HERE: An Exhibition of Book Art and Works on Paper by GLBT Minnesota Artists
May 10 – June 29, 2008
Cowles Literary Commons
In conjunction with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Pride celebrations taking place across the nation in June, Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is proud to present HERE, an exhibition of artists’ books and works on paper created by GLBT artists from across Minnesota. Work will be displayed in the lobby of the Open Book building in downtown Minneapolis from May 10 through June 29, 2008. A reception celebrating the exhibition was held June 27, 2008.
The title, HERE, is a play on a traditional chant from GLBT protests of the early 1990s: “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.” The works on display — which range from artists’ books, zines and letterpress-printed broadsides to drawings, paintings and mixed media — remind viewers that even if, perhaps, more people have “gotten used to it,” issues facing the GLBT community in the 1990s still have impact today. Diana Eicher’s letterpress and screenprinted Madonna of the Lesbian Wedding Cake and Holly Magner’s broadside Domestic Partnership is a Colored Drinking Fountain both address domestic partnership and same-sex marriage but in very different ways, the former using only image and the latter using only text. Brian Ness’s zine Kitten Punch (distributed free for the duration of the exhibition) discusses issues of gender expression, as well as discrimination within the GLBT community itself, in a whimsical cartoon format. Other works address universal themes of love and loss.
Artists featured in HERE include:
Abby Mullen
Andy Julo
Brian Ness
Chuck Smith
Diana Eicher
Holly Magner
James Michael Lawrence
Jane Levin with Ronna Hammer
Kim Tetens
L K Hanson
Larry Miller
Lucas Schulze
Rebecca S. Gramdorf
Tiffany Rodgers
This exhibition was presented in partnership with GLBT Pride Twin Cities and the Twin Cities Pridefest, the official GLBT Pride celebration of Minneapolis-St. Paul, which took place Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29 2008, at Loring Park in Minneapolis. For more information, visit www.tcpride.org.