We invite you to join us for a public artist panel featuring our two 2020* McKnight Book Artist Fellows, Paula McCartney and Lisa Nebenzahl, in conversation with the visiting arts professionals who worked closely with them throughout their fellowship year, Allie Haeusslein and Susan kae Grant. After brief visual presentations by Paula and Lisa , the discussion will center around how their creative practices have evolved, their artistic trajectory as a whole, and the relationships built between the McKnight Fellows and these professionals from the wider art world. Near the end of the conversation, there will be plenty of time for audience questions. Masks are required for this in-person event.

*This conversation is taking place at a later date than originally scheduled due to concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic.

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PANELISTS

2020 McKnight Book Artist Fellows

Paula McCartney makes artist’s books, photographs, and ceramics that illustrate her collaborations with the natural world and consider ways that light activates both objects and environments. McCartney holds an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and has received grants from the Women’s Studio Workshop, the Aaron Siskind Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her photographs have been exhibited nationally at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  Her books are included in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Museum of Modern Art, Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University, New York Public Library, UCLA Arts Library, and the Getty Research Institute, among many others. She has two published monographs, Bird Watching (2010) and A Field Guide to Snow and Ice (2014).

Lisa Nebenzahl creates work that ponders themes of resilience and fragility, loss and persistence, and the passage of time. She explores these ideas using shadow, light, and abstraction, working with the natural world of plants, water, and sky. Her interest in this imagery affirms the beauty of change and is a reminder of the temporal condition, embracing the interplay of chance and surprise that comes from observing and responding to the natural world. Nebenzahl’s multidisciplinary practice includes sculpture, historical printing processes, and collage/montage. Nebenzahl is a three-time recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant and a recipient of the 2020 McKnight Fellowship for Book Artists. She holds a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Arts Professionals

Allie Haeusslein is the Director of Pier 24 Photography in San Francisco, the largest space dedicated to photography in North America. Her exhibition Looking Forward: Ten Years of Pier 24 Photography will open later this year, as will the publication of the associated exhibition catalogue. She conceived and edited the publication Photographers Looking at Photographs: 75 Pictures from the Pilara Foundation Collection (2019). Her writing has appeared in Aperture, British Journal of Photography, ART21 Magazine, and Foam Magazine, among others.

Susan kae Grant is an inventive and influential artist, educator, and early proponent of book arts. She holds an MFA and BS in photography and book arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her innovative studio practice and distinct personal vision represent one of the medium’s more sustained and recognizable contributions to fabricated photography.

Her work is collected and exhibited in museums, galleries, and private collections. She has lectured, presented workshops, and exhibited her work throughout the United States, Canada, China, Europe, Australia, British Columbia, Africa, Guatemala, and Japan.

Her photographic and book-works are included in the public collections of Eastman Museum; J. Paul Getty Museum; Smithsonian Special Collections; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Victoria and Albert National Art Library.

A selection of books and publications featuring her work include TIME, TIME Lightbox, Diffusion, Adore Noir, Black + White Photography, PhotoVideoEDU, Smithsonian, DMagazine, Texas Monthly, Modern Luxury Dallas, and FotoMAGAZIN.

From 1981–2017 she served as Head of Photography & Book Arts at Texas Woman’s University and was named Cornaro Professor of Art Emerita in 2018. Selected teaching awards include: Cornaro Professor, TWU (2016); Honored Educator Award, the National Society for Photographic Education (2014); Honored Educator Award, SPE South Central Region (2007); Freestyle Crystal Apple Award, SPE National, (2005 & 2003); “The Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award”, Center (2003).

Each spring since 1993, Grant has presented her four-day workshop, The Art of Photographic Bookmaking, at the International Center of Photography (NYC) exclusively to the students in the Creative Practices One-Year Certificate Program.