Jerome Fellowship Series X
November 12, 2010 – February 6, 2011
MCBA Star Tribune Foundation Gallery
Since 1985, the Jerome Foundation has helped emerging artists push the boundaries of contemporary book arts by supporting the creation of new book works. Through ten series of book arts fellowships and two series of book arts mentorships (a third series having just been awarded), Minnesota artists of diverse disciplines — including printers, papermakers, binders, painters, sculptors, poets, photographers, essayists and many others — have created projects ranging from exquisitely crafted fine press volumes to documented performances to one-of-a-kind installations that challenge and redefine conventional notions of book form and content.
View a sampling of images from this exhibition. Refresh the page for another sampling, or visit MCBA on Flickr to view the full album.
MCBA is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by the four recipients of the MCBA / Jerome Book Arts Fellowship Series X. The exhibition will be on display November 12, 2010 through February 6, 2011. An opening reception will take place Friday, November 12, 6–9pm, with a brief program and presentations by the artists beginning at 7:30pm. The event is free and open to the public. This exhibition marks the culmination of the fellowship and a year of deep exploration and expansion of book arts practices, with technical guidance from MCBA’s faculty of master artists and generous funding from the Jerome Foundation (St. Paul, Minn.).
The four Fellowship recipient artists include:
Bethany Kalk, artist and educator at Minneapolis College of Art and Design
A careful exploration of nature takes shape in Kalk’s artist’s book. The River from North Mississippi Regional Park is a book of drawings and paintings that create a portrait of a single spot on the river in Minneapolis from winter through fall. Kalk’s chosen area is on the river embankment, across from a small island where herons nest. The artist elaborates: “From here you almost forget you are in the city except one can hear the hum of traffic from I-94, see the blue Camden Bridge that spans the river nearby, and decipher the city in the distance. I drew and painted on site when possible; the winter images are painted from my own photographs. I also filmed the site multiple times during the year.” The culminating artist’s book features an 8-foot by 9-inch painting of the river in a 180-degree view, divided into two 4-foot accordion folds. Additional pages illustrate delicate details: roots, insects, flowers and additional views of the landscape.
Anna King, printmaking artist
Chickens in the City is King’s new artist’s book documenting the lively “chicken folk” and lore that exists in south Minneapolis. It is a compilation of coop designs, poultry breeds, traditions and practices that have been gathered from ten families who raise chickens in the city. With a mission to both document the urban agriculture movement and to create broad awareness of it, Chickens in the City has been created in both a fine-press limited edition and a ‘zine edition for free distribution. King hopes that the stories and ideas disseminated in this book will encourage a diverse audience to explore their local food systems, nutritional choices and possibilities of keeping chickens as a sustainable small-scale alternative to factory farming.
Joanne Price, wood engraver and printmaking artist
Combining old and new technologies through hand-carved wood engravings, metal type and polymer plate letterpress printing, Price’s work explores fantasy and narrative. An interest in fairy tales and folktales led her to select The Palm Tree Story, a traditional Columbian tale, as source material for her artist’s book. “The artist’s book format presents a satisfying process of building layers of meaning and creates a natural niche for my wood engravings,” Price says. Twelve hand-carved wood engravings and several linoleum-cut embellishments were entirely hand-printed and produced in two editions: a hand-bound pamphlet edition, and a deluxe portfolio edition housed in a case.
Cecilia Ramón, artist and educator at University of Minnesota–Duluth
Ramón’s series On a spacious sense of self I / II / III explores the sense of “self” in various spiritual and philosophical contexts from ancient to modern. These explorations take form in three one-of-a-kind sculptural artist’s books in paper, vellum and wood, each interpreting the poem I am not I / Yo no soy Yo by Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jimenez, recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature. Each book consists of ten “pages,” printed in both Spanish and English, which correspond with verses of Jimenez’s poem.
The fellowship recipients were selected in September 2009 by three jurors: Laurel Bradley, director of exhibitions and curator at Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.); Joyce Lyon, associate professor of painting and drawing at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; and Maria Santiago, professor of fine arts and coordinator of printmaking programs at the College of Visual Arts (St. Paul, Minn.).