Playing With Words
MCBA Main Gallery
On view May 11 – July 28, 2019
Opening reception Saturday, May 11; 12-3pm
Free and open to the public
Minnesota Center for Book Arts presents Playing With Words, an exhibition of broadsides in collaboration with the Loft Literary Center’s first annual Wordplay, a festive celebration of readers, writers and great books.
MCBA has commissioned 14 printers to create an edition of broadsides by playing with the words of a poet selected by the Loft.
A large sheet of paper letterpress printed on one side only, broadsides are a popular and historically important form of street literature, a public work of art designed to be read in public spaces, encouraging a communal reading experience. Plastered onto walls or sold in town squares, broadsides were used to inform the public about current news, publicize protests and events, issue proclamations in the form of ballads, and share poetry with a wide audience.
We are pleased to announce the following poets and printers:
- Jericho Brown (New Orleans, LA) -> Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. (Detroit MI)
- Anders Carlson-Wee (Minneapolis, MN) -> CB Sherlock (Minneapolis, MN)
- Tina Chang (Brooklyn, NY) -> H. R. Buechler (Chicago, IL)
- Franny Choi (Hamtramck, MI) -> Angela Davis Fegan (Chicago, IL)
- Mark Conway (Brainerd, MN) -> Rachel Melis & Scott Murphy (St. Cloud, MN, St. Joseph, MN)
- Ross Gay (Bloomington, IN) -> Kent Aldrich (St. Paul, MN)
- Dobby Gibson (St. Paul, MN) -> Tia Blassingame (Claremont, CA)
- Mary Karr (New York City, NY) -> Amy Leners & Mary Clare Butler, (Chicago, IL)
- Ed Bok Lee (Minneapolis, MN) -> Radha Pandey (Iowa City, IA)
- Gregory Pardlo (Brooklyn, NY) -> Chris Fritton (Buffalo, NY)
- Morgan Parker (Los Angeles, CA) -> Kelly Taylor Mitchell (Snowmass Village, CO)
- Natasha Trethewey (Evanston, IL) -> Austin Nash (Minneapolis, MN)
A full suite of Playing with Words broadsides is available for $870. Please contact us at 612-215-2520 or email us at mcba@mnbookarts.org to purchase.
MCBA held a public reception and free community broadside printing event in collaboration with Minneapolis-based Proof Public on May 11th, 2019 from 12-3 pm in MCBA’s studios. Prints by Proof Public will also be on view in MCBA’s Outlook Gallery on Washington Avenue. On Sunday, May 12, 10-1pm, MCBA’s Studios also featured a showcase of current Artist Co-op members.