024 MCBA Prize Exhibition
The MCBA Prize honors excellence in new work from across the dynamic spectrum of book art. The international competition will culminate in an exhibition in MCBA’s Main Gallery of 20–30 selected semi-finalists and a live virtual event revealing the winner.
For/Word: MCBA’s Artist Collective Exhibition Reception
Minnesota Center for Book Arts is pleased to present For/Word: New Work by MCBA’s Artist Collective, an exhibition in our Main Gallery featuring work by 20 members of our Artist Collective. Books, paper and prints by the members will be on view from June 14–August 3, 2024. The exhibition will be open to the public during our operating hours (The MCBA gallery is closed on Sundays and Monday). An opening reception will take place on June 14 from 6–8pm.
Intention: Work by Members of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota
More than 35 objects represent the creative efforts of members of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, one of the largest weaving guilds in the country. From samplers to thematic works, explorations in weave structure to the incorporation of wool locks, a sense of fiber play abounds. The show includes utilitarian items like rugs and towels, to explorations in tapestry, puppetry, historic western European techniques, and more.
The Weavers Guild of Minnesota (WGM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the arts of weaving, spinning and dyeing. WGM moved into Open Book in 2023. Learn more and visit their space during guild hours.
"Intention" is on view during Open Book building hours, through August 31.
Gallery in the Literary Commons/Atrium, 2nd floor
{L}inking Letters: Exhibit featuring Hebrew Type
“{L}inking Letters” Exhibition Dates: April 1 – May 24, 2024
Location: Open Book 2nd floor Gallery, 1011 Washington Avenue S, Minneapolis
“(L)inking Letters” offers a window into the history and ongoing practice of Hebrew-character printing and Jewish book art, through a display of materials relating to Hebrew printing alongside the work of over a dozen contemporary artists and printers working with hand-set Hebrew type across the world. Representing a wide range of styles, and showcasing artists at all stages of their careers, this show brings together a fascinating selection of artists’ books, posters, broadsheets, cards, and other works that highlight the vitality of Jewish printing today.
Exhibit: Jody Williams: A Life in Art
Exhibit runs January 26 – March 23, 2024
Open Book Literary Commons (2nd floor)
Jody Williams was a teacher, a mentor, a friend, and an exceptional force in the world of book arts.
Small in scale, her award-winning artist’s books combined poetic writing, distinctive illustration, innovative structures, and a sense of magic and discovery. We invite you to remember—or explore for the first time—her life in art through a retrospective exhibition spanning four decades, courtesy of seven collections.
MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Mentorship Series VIII
MCBA Main Gallery
Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Mentorship Series VIII. With generous funding from the Jerome Foundation, workshops, and critical support from MCBA, the Jerome Mentorship recipients spent one year developing skills in contemporary and traditional book arts techniques. The exhibition features new work by D'Angelo Christian, photographer; Suriya Sam-Khuth, independent curator and lens-based collage artist; and Leah Klister, artist and art educator.
Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, November 10 from 6–8pm!
disrupt! decentralize! distribute!
disrupt! decentralize! distribute! DIY Printing in the Queer Underground evidences the prolific independent print history of the queer and trans community. On view on the 2nd floor of Open Book through December 31st, 2023, this exhibit demonstrates the ways that LGBTQ people have continually put their ideas, art, and writing into print from the 1960s to today. The publishing and distribution of queer and trans journals, magazines, newsletters, zines, and newspapers have been a longstanding form of community building. These publications offer queer and trans people ways to find each other and share their identities across space—-and when we encounter them in the archives—-across time.
Exhibition on view during Open Book building hours (9 am to 9 pm Tues-Fri, 9 am to 6 pm Sat-Mon) on the second floor. Free to visit.
Please join us for the exhibit reception on Wednesday, October 25th from 6:00-8:00 pm.
Presented by the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, part of the University of Minnesota Libraries.
MCBA Exhibition: Craft & Conceptual Art
MCBA Main Gallery on the Main Level of Open Book. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am to 5 pm (until 7 pm on Thursdays).
Free to visit
Reception: Friday, September 22, 6–8pm
Curated by Megan N. Liberty and organized by Center for Book Arts, this exhibition reconnects artists’ books to craft by creating a meaningful link between conceptual art and craft, historically placed at odds.
HUMBLE TREASURES Dish towels from the Weavers Guild of Minnesota
On display in the second-floor atrium at Open Book is a collection of hand towels created by members of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, a non-profit organization dedicated to "preserving and advancing the arts of weaving, spinning and dyeing." Showcasing the talents of thirty-one weavers, more than fifty towels are displayed, arranged by color as if drying on a clothesline. The Weavers Guild moved into the third floor of Open Book in early 2023.
The towels range from beginner projects to those made using advanced techniques. The weavers used a variety of looms, including rigid heddle, multi-shaft floor looms and computer-assisted looms. Most dish towels seen here are made from cotton, with some weavers using cottolin (a blend of cotton and linen), linen or hemp.
Participants include members of the local weaving and spinning community, classroom instructors, and current WGM staff. Nearly all makers live in Minnesota. The weaver's comments evidence the careful planning that went into each project's design and execution. The members are united in their efforts to create something beautiful and useful.
The dish towels honored here include the simple kitchen cloth, future gifts, towels made in the guild's weaving classes, and opportunities for color blending and design exploration. While the end result is a humble dish towel–meant to be used–we hope you find beauty in this everyday object of use.
Free to visit and on view during building hours.
MCBA Gallery Exhibition: Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures
Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures, co-curated by Tia Blassingame and Stephanie Sauer, offers a new definition of paper within a global and decolonial framework. Featuring works by local, national, and international artists, this exhibition explores the vital role substrates play in human communities and how meaning is made from what we might call paper and papermaking.
On view in the main level gallery at Open Book, the gallery is open 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, until 7 pm on Thursdays. Free admission.
Exhibition: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides, artists’ books, and prints
On view in the Open Book atrium on the second floor is Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides, artists’ books, and prints created by a coalition of international artists and writers expressing solidarity with Iraqi booksellers, writers, and readers following the car bomb attack on Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad in 2007, promoting awareness of the power of the written word and arts in support of the free expression of ideas and the preservation of cultural spaces.
On view during Open Book building hours. Free to visit.