MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Mentorship
The MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Mentorship is an artist development program aimed at introducing book arts to early career artists whose primary medium is in another discipline. There are many reasons to explore book arts as a new artistic medium. As a highly malleable and versatile form of expression, book arts extend the possibilities of other art forms. You can create a conceptual space. Experiment with sequence and visual or verbal narrative. Use book art forms to extend, explore, document or reexamine work produced in other artistic disciplines.
Congratulations to the 2024 Jerome Mentorship Recipients, Yasmin Yassin, Gabi Estrada, and Drew Arrieta!
Yasmin Yassin
Yasmin is a visual artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her artistic practice explores sub-cultures and the ways in which communities gather through shared interests to form networks of connection.
With a background in science, Yasmin brings her research experience along with her to build relationships & understand context before creating her art. Her goal is to tell stories as authentically as possible to their essence, with integrity towards those that invite her into their lives — in the tradition of her East African oral-storytelling heritage. Yasmin recreates feelings in her imagery using the dynamic effects of light and color, while considering the lived experiences of those captured in relation to shared spaces and environments.
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Gabi Estrada
Gabi Estrada (they/them) is a Mexican-American printmaker, muralist, and arts educator based in Minneapolis, MN. Gabi’s personal artistic practice is rooted in identity and storytelling, celebrating the memory and honoring the existence of their ancestors and elders. They believe in the power that art has to facilitate healing and community building, which they prioritize in their artistic work and pedagogy. Beyond work, they enjoy cooking food for people they love, biking among the trees, and cuddling their cat, Tajín
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Drew Arrieta
Drew Arrieta is a documentary photographer and visual artist based in Minneapolis, MN, dedicated to telling human and community-centered stories through his work. He regularly contributes to visual storytelling projects at Project Drawdown, a climate solutions non-profit, and Public Functionary, an artist-led exhibition and social space. His work, which often explores themes of resilience and solidarity, has been featured in Vogue, NBC News, and Columbia Journalism Review. A native of New York City, Drew moved to the Twin Cities after beginning his career in political organizing and sustainability work in the music industry. His passion for visual storytelling began during the 2020 Minneapolis uprising when he was loaned a camera, leading him to capture and share voices and experiences of frontline communities.
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JURORS
Amanda Lee is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in printmaking, book arts, and photography. She creates art that investigates the intersection of Indigenous knowledge systems with print media and book art theory. She has presented work internationally in Scotland and Hong Kong and has had several solo exhibitions at SG Gallery in Venice, Italy. Lee was an artist in residence at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and Willapa Bay AIR. She is a former Huntington Library Fellow and is a University of Washington, Whiteley Center Scholar. Lee began an appointment as Assistant Professor of Printmaking and Drawing, Digital Emphasis, at the University of Minnesota in the fall semester of 2023. amandaleeprints.com, @amandaleeprints on Instagram.
Sarah Evenson (they/them/theirs) is a gay & transgender illustrator / zinemaker / animator / print media artist living and working in Minneapolis, MN. Their zines and artist books are held in more than 40 collections worldwide including the libraries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MoMA, and Tate London as well as numerous public and high school libraries across the english-speaking world. Their bright and colorful work centers plays as resistance, celebrates queer jot, and testifies to the strength of the transgender body.
Zach Clark is an Oakland, CA based artist, educator, and publisher. He received his BFA from University of Illinois Chicago, and MFA from University of California Davis. His work is rooted in locational memory and is based in the intersection of printmaking, photography, and publication. He publishes as National Monument Press, a publishing project focused on supporting uniquely American stories through small edition printed matter and curatorial projects, completed largely through collaboration with other artists. He is one half of Chute Studio, an Oakland based Risograph publishing studio. He is a lecturer at California State University East Bay, and has shown, worked, taught, and is in collections across North America, Europe, and Japan.
The MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Mentorship
Since 1985, the Jerome Foundation has helped artists push the boundaries of contemporary book arts by supporting the creation of new work. Book arts projects funded by 16 series of Fellowships (now known as Jerome Residency) and eight prior series of Mentorships range from exquisitely crafted fine press volumes and sculptural books to documented performances and one-of-a-kind installations that “break the bindings” and redefine conventional notions of book form.
Questions?
Please contact Director of Exhibitions and Artist Programs for questions and assistance
Anika Schneider
aschneider@mnbookarts.org
612-215-2528