Minnesota Center for Book Arts Announces Spring 2018 Artists-in-Residence
Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is pleased to announce the next participants in our Artist-in-Residence program: Printmaker and papermaker Megan Burchett and printmaker and fiber artist Maddie Zerkel.
Project summary and artist bios:
Megan Burchett and Maddie Zerkel will collaborate on Air Tight, a monumental sculptural book that incorporates papermaking, printmaking and weaving. This book will be comprised of three-dimensional paper forms and printed, woven, and embedded sheets of handmade paper. The scale of the project will align the piece with sculpture as much as it does with a book —about two by four feet on the ground, and three feet tall. Air Tight references a compressed sample of some kind— a geologic block that’s been unearthed, making visible years of buried history.
Megan Burchett incorporates printmaking, papermaking, bookbinding and textile processes into her practice. Her work examines creative labor and its relationship to danger, survival, and healing. Megan received a BFA in Printmaking from Cornell University in 2008 and MFA in Printmaking & Book Arts from the University of Georgia in 2017. She has worked in several print shops on the east coast including Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Asheville Bookworks, and Supergraphic in Durham, NC.
Maddie Zerkel is an artist from and currently residing in Athens, Georgia. Her work includes printmaking, weaving, and dyeing processes, but she is excited about utilizing and manipulating unconventional materials. She plays with the relationship between common household objects and the body, often examining concepts like dimensionality and functionality. Maddie received her BFA in Fabric Design from the University of Georgia in 2015.
The Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program is designed to support selected artists by providing financial and community resources, space, and equipment to assist in the creation and promotion of their work. Residencies may be from two weeks to three months in duration. Studios and equipment are available to facilitate work in papermaking, printing and bookbinding. Artists-in-Residence also receive a stipend of $2000 to be used at the artist’s discretion for supplies, travel and/or living expenses. Participation in the program is based on the artistic merit of proposed projects as well as the degree to which artists further MCBA's artistic mission: to lead the advancement of the book as an evolving art form.
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 hand bookbinding to experimental artmaking and self-publishing techniques, MCBA supports the limitless creative evolution of book arts through book arts workshops and programming for adults, youth, families, K-12 students and teachers. MCBA is located in the Open Book building in downtown Minneapolis, alongside partner organizations The Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Editions. To learn more, visit www.mnbookarts.org.
