In the Press

In the Press

See coverage of MCBA by news organizations both local and national, online and in-print. If you are a reporter interested in writing about MCBA, please contact Executive Director Elysa Voshell at evoshell@mnbookarts.org!


Minneapolis, MN Art Scene: Exploring the Creative Side of the Cities
REDFIN, MARCH 4, 2024.

Whether you’re settling into a new apartment in Minneapolis, MN or renting a house in the city, you’ll quickly find that this city boasts an art scene that’s as diverse as the city itself. For those ready to explore, check out this Redfin article we were featured in highlighting the Minneapolis, MN art scene.

 

Let’s Talk Art
NORTHWEST MINNESOTA ARTS COUNCIL, JANUARY 16, 2024.

Listen to a seven-minute interview with MCBA’s Director of Exhibitions and Artist Programs, Anika Schneider, who provides information about MCBA’s offerings in general and the McKnight Fellowships for Book Artists in particular.

Photo by Seth Dahlseid

Your weekend guide: Arts events in the Twin Cities this weekend
SAHAN JOURNAL, JUNE 29, 2023. BY MYAH GOFF.

Read an overview of Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures and how it’s redefining the concept of handmade paper—by both exploring different cultural traditions and demonstrating how those traditions are being pushed forward by modern artists.

Photo by Seth Dahlseid

What is paper? With ‘Paper Is People,’ Minnesota Center for Book Arts rethinks the white sheet
STAR TRIBUNE, JUNE 19, 2023. BY JENNA ROSS.

Hear from curators Tia Blassingame and Stephanie Sauer on why they started interrogating the definition of paper, and why bark, cloth, and pottery qualify. The show upends expectations while shining a spotlight on traditions that have been systemically erased.

Arts Briefs: Classic musicals, opera and paper
MPR NEWS, JUNE 16, 2023. BY JACOB ALOI, ALEX V. CIPOLLE & MAX SPARBER.

“A handmade sheet of paper the size of a trailer. Rubbery-looking fauna. Intricate basketlike weavings,” lists the article to illustrate the assertion that Paper Is People is rethinking the definition of paper.

Artistic alchemy spins silence and sorrow into strength
DISPATCH, APRIL 26, 2023. BY CHLOE GALLAGHER.
Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures is an Editor Pick alongside Carla Christenson’s solo glass show at Foci. Read about the impact of our limited understanding of paper and how this show broadens that definition by displaying Hawaiian kapa, Mexican acate, Indigenous paper basket-weaving, birch bark biting, and more.

25 Best Team Building Activities in Minneapolis, MN
TEAMBUILDING.COM, MARCH 23, 2023. BY GRACE HE.
MCBA and its bookmaking studio was included on this list of museum tours, art classes, and other excursions, indoor and outdoor, to get teams interacting in fun and interesting ways outside of the workplace in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Opens New Exhibition
MPLS.ST.PAUL MAGAZINE, JULY 14, 2022. BY MEGAN PHILLIPS.
Find out what these paper cast bottles, cans, glasses, and jars represent to artist Sun Young Kang in her new installation, “In Between Presence and Absence: The Illusionary Reality.” The exhibition is on view in the Outlook Gallery until October 2, 2022.

Assistant Professor Corinne Teed named 2022 McKnight Book Artist Fellow
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS, JUNE 20, 2022.
Learn more about Corinne Teed and how they plan to spend their McKnight Fellowship year. Corinne is an Assistant Professor in the Art department at the University of Minnesota.


Announcing the 2022 McKnight Book Artist Fellows
FINE BOOKS MAGAZINE, JUNE 9, 2022.
Get acquainted with CB Sherlock and Corinne Teed, the two fellows selected for the 2022 McKnight  Fellowships in Book Arts, and hear about what artistic avenues they intend to explore during their yearlong fellowship.

Old-fashioned wood type is new again, as Minnesota book center adds Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish letters
STAR TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 29, 2021. BY JENNA ROSS.
Jenna Ross of the Minneapolis Star Tribune draws a beautiful portrait of our new Hebrew, Spanish, and Arabic wood type and what it means to its practitioners. Hear from the people involved in its production and learn about our plans for future projects!

What’s New Downtown with Minnevangelist
MPLS DOWNTOWN, SEPTEMBER 27, 2021. BY MINNEVANGELIST.
Get up to speed on MCBA’s reopening activities with this brief article by a pair of East Coast journalists who started Minnevangelist, a site devoted to spreading the gospel of Minnesota’s greatness after embarking on an exhaustive 16-month, 40-state, 229-city search for a new hometown.

Where Intimacy Meets Tactility: Artists and Publishers on the Nature of the Photobook
LITHUB, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021. BY W. SCOTT OLSEN
MCBA Executive Director Elysa Voshell participates in an online conversation with a number of photographers, publishers and designers about the nature of the photobook. 

Paper to the People: Book Artist Draws on her Neighbors’ Talents in Turning Out Public Art.
THE VILLAGER, JULY 21, 2021. BY ANNE MURPHY.
Mary Hark, maker of fine paper and one of our 2021 McKnight Book Artist Fellows, describes the many artistic projects she’s spearheaded over the years and how her home studio in St. Paul has become a creative hub for neighbors.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts releases new virtual exhibit with plans to re-open in the fall for in-person viewing
THE MINNESOTA DAILY, JULY 12, 2021. BY MEGAN PHILLIPS.
Learn how to view Solastalgia virtually and in person, what it means, and hear the inspiration behind individual artworks in the show—complete with quotes from participating artists, curator Torey Erin and Executive Director Elysa Voshell. 

Artscape: Pulitzers with Minnesota ties; Stone Arch Bridge Festival Returns 
MINNPOST, JUNE 15, 2021. BY PAMELA ESPELAND.
In this roundup of art news, meet Mary Hark and Sonja Peterson, winners of the 2021 McKnight Fellowships for Book Artists, both of whom work with paper. Learn a little history about the McKnight Artist Fellowships program, too.

Hark Wins Major Book Arts Award
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, JUNE 4, 2021. BY SERENA LARKIN.
Mary Hark, one of our 2021 McKnight Book Artist Fellows, is also a professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Learn more about Hark’s career, her creative community, and her foundation in Ghana dedicated to hand papermaking with invasive species.

Two Minnesota Book Artists Win $25,000 Fellowships
FINE BOOKS & COLLECTIONS MAGAZINE, JUNE 4, 2021. 
Read about Mary Hark and Sonja Peterson, winners of the 2021 McKnight Fellowships for Book Artists! Learn which fellowship benefits are in store for the pair this year, and hear jurors explain why they chose these paper artists.

Storytelling Takes Shape
FIBER ART NOW, SPRING/SUMMER 2021. 
MCBA is one of four organizations featured in this article about the flourishing field of book arts. Learn about MCBA’s history and mission, exhibitions, fellowships, and who we serve. Open the PDF by clicking here.

Annual lobbying day for the arts goes online
MN DAILY, JANUARY 28, 2021. BY MEGAN PHILLIPS.
Hear perspectives from the MN arts community, including our very own Elysa Voshell, about the essential nature of arts organizations and the need for state art funding. Long-time MCBA Artist Collective member and teaching artist Regula Russelle also reflects on why she’s grown to enjoy online teaching.

New Minneapolis Window Installation Opens Dialogue About White Supremacy
MINNESOTA MONTHLY, JANUARY 25, 2021. BY LIV MARTIN.
Liv Martin speaks with Evanston, Illinois-based artist Ben Blount about his installation of 148 black-and-white prints at MCBA, each one displaying a different truth about how white supremacy operates in the world. With their straightforward language, these prints are rooted in the tradition of protest movements and printmaking. MCBA’s Director of Exhibitions & Artist Programs, Torey Erin, relays the positive reactions of onlookers.

An eye-opening show at Minnesota Center for Book Arts…
MINNPOST, JANUARY 22, 2021. BY PAMELA ESPELAND.
Coincidentally installed just five days after the white supremacist insurrection at the Capitol, Ben Blount’s print show, Eyes Wide Shut, is timelier than ever. Read about an earlier version of Ben’s exhibition mounted in his current hometown of Evanston, Illinois, and how plans for the current installation in MCBA’s street-facing windows expanded over time. 

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Confronts White Supremacy with Window Art Installation
MPLS.ST.PAUL MAGAZINE, JANUARY 22, 2021. BY JUSTINE JONES.
Artist and letterpress printer Ben Blount describes the brainstorming process and intention behind his powerful print installation, Eyes Wide Shut. Read about why the use of the phrase “white supremacy” has increased in recent years, why Ben prefers its directness to “racism,” and how MCBA wants to increase accountability in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis and the white supremacist mob that attacked the Capitol.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
SHOP.DINE.LIVE., JANUARY 2021. BY LIZ WALKER.
In this feature article beginning on page 18, get a visual introduction to MCBA’s studios, gallery, and Shop space, and learn which disciplines fit under the umbrella term “book arts.” Hear Executive Director Elysa Voshell explain how MCBA defines the book as a “contained narrative,” as well as how book arts are an inclusive art form—particularly for those who may not think of themselves as artists.

Protests Swayed Voters, Either as Inspiration or as Intimidation.
THE NEW YORK TIMES [PRINT ONLY]. NOVEMBER 8, 2020.
With a photograph by Rochester-based photographer Joshua Rashaad McFadden, the New York Times featured our VOTE print installation on Open Book’s front windows in the midst of the 2020 presidential election. Prints are by MCBA Studio Technician Molly Poganski.

The Stunning Book Art of Elysa Voshell: An Interview
ARTPUBLIKA MAGAZINE, AUGUST 14, 2020. BY LIZ PUBLIKA.
Elysa Voshell, Executive Director here at MCBA, is also an outstanding book artist. Read about how she first got involved with book arts and why she finds the art form so compelling, as well as how MCBA makes artmaking accessible to the Twin Cities community and beyond.

Book arts get a boost thanks to a new award
STAR TRIBUNE, JUNE 15, 2020. BY JENNA ROSS.
Jenna Ross sheds light on our inaugural McKnight Fellowships for Book Artists award by speaking with fellowship winners, Paula McCartney and Lisa Nebenzahl. Both artists use photography and paper to examine their worlds and unfold something new.

Virtual Art Tour: Minneapolis – St. Paul
K.CO PRESS. APRIL 14, 2020.
Including MCBA in their list of Art Spaces and Highlights, K.Co (a creative travel guide press) celebrates our space alongside other Twin Cities art galleries, studios, and centers, and encourages virtual travelers to check out our online offerings.

It takes a village
STAR TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 13, 2019. BY LAURIE HERTZEL.
Get an overview of the book project that helped this group of artists, led by Gaylord Schanilec, win the 20202 Minnesota Book Artist award for My Mighty Journey: A Waterfall’s Story, authored by John Coy.

Group of artists wins the 2020 Minnesota Book Artist Award
THE FRIENDS OF THE ST. PAUL PUBLIC LIBRARY. DECEMBER 13, 2019.
A group of 14 artists led by Gaylord Schanilec won the Minnesota Book Artist award for My Mighty Journey: A Waterfall’s Story, a 4.5-foot-wide handmade book that brings the history of St. Anthony Falls to life. Learn how Schanilec used unconventional materials to print illustrations for this poignant narrative authored by John Coy.