Minneapolis-Wide “Book Arts Art Crawl” on July 24

Presented at Minneapolis College of Art and Design:

The Book in Extremis 
in the MCAD Main Gallery
Although the Latin phrase "in extremis" can mean "on the brink of death," this group exhibition is not purporting to summon the book form's demise. Rather, the show is an examination of how the book has been reconstructed "in the extreme." In particular, the show explores where the fine arts, media arts, and design fields have taken the notion of the book. These fields overlap in unusual and exciting ways, but within a given discipline to be "in the extreme" might refer to different things: an adventurous book design, a non-paper means of producing a book, a more traditional codex book with outrageous content or unusual sequencing, or some other iteration of the "not to be believed." Select book-related projects by more than 20 local and national artists and designers reexamine just what constitutes a book and the aesthetic experience of conveying ideas through image and text. On display July 24-September 20. 

Presented at Minnesota Center for Book Arts:

The Contained Narrative: Defining the Contemporary Artist’s Book
in the MCBA Star Tribune Foundation Gallery
At the most fundamental level, a book is a contained narrative. This exhibition brings definition to the artist’s book by focusing on such varied practices as “Bound and Unbound,” “The Virtual Book,” “Book as Environment” and more. On display April 8 - July 26, 2015.

Reader’s Art: Concealed, Confined and Collected
in the Open Book Cowles Literary Commons
Reader’s Art highlights work by emerging book arts students responding to the theme of "containment." Presented in collaboration with the College Book Art Association and Susan Hensel Gallery. On display May 8 - July 26, 2015.

The MCBA Prize 2015 Finalists
in the Open Book Lobby Gallery
The MCBA Prize is the first honor to recognize book art from across the field and around the world. Five finalist works, selected by a jury of leaders in the field, will appear on display at MCBA during Book Art Biennial 2015 (July 23-26, 2015). From these works, the jury will select the winner of the 2015 MCBA Prize.

Presented at Form + Content Gallery:

Common Denominators: An Invitational Exhibition of Five Book Artists 
Common Denominators features the work of of five nationally prominent book artists who consider form and content in equal measure. Honoring traditional book structures as they create, their interplay of form and content informs complex, extensive bodies of work. Inge Bruggeman, Daniel Essig, Karen Kunc, Sara Langworthy and Gaylord Schanilec each display a deep understanding of the structure and form of traditional books, whether creating printed and bound editions, sculptures that include or evoke book forms, or installations that challenge our expectations for the book. The Common Denominators artists delve into history, the natural environment, elemental substances, and books themselves as sources for content, expressed with a range of imagery from abstract to representational, augmented with excerpted texts, their own writing, or no words at all. Curated by Form+Content members Jody Williams and Jim Dryden. On display June 18-July 25.

Form + Content Gallery is located in the Whitney Square Building at 210 North 2nd Street, Suite 104, Minneapolis, MN 55401.

Presented at the Walker Art Center Library:

The Walker Art Center Library invites you to join them for an after hours celebration of book arts. Devoted to providing context for the study of contemporary art through a collection of artist monographs, exhibition catalogues, ephemera files and art journals, the library is also home to over 1,800 artist books.  This collection of artist books is named after Rosemary Furtak, the Walker’s librarian for 29 years, who devotedly built a collection that pushed the boundaries of what book art can be. In this spirit, the collection continues to grow. Highlights from the Rosemary Furtak Collection will be on view including recent acquisitions. To access the library, enter through the Garden Lobby off of Vineland. (Please note: the museum galleries close at 5pm.)

For more information about Book Art Biennial 2015, visit BookArtBiennial.org.

For more information about MCBA’s 30th Anniversary celebration, visit mnbookarts.org.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts at Open Book. 1011 Washington Ave S, First Floor. Minneapolis MN 55415
Phone 612.215.2520. Fax 612.215.2545. mcba@mnbookarts.org

As the largest and most comprehensive center of its kind in the nation, Minnesota Center for Book Arts celebrates the book as a vibrant contemporary art form that takes many shapes. From the traditional crafts of papermaking, letterpress printing and bookbinding to non-traditional artmaking and self-publishing techniques, MCBA supports the limitless creative evolution of book arts. To learn more, visit our website athttp://www.mnbookarts.org.