Month:

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Panel to Feature McKnight Fellows & National Arts Figures

2022 McKnight Book Artist Fellows will present their work Sunday, May 7 at 11am

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is pleased to present our 2022 McKnight Book Artist Fellows, Corinne Teed and CB Sherlock, in a public panel alongside the visiting arts professionals working with them throughout their fellowship year. Corinne, who is a research-based artist working in printmaking, book arts, time-based media, and social practice, will have a conversation with Kari Conte, a curator and writer focused on global contemporary art who has curated more than 40 exhibitions and regularly contributes to books, exhibition, catalogs, and magazines. CB, who is a letterpress printer, book artist, and paper engineer, will discuss her work with Ruth Rogers, Curator of Special Collections at Wellesley College.

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Exhibition Seeks to Decolonize and Redefine Paper

Works from Indigenous & oral cultures debut in Minneapolis April 14–August 12, 2023

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is pleased to debut Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures this April. Curated by Tia Blassingame and Stephanie Sauer, this free exhibition offers a new definition of paper within a global and decolonial framework. Featuring works by local, national, and international artists, the exhibition explores the vital role substrates play in human communities and how meaning is made from paper and papermaking. The exhibition runs April 14–August 12, 2023.

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Visiting Artists

MCBA offers in-person and virtual workshops in book arts—from letterpress printing to paper marbling and everything in between! Designed for adults looking to spark their creativity and professionals aiming to hone their technique, MCBA’s workshops feature intimate class sizes and hands-on experiences using process-specific equipment, including technology designed and built in the 19th and 20th centuries, and artisan-built equipment made today. Workshops focus on building skills in a specific process, which often leads to a physical takeaway like a bound book, a letterpress printed poster, a screen printed zine, or a sheet of paper made or marbled by hand.

Teaching artists bring a wide range of education and experience along with a mission to inspire connection and creativity. Workshops are designed to balance lecture, demonstration, work time, and group sharing.

Workshops are eligible for credit toward MCBA’s Certificate programs. Enrollees receive a 20% discount on tuition. MCBA members receive a 10% discount on tuition.

Have questions about registration or recording policies? Check out MCBA’s Workshop & Studio Lab Policies and FAQs. If you are a teaching artist, you can propose a workshop here. Add your name to a wait list if a workshop you’d like to take is full. You’ll be contacted if another section of the workshop is scheduled.

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Art Practice Circle: Summer Series

with Laura Brown
Tuesdays: June 6, July 11, August 8; 7–8:30pm CT

Would you like to attend all three Art Practice Circle meetings this summer? Register for them all at once and receive a discount!

Art Practice Circle meets virtually and offers a friendly community space to listen and share about artmaking. The benefits of connecting with fellow makers are multiple: to inspire and encourage one another, to be an audience for one another’s work and creative process, and to move our work forward by talking about it out loud. This monthly gathering will provide time for each person to share about their work—a particular work in progress, an idea that needs exploring, or a struggle with a specific work—as well as a conversation about what inspires us and strategies for tracking progress. Recommended for those who practice some form of book arts (book/paper/print) or related process (such as calligraphy, papercutting, marbling, etc.). Continue reading “Art Practice Circle: Summer Series”

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Art Practice Circle: June

with Laura Brown
Tuesday, June 6; 7–8:30pm CT

Art Practice Circle meets virtually and offers a friendly community space to listen and share about artmaking. The benefits of connecting with fellow makers are multiple: to inspire and encourage one another, to be an audience for one another’s work and creative process, and to move our work forward by talking about it out loud. This gathering will provide time for each person to share about their work—a particular work in progress, an idea that needs exploring, or a struggle with a specific work—as well as a conversation about what inspires us and strategies for tracking progress. Recommended for those who practice some form of book arts (book/paper/print) or related process (such as calligraphy, papercutting, marbling, etc.).
Continue reading “Art Practice Circle: June”

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Box Building: Clamshell Boxes

with Erin Maurelli
Wednesdays: June 7, 14, 21, 28; 7–9pm CT

Clamshell boxes are used to store and protect precious objects—anything from books to a collection of artworks to sheet music. In this virtual workshop, create a small clamshell box to fit a deck of cards. Expand your experience in the basics of box building by developing skills to make hinges and learning about the function of these useful structures. Basic box building experience is required, including experience covering and pasting down boards and checking that boards and compartments are square. Continue reading “Box Building: Clamshell Boxes”

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Digital File Preparation for Letterpress

with Kevin Brown
Tuesdays: June 13, 20, 27; 6–8pm CT

Learn how to achieve optimal results in translating a variety of imagery, from etchings to photographs, into digital files ready to be sent out to be made into photopolymer plates for letterpress. This virtual workshop is a guide to Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) with an emphasis on aspects relevant to letterpress printing, including scanning and converting grayscale images to bitmaps, alternative methods of halftoning such as diffusion dithers, and other tips and tricks. Participants must have a general knowledge of letterpress printing as well as access to Adobe Photoshop (some experience with this software is helpful but not required). Continue reading “Digital File Preparation for Letterpress”

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Cutting Equipment Orientation: June 13

Tuesday, June 13; 6:30-7:30pm CT

If you aren’t already trained to use our cutting equipment, here is your opportunity! Through hands-on training you will learn the capabilities of each piece of MCBA’s bindery cutting equipment, and how to use them correctly and safely. Completion of this training will allow you to rent this equipment and use it independently. This orientation was previously titled Cutting Equipment Training. Studio Labs are not eligible for Certificate credit.

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Drum Leaf Binding

with Karen Hanmer
Wednesday, June 14; 5–8pm CT

Developed by Tim Ely, the drum leaf binding has features in common with multiple preexisting Eastern and Western book structures. This adhesive binding is a perfect structure for printmakers, photographers, or anyone who desires to present visual narratives with no sewing thread to interrupt the flow of imagery. Because a drum leaf book is not laid out in signatures but made of single-sided folios, the complexities of imposition are not encountered when laying out text.

The binding opens flat and can be dressed up or down with a variety of spine treatments, board-covering materials, and edge decoration techniques. It can be constructed quickly, lends itself to edition work, and can be made in a sparsely equipped home studio.

In this virtual workshop, build skills working with common bookbinding tools, materials, techniques, and principles such as grain direction, folding signatures, tidy application of adhesive, and measuring one component of the book to fit another. This fast-paced workshop is appropriate for intermediate binders and beginners who are ready for their next challenge. Continue reading “Drum Leaf Binding”

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Letterpress 4: Editioning

with Bethany Rahn
Thursdays: June 15 & 22; 6–9pm CT

Letterpress 4: Editioning focuses on planning and printing an edition (or a group of identical prints). Printing an edition starts with making design decisions: choosing ink color, paper, edition size, a typeface, etc. Then, artists need to prepare for printing by cutting paper, preparing images, setting and proofing type, etc. This in-person workshop will offer beginning printers strategies for creating an edition, including how to plan a project and how to make an edition of consistent prints. The teaching artist will share an example of an editioned project she created from start to finish. Then, in pairs, plan and print a small book (using an exercise to create content). Procedures for maintaining a community print studio will be reviewed in addition to basic press operation, care, and safety. This workshop is an excellent refresher and opportunity to get reacquainted with MCBA’s presses and print studio. To register for this workshop, participants must have taken Letterpress 1, 2, and 3. Continue reading “Letterpress 4: Editioning”

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Origami Fireworks Modular

with Kathleen Sheridan
Thursday, June 15; 6–9pm CT

In this in-person workshop, learn how to make moveable, paper origami fireworks! Origami modulars are made up of several pieces folded the same way and joined securely together with a few final folds. The fireworks modular is made up of 12–15 pieces of paper, each folded with 10–12 steps. These folded components are then joined and folded to lock together—it’s a full three hours of folding! These mesmerizing modulars can be manipulated endlessly, making them perfect fidget objects that delight the hands and the eyes! Learn how to make this origami modular from start to finish and come away with the knowledge to make more.

This workshop is designed to be beginner-friendly; however, it is helpful if participants come with some origami experience.

Individuals ages 12-17 are welcome to register for this workshop with a parent or caregiver who also registers and participates in the workshop. Continue reading “Origami Fireworks Modular”

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Pre-Xerox Copier Technology + DIY Publishing

with Rich Dana
Saturday–Sunday, June 17 & 18; 10am–4pm CT

Before there was social media, even before photocopied zines, marginalized artists and writers found ways to publish their creations using stencil prints (mimeographs) and dye-transfer prints (hectographs). Developed for copying documents without the use of a printing press, these quick and cheap techniques have been used by outsider artists and poets, political dissidents, and underground publishers since the 1800s. This in-person workshop explores pre-Xerox copier technologies and how contemporary artists and writers can use them to publish small editions of zines, chapbooks, prints, and flyers. Continue reading “Pre-Xerox Copier Technology + DIY Publishing”

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Vietnamese Papermaking

with Veronica Pham
Saturday, June 17; 10am–4pm and Sunday, June 18; 1–4pm CT

Traditional papermaking in Vietnam dates back seventeen centuries; however, colonization, war, and rapid industrialization have rendered this ancient craft nearly extinct. Learn traditional Vietnamese papermaking techniques using the liềm seo (bamboo woven screen) and khung seo (two-part bamboo frame) in this in-person workshop. Various local plants like hemp, invasive bamboo, mulberry, and prairie grass will be used to showcase differences in fiber length and strength in sheet formation. Continue reading “Vietnamese Papermaking”

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Paper Beater Training: June 20

Tuesday, June 20; 6:30-7:30pm CT
Papermaking Experience Required

If you aren’t already trained to use our paper beaters, here is your opportunity! Through hands-on training you will learn the capabilities of each piece of MCBA’s paper beaters, and how to use them correctly and safely. Completion of this training will allow you to rent this equipment and use it independently. Studio Labs are not eligible for Certificate credit.
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