News - Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Exhibitions for the Semiquincentennial

Charliey Libra — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:42:15 +0000

MCBA’s current exhibition, Who is America at 250?, was featured in Brooklyn Rail’s July article “Exhibitions for the Semiquincentennial.” The list includes museums from across the country, and MCBA is excited to be featured alongside our friends at the Textile Center. Read the full article here.

Pioneer Press: Things to Do Calendar

Charliey Libra — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:52:02 +0000

Pioneer Press featured article of theThings To Do: Literary calendar for week of June 7 with an extra special shout-out for upcoming McKnight Book Artist Fellows, Christopher Selleck and Brooks Turner.

McKnight Fellowships for Book Artists 2026 Awarded to Christopher Selleck and Brooks Turner

Carmel Dor — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:58:21 +0000

The 2026 McKnight Book Artist Fellows are artist, photographer, and book artist Christopher Selleck and artist, writer, and educator Brooks Turner. Christopher's interdisciplinary practice explores masculinity, identity, and vulnerability through photographs, sculpture, and intimate book-based forms, while Brooks focuses on histories of labor, fascism, and resistance in Minnesota through archival research, collage, drawing, and installation.

Announcing Our 2026 McKnight Artist Fellows

Guest User — Wed, 27 May 2026 22:37:18 +0000

Congratulations to the 2026 McKnight Book Artist Fellows, Christopher Selleck and Brooks Turner! Christopher is an artist, photographer, and book artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores masculinity, identity, and vulnerability through photographs, sculpture, and intimate book-based forms. Brooks is an artist, writer, educator, and parent. Through methodologies that include archival research, collage, drawing, and installation, Brooks engages histories of labor, fascism, and resistance in Minnesota.

Christopher and Brooks will both be awarded $25,000 in unrestricted funds to explore and deepen their art practice thanks to our partnership with the McKnight Foundation, which supports two Minnesotans who demonstrate sustained practices within the book arts annually. The pair will also receive a range of professional benefits through MCBA, including studio visits from a national arts professional; stipends for travel, residencies, and educational support; the opportunity to participate in an artist panel at Open Book; 24/7 studio access for two years; and a group exhibition in MCBA’s Main Gallery.

Esteemed jurors Anthea Black, Imin Yeh, and Benjamin Rinehartshared their positive impressions of the two artists' portfolios following virtual studio visits with five finalists in early May.

“This award is really the gift of time and freedom—which is so rare and deeply meaningful in our era of accelerating labor exploitation. Personally this means time to complete ongoing projects, time to make new experiments, but also time away from labor and time to be with my family.” -Brooks Turner

Imin Yeh reflected, “I was drawn to Brooks' lifelong research, passion, advocacy, and teaching in anti-fascist histories. The work exploits a large range of the history of print and paper and their relationship to stories, news, propaganda”.

“During the fellowship, I plan to develop artists’ books and sculptural container forms that integrate archival research, ephemera, and tactile structures, while continuing to experiment with systems that support both small editions and unique artists’ books. Through this work—alongside travel, collaboration, and dialogue with peers—I aim to further investigate queer histories and personal narratives, creating intimate works that foster reflection, discovery, and sustained engagement.” -Christopher Selleck

Anthea Black felt that, “Christopher's sense of craft, objecthood, and representation of queer masculinity in the artist's book form [was] meticulously considered” and that, “this McKnight award is both a recognition of his work, and my expression of excitement for what's coming next in his practice”.

Explore the work by the 2026 McKnight Book Artist Fellows below by viewing their winning portfolios and full artist statements. Beneath that, you can also find biographical information about our jurors.

Congratulations to our 2026 fellows!

Christopher Selleck

Christopher Selleck is an artist, photographer, and book artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores masculinity, identity, and vulnerability through photographs, sculpture, and intimate book-based forms.

Drawing on the visual language of early 20th-century physique photography, his work reinterprets the idealized male body by presenting diverse, male-presenting weightlifters as complex individuals marked by idiosyncrasy, openness, and humanity. Informed by his experience growing up closeted in the post-AIDS, pre-internet 1990s, Selleck engages questions of queer identity, body image, and the internalized pressures of normative masculinity, often incorporating self-portraiture to examine his own evolving sense of self. His tactile artist books and sculptural objects—such as reimagined weightlifting forms in ceramic and plaster—serve as metaphors for strength, vulnerability, and emotional weight, while their layered, compartmentalized structures reflect the constraints and negotiations of gendered experience. Functioning as both personal inquiry and cultural archive, Selleck’s work preserves and honors queer histories and lived experiences that persist alongside and challenge dominant narratives of masculinity. He recently presented a solo exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and is a recipient of the MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Residency.

Work

Artist Statement

Photographs, sculptures and book arts that feature male presenting weightlifters comprise my current work. These nod towards the tropes of physique photography, a genre depicting semi-nude, muscular men, popular in 1900-1960s as postcards or magazines. While physique photography presented models as idealized types, I echo these idealized bodies but present them as people complete with idiosyncrasies. I don’t filter according to age, race, or sexuality, rather reflecting how individuals choose to present themselves to me in the studio environment. Rather than a meditation on ‘toxic masculinity,’ these subjects project their gendered identity with a degree of vulnerability and openness. Including a self-portrait, I interpolate myself in this project working through my own issues, attempting to make myself more vulnerable and open to changing my own views.

Growing up closeted in the Post-AIDS epidemic and Pre-Internet 1990’s, I often felt powerless and restrained by my internalization of the constraints enforced by normative masculinity. Within gay culture, the proffered idealized body invited body dysmorphia. While printed materials disseminated alternative queer ideology and desire, these conveyed only idealized body images. Understanding what it means to be man, and a gay man inside of that space, has been crucial to my work. Identity formation drives my artistic explorations. Examining my self-imposed internal restraints and formative social external constraints informs my own self-understanding and becoming.

Brooks Turner

Brooks Turner is an artist, writer, educator, and parent. Through methodologies that include archival research, collage, drawing, and installation, Turner engages histories of labor, fascism, and resistance in Minnesota, with a focus on the 1934 Truck Drivers Strike.

A member of the Remember 1934 Collective, he helps organize support for contemporary labor struggles through commemorating this history. Turner’s solo exhibitions include Voters in Revolt at Hair+Nails, Pedagogy and Propaganda at the Perlman Teaching Museum, and Legends and Myths of Ancient Minnesota at the Weisman Art Museum. He is a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, and his work is held in the collections of the Walker Art Center, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. His essays have appeared in Labor Art Review, Art Papers, MnArtists, and TEMP.

Work

Artist Statement

History is shaped through storytelling. The fragments of the past are pieced together by individuals, institutions, and public interests, the gaps filled by prevailing ideologies. Just as art synthesizes a complex relationship between truth, reality, feeling, and fabrication, so too does History. This aesthetic dimension of History is not fixed in the past but continuously formed through reaffirmation in the present. Through this lens, I see art as a tool for engaging the structure of History, exposing and deconstructing the ideologies enshrined by textbooks, libraries, archives, and museums.

Since 2018, I have pored over thousands of documents in archives, seeking out stories of fascism and anti-fascist resistance. More than any other political ideology, fascism relies on the aestheticization of History, transforming fragments of the past into foundational myths rooted in white supremacy. American fascism is a dire threat to democracy in the present; my turn toward its past is an attempt to better understand the forces shaping our moment. Within these histories I am equally drawn to the ways people banded together to reject hate, offering glimpses of alternative futures that once seemed possible—and may yet be again.

The book—present in the materiality of history, in the collage of current events circulating on newsprint, and in the narrative forms through which societies imagine their futures—serves as a conceptual framework for my practice. My research filters through these aesthetic cues, materializing as artist books, drawings on handmade paper, tapestries woven by machine from digital collages, and experimental essays. By working with forms that record and narrate the past, I seek to transform exhibitions into pedagogical environments that invite viewers to reconsider American history and imagine new possibilities for an antifascist future.

Jurors

Helen Hiebert is a Canadian artist, art publisher, and curator based in San Francisco and Toronto. Her studio work takes the form of artist’s books, limited edition publications, drawing, and textiles, to address feminist and queer histories, materiality, and archives. Black has exhibited in Canada, the US, Korea, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Norway, and her artist publishing work is represented in over 60 libraries and galleries.

Black’s curatorial projects include The Embodied Press: Queer Abstraction and the Artist’s Book, No Place: Queer Geographies on Screen, PLEASURE CRAFT, and SUPER STRING and she has held roles at Stride Gallery, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, and Art Gallery of Alberta. She is the San Francisco region curator for the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution exhibition, and will open an exhibition focusing on the legacy of Bay Area artist Betsy Davids titled The Joyful Body of the Word: Betsy Davids and the Book at San Francisco Center for the Book in October 2026.

Black's writing on contemporary art, craft, and performance appears in numerous publications, and she is co-editor of two books, The New Politics of the Handmade: Craft, Art and Design and HANDBOOK: Supporting Queer and Trans Students in Art and Design Education. Recent essays include “In the making: Queer Publishing and Transpedagogies,” for the Art Journal special issue on Trans Visual Culture, and “Women in Print: feminism’s collective artist’s book spaces,” in Art and Feminisms: Histories, Methods, and Legacies, from Routledge. Black’s third book, The Embodied Press: queer liberation and the artist’s book focuses on artist’s books by queer and transgender artists from the 1950s to today.

Black has been awarded research and creation grants from Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Centre for Craft, and residencies from Banff Centre, Canada; Small Projects, Norway; Anima Casa, Mexico; Van Abbe Museum, Netherlands; and In Cahoots, California.

Black is an Associate Professor of Printmedia, Artists Books, and Graduate Fine Arts at California College of the Arts, where she is also the Yozo Hamaguchi endowed Curator of Printmedia Awards and Programs.

Imin Yeh is a project-based artist working with sculpture, installation, artist publication and multiples, and participatory projects. Her diverse practice is unified by both the social history and the materiality of paper and print.

She has received support from the Heinz Foundation, Women Studio Workshop, and the Fleishhacker Foundation. She is the 2026 Contemporary Art Fellow at the University of Alabama. Recent Exhibitions include, a solo exhibition at the University of Alabama, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, and Grizzly Grizzly (PA), and group exhibitions at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (DC), MOCA Jacksonville (FL) and Chautauqua Institute (NY). Imin’s work is collected at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Bainbridge Museum of Art, and San Jose Museum of Art. Her artist publications are collected in dozens of academic and institutional libraries, including Stanford Library, Harvard Library, Rochester Institute of Technology and VCU Library.

She holds a BA- Art History and BS Art from the University of Wisconsin Madison, a MFA from California College of the Arts. She is an Associate Professor and Director of Foundational Studies at Carnegie Mellon University.

Benjamin Rinehart is an artist and educator that specializes in multimedia images with a dedicated focus in printmaking, book arts, pop-ups, and movables. He is intrigued how pop-ups and movables keep the viewer physically engaged by providing a tactile and psychological experience when interacting with the various elements. His socially charged work is currently a part of over 83 public collections and has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, IN and a Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. Ben is currently a Professor of Printmaking and Artist Books at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

About the McKnight Artist & Culture Bearers Fellowship Program

Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s arts program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1982. The McKnight Artist & Culture Bearers Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists and culture bearers in 15 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently the foundation contributes about $2.8 million per year to its statewide fellowships. For more information, visit mcknight.org/artistfellowships.

Learn more

About the McKnight Foundation

The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in the Midwest; building an equitable and inclusive Minnesota; and supporting the arts in Minnesota, neuroscience, and international crop research.

Related News

Minnesota Art Spaces to Close in Solidarity With Anti-ICE Strike

Guest User — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 22:19:26 +0000

Hyperallergic’s article highlights MCBA and the many art organizations participating in the ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom on January 23, 2026.

Announcing Our 2026 CBAA/ MCBA Collective Scholarship Recipient

Guest User — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 19:21:20 +0000

MCBA is pleased to announce that Emery McElin is our first CBAA/MCBA Collective Scholarship recipient! They will start the program on January 1, 2026.

Emery McElin (they/them) is an illustrator, printmaker, and bookmaker based in Minneapolis, MN. They are focused on ideas of memory and experience. Books have become a vital part of their practice, serving as a way to safeguard precious materials and ideas. Read more about Emery’s work and the themes they explore:

“To describe the nature of memory and relationships, I turn to scientific theories and visual systems. Their perceived certainty offers comfort-providing labels, methods of examination, and a sense of truth. This framework allows me to investigate my thoughts safely while introducing an ironic sense of authority into the work. I employ photogravure, letterpress, papermaking, painting, and drawing to build this visual language.

Recently, I have incorporated found imagery of astronauts into my books, using them as metaphors for alienation in parental relationships. Their distance from Earth and reliance on mediated communication echo my own feelings of loss and estrangement. Media coverage of space missions further enriches this narrative, playing with ideas of truth and perception. Displayed as a series of small books, the content builds cumulatively-each revealing something from the last and inviting return to others.

Outside my fine art practice, I am a freelance illustrator and help facilitate printing events with local nonprofit organizations in Minneapolis. I am trusted to design imagery and hand lettering that suits each organization’s needs. I also collaborate with local artists to run these screen-printing events, providing free print media and creative experiences for the community.”

About the CBAA/MCBA Collective Scholarship

The MCBA/CBAA Collective Scholarship is a studio access program that provides early-career book artists a 12-month Artist Collective membership. This program is for artists who are either recent graduates of a degree-granting program (graduation date within the past 12 months from October 2024) OR have completed an MCBA Jerome Program in 2024 or 2025.

Learn more

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Announcing the Boundless Residency Recipients

Guest User — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 19:31:10 +0000

Congratulations to the 2025 Boundless Residency recipients, C. K. Itamura, IBe Crawley, Islam Aly, and Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder!

The recipients will each have a 2–4 week residency with access to our fully-equipped studios to support letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking, screenprinting, paper marbling, and related arts. They will be provided a $1,000 stipend per week.

The recipients' applications were reviewed by a three-person jury panel, including MCBA’s Executive Director, Elysa Voshell, MCBA’s Director of Exhibitions & Artist Programs, Anika Schneider, and Associate Dean for Research and Engagement at Baylor University, Sha Towers.

C. K. Itamura

C.K. Itamura is a Yonsei, Nikkei interdisciplinary artist based in California. Her conceptual, interactive, and performance art serves to engage intergenerational audiences in the exploration of observation, contemplation, and expressive imagination.

C.K. is an Artist-in-Residence of San Francisco Unified School District Library Department, an Artist Mentor of San Francisco Arts Education Project, a Teaching Artist-Lead of Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and works with schools, libraries, organizations and museums to to create and provide: professional development art-making workshops for educators; hands-on art-making workshops for students; and to make art-making accessible to the general public.

IBé Crawley

IBé Crawley, born in 1959 in Danville, Virginia, renovated an 1830s school building originally built by enslaved black men for the purpose of educating white males on the Epps plantation in Hopewell, Virginia.

The IBé Arts Institute emerged as a repository for her work, which includes carved marble, wooden assemblages, paper and print, as well as quilted narratives. IBé Arts Institute invites fellows, interns and partners to participate in discovering and documenting voices that can educate into future generations. IBé Crawley’s studio is open by appointment to writers, thinkers, learners, and creators.

Islam Aly

Islam Aly is a book artist and lecturer of bookbinding at the German University in Cairo.

He earned

both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Art Education from Helwan University, and later

pursued an MFA in Book Arts at the University of Iowa, where he refined his artistic focus. He

went on to complete a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Art Education at

the University of Iowa.

His practice lies at the intersection of culture, technology, and aesthetics. Drawing on historical

bookbinding traditions and integrating digital technologies, Islam reimagines the role of the

book in contemporary art. His work pushes the boundaries of book art, offering innovative

approaches to how history and technology can coexist on the page.

Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder

Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder is a book artist and proprietor of Coyote Bones Press. Her limited-edition artist’s books incorporate sculptural structures and found objects, combining traditional and contemporary bookbinding and printing techniques.

Schroeder’s work is held in prominent collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Library of Congress, Harvard, Stanford, RISD, and The British Library. Schroeder was selected as the Artist in Residence at Jaffe Center for Book Arts in 2019-2021, and winner of the 2022 MCBA Prize recognizing excellence in the field of book arts. In 2023, Schroeder was selected as the distinguished speaker for the Charles W. Mann Lecture in the Book Arts at Penn State University, and recipient of the inaugural 2023 Center for Craft Teaching Artist Cohort Grant. She is currently based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she is the curator of the Palace Press.

Jurors

Anika Hsiung Schneider is a narrative artist who draws on lived experiences, memory, and family history. With an Asian Mixed female identity, she resides in a highly racialized body that also exists in a liminal state. This connection to a liminal state of being closely connects her work to themes of loss, transitional spaces, and visualizing the intangible.

Anika received her MFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). She currently serves as the Director of Exhibitions and Artist Programs at Minnesota Center for Book Arts and adjunct faculty at MCAD.

Elysa Voshell is an artist, curator, writer, and nonprofit arts leader whose work encompasses book arts, printmaking, photography, and installation. She holds an MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, and an MLA in Visual & Curatorial Studies and a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania. She exhibits internationally and has work included in museum and library collections worldwide.

Sha Towers is the Associate Dean for Research and Engagement at Baylor University. Sha provides administrative leadership across the University Libraries in the areas of public services, research, space planning and user engagement. Sha is a visual artist working in calligraphic and book arts. His artist's books appear in private and university special collections across the United States and have been featured in international juried and invitational exhibitions.

About The Boundless Residency

The Boundless Residency program provides artists living outside of Minnesota the opportunity to create innovative new work at MCBA. This residency provides artists living outside of Minnesota* with the time and space to work deeply on projects that require MCBA’s specialized equipment.

Providing studio access is central to MCBA’s mission, and we are excited to share our unique resources—and expand ties with the national and international book arts communities—through this new residency program.

This new program is supported generously by Cathy Ryan and Doris Engibous.

Learn more

Related News

Announcing our 2025 Jerome Residency Recipients

Guest User — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:07:54 +0000

Congratulations to the 2025 MCBA/Jerome Residency recipients, Genie Tran, Essence Enwere, and alter hajek!

Genie tran

Genie Hien Tran (Vietnam, b. 1996) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, MN. She was born in Ho Chi Minh City and grew up there before migrating to the U.S. at 16.

Her work is informed by diasporic memory and the exploration of identity through the use of collage, poetry, design and textiles. In their work, Tran layers elements of contemporary cultures with historical learnings and artifacts, in order to capture the beauty and nuances of home, loss and belonging.

Tran received her MFA in Visual Arts at Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2022 and BFA in Illustration at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2018.

ESSENCE ENwere

Essence Enwere (b. 2000) is a Black and queer interdisciplinary artist living and working on occupied Očeti Šakówin and Wahpekute land, now known as Minneapolis, MN.

Their work fuses design, typography, artist publications, and printmaking to tell stories of Black history, genealogy, and ecology. Rooted in an engagement with land and ancestry, their practice explores how visual language can preserve memory, connect lineage, and honor cultural resilience. Enwere creates work that bridges the poetic and the archival, weaving together design traditions and book arts as forms of storytelling and collective remembrance.

Enwere received their BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Minnesota in 2024. Their work has been exhibited at HGA Gallery, the Creating Change Gallery, and the James Wegner Gallery. They were a 2024 Creating Change Fellow, awarded a Public Functionary Residency in 2025, and will be apart of the 2026 Cellar Press Residency. Their practice has been featured in Artdose Magazine, The Minnesota Star Tribune, MPLSArt, KARE 11, and MSPMAG. Many of their works are housed in national collections, including the National Gallery of Art Library, Minnesota Historical Society, University of Minnesota, and Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

alter hajek

alter hajek writes about devotion and surgical inter-dimensional transsexual embodiment in several mediums, including cast metal, sound, textile, installation, coding, projection, letterpress, analog photography, sculpture, translation, and text.

Jurors

Joshue Molina is a letterpress educator, studio manager, and book arts advocate. As the Studio Manager of Archetype Press at ArtCenter College of Design and an Adjunct Professor of Graphic Design, Joshue’s teaching blends traditional and experimental print methodologies, exploring the intersection of typography, storytelling, and contemporary design. They have facilitated workshops, residencies, and collaborations with renowned artists such as Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., Erik Spiekermann, Alan Kitching, and Dafi Kühne, fostering an inclusive, hands-on learning environment. Beyond academia, Joshue engages in community-driven print projects through organizations like Partners in Print (PiP), working to expand access to book arts and letterpress.

Sara Luz Jensen is an Assistant Librarian, Studio Manager, and Instructor for the Book Arts Program and lead printer for the Red Butte Press. She holds a BA in English from the University of Utah and an MFA from the University of Iowa Center for the Book. Under the small-press imprint Fingertips Press, she designs and produces artist book publications and printed matter, many of which are collaborations with writers and visual artists. Sara Luz’s work is held in public and private collections and is exhibited nationally.

India Johnson is a book artist working across craft, artist publishing, and social practice. Her work has been installed in churches, libraries, and laundromats throughout the Midwest, and exhibited nationally and internationally. She is a founding member of LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library, and half of Late Night Copies Press.

Johnson teaches art and humanities courses at the college level, and in community settings like public libraries, art centers, and guilds. She designs courses that balance her love of fine craftsmanship with a holistic approach to making. Her teaching is driven by a systematic approach to hands-on research and materials testing, and a desire to welcome and support adult learners as they experiment with techniques and process.

Learn more

The MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Residency

Every two years, the MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Residency Program awards three early career book artists based in Minnesota with $3,000, 24/7 studio access for one year, and a discount on Artist Collective membership after completion of the residency.

The yearlong residency, complete with group critique sessions, culminates in an exhibition in MCBA’s Main Gallery. The goal of this program is to encourage creation and exhibition of new and compelling artwork, strengthen skills and career development, and deepen relationships in the book arts community.

Related News

Welcome Courtney Gerber, MCBA’s New Executive Director!

Guest User — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 19:31:20 +0000

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is excited to announce that Courtney Gerber will join MCBA as Executive Director, beginning October 14th. Courtney brings more than 20 years of nonprofit arts leadership experience and a deep passion for book arts to her new role. Her proven track record of financial management, fundraising success, and commitment to equity and access make her ideally suited to lead MCBA forward.

About Courtney

Professional Experience: Courtney has held senior leadership roles at some of the Twin Cities' most respected cultural organizations, including the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Minnesota Museum of American Art, and Walker Art Center.

Financial Expertise: She has successfully managed significant budgets, secured substantial funding, and developed sustainable revenue models throughout her career.

Commitment to Equity: Courtney has been instrumental in developing inclusive programming and expanding access to the arts for underrepresented communities through trust and relationship building.

Book Arts Connection: With academic training in medieval manuscripts and contemporary art history, plus personal practice in poetry and visual journaling, Courtney brings both professional expertise and creative engagement to the field.

Search Process

Courtney was selected following a comprehensive national search that attracted more than 45 qualified applicants from across the country. The search process included community presentations where MCBA supporters had the opportunity to meet finalists and provide input.

"The response from both our staff and community was overwhelmingly positive," said Jenny Henningsen, MCBA Board Chair. "Courtney's vision for MCBA's future and her collaborative approach to leadership make her the perfect choice for this role."

Looking Forward

Courtney will work closely with outgoing Executive Director Elysa Voshell during the transition period. Community members will have opportunities to meet Courtney at a celebration event on September 26th.

"I'm honored to join such a talented team and vibrant community," Courtney said. "I look forward to building on MCBA's incredible foundation while finding new ways to engage artists and the public with the book arts."

Join us September 26th, 5:00–7:00pm for a celebration honoring Elysa and welcoming Courtney!

MN Shortlist, Aug. 15-21: Magicians return, Finnish folk tales in puppetry and more

Guest User — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:58:39 +0000

MPRnews highlights MCBA’s exhibition A Radical Alteration: Women’s Studio Workshop as a Sustainable Model for Art Making!

Amtrak's Borealis makes visiting Minneapolis easier than ever

Guest User — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 18:45:36 +0000

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Open Book's Elevator Will Be Out of Service

Guest User — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:23:05 +0000

Open Book's elevator will be out of service July–August 2025 for a full system replacement. Lower-level access to MCBA studios will be affected. Thank you for your patience as we work to improve accessibility and safety!

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Announcing Our 2025 McKnight Artist Fellows

Guest User — Fri, 30 May 2025 17:17:52 +0000

Congratulations to the 2025 McKnight Book Artist Fellows, Ellen Mueller and Sarah Evenson! Ellen Mueller is an interdisciplinary artist who examines how capitalist systems affect everyday life, with a particular focus on environmental issues. Sarah Evenson is a gay, transgender artist whose work highlights themes of resistance, queer joy, and the strength and creative potential of the transgender body.

Ellen and Sarah will both be awarded $25,000 in unrestricted funds to explore and deepen their art practices thanks to our partnership with the McKnight Foundation, which annually supports two exceptional Minnesota-based book artists. The pair will also receive a range of professional benefits through MCBA, including studio visits from a national critic/curator; a travel stipend, residency opportunity, and educational stipend; the opportunity to participate in an artist panel at Open Book; 24/7 studio access for two years; and a group exhibition in MCBA’s Main Gallery.

Ellen Mueller explores themes of capitalism, environmentalism, place, health, and interpersonal communication through visual and conceptual contrasts in her zines, drawing, fibers, and writing. “My work is inspired by several events and phenomena at once, and often hinges on a bizarre juxtaposition of two or more seemingly unrelated influences,” she states. “Using this approach, I challenge the binaries humans continually construct, and hope to disrupt seemingly infinite cycles.”

In Mueller’s soft books and zines, she uses self-produced or online imagery in her compositions to reflect her stance on late-stage capitalism and its effects on humanity. “I mine the ways capitalism is integral to all aspects of everyday living and decision making, from food and shelter, to clothing and energy. Absurdity and humor address this creeping influence, even if such gestures are largely symbolic.” She looks forward to deepening her connection to her practice through conversations with peers during the McKnight Fellowship.

With an emphasis on queer and transgender identity, Sarah Evenson creates hand-printed artist’s books, DIY print media, and new media. Evenson’s work reflects the physical relationship between their artistic practice—screenprinting—and their body. “It is a medium in which the pressure needed to create a print comes from the same areas of the body that were most affected by my gender-confirming mastectomy: the chest, arm, and upper back muscles. This connection between my physicality and my craft results in indexical images, works that testify to the strength of my transgender body.”

Evenson uses their work to promote accessible and community-driven book arts within its creation and distribution. They will use the McKnight Fellowship resources to develop their practice and further their reach in hopes of engaging with a larger audiences of queer and trans people across the country. “Subject-wise, my work celebrates the tenderness of human connection and positions Queerness as a practice of transformational love,” shared Evenson.

The finalists were selected by esteemed jurors Helen Hiebert, Sarah Matthews, and Catherine Alice Michaelis (bios below). They shared their impressions of the artists and their work following virtual studio visits with the finalists.

“Sarah Evenson's innovative book work—incorporating the hand (illustration) and technology (animation and printing)—excites me,” shared Helen Hiebert. “Their poignant insights about the body, encapsulated in bright colors, bring queer joy to light.”

Catherine Alice Michaelis noted, “Ellen Mueller's work engages the broader community as well as the artist, leaving me energized and hopeful.”

Explore the work by the 2025 McKnight Book Artist Fellows below by viewing their winning portfolios and full artist statements. Beneath that, you can also find biographical information about our jurors.

Congratulations to our 2025 fellows!

Ellen Mueller

Ellen Mueller (she/her) has exhibited nationally and internationally as an interdisciplinary artist who examines how capitalist systems affect everyday life, with a particular focus on environmental issues.

She received her MFA from University of South Florida and is currently the Director of Programs at Arts Midwest. Selected artist residencies include Ox-Bow, Ucross Foundation, Nes Artist Residency (Iceland), and Künstlerhaus Lukas (Germany). Mueller lives and works in Minneapolis, MN and has authored multiple zines, artist books, and textbooks.

Work

Artist Statement

I explore issues related to late-stage capitalism as it affects daily life in the United States, with special interest in the environment, health, and interpersonal communication. Within my work, I strive to create experiences that activate curiosity in the audience, using compelling visual material to draw interested parties deeper into engagement. Recently, my materials include zines, drawing, fibers, and writing. I see all of these working modes as part of the expanded field of book arts. I use the intimate, hand-held nature of zines and artist books to create personal connections. The low-cost materials make these interactive objects less precious and more welcoming to a wide audience. Venues for my work range from zine and book festivals to galleries, boats, or walking events.

Visually and conceptually, I am interested in strong contrast, especially as it relates to contemporary anxieties and ideals. This preference is visible in all of my highly saturated color choices across my zines and books. Conceptually, this focus on contrast is apparent in work like Selected Prairie Grasses, which addresses climate change concerns through the juxtaposition of beautiful cardstock cut-outs of easy-to-grow prairie grasses for urban spaces, monochromatic photography of those same grasses, and concise planting notes for each type of grass.

I also enjoy pushing the boundaries of various art worlds. Through specific formal choices, such as alternative zine shapes and forms utilized in Art Sprawl, an arts writing website and zine collection I have created, I invite closer examination of systems of artist-to-artist support. By creating portable experiences, such as the Walking Workbook zines, I challenge participants to think in expanded ways about categories of art, such as what counts as art, and how and when we think about the act of walking. Similarly, Forbs documents a selection of plant-engaged artists for those who may be unfamiliar with this type of socially engaged art-making outdoors, thereby creating a more welcoming entry-point to this particular art world.

The McKnight Fellowship for Book Artists is critical to my practice as I am at a point of transition, having completed a large project of publishing the book, Walking as Artistic Practice, and its accompanying zines. Over the past year, through a deep investigation of native plant gardening, I have begun building my next project focused on plants and art. I plan to utilize my successful approach to book writing by creating a zine series, which acts as the base for a larger book project. Having tested a few zines, pictured in my work samples, I am ready to launch this new project focused on the intersection of plants and art. I will use the time and resources of the fellowship to begin laying the foundation for zines focused on subtopics such as climate change, urban landscaping, public versus private space, and food sovereignty, to name a few. Having the opportunity to challenge my development on this project with a national critic/curator, in addition to the other programmatic elements, will provide a great structure and system of support for pursuing this new book project. Additionally, I will invest in improved sewing equipment for larger production of fabric books. In particular, I am looking forward to increasing my quilting ability with a new machine.

Sarah evenson

Sarah Evenson (they/them/theirs) is a gay, transgender artist-at-large living and working

with various forms of printed ephemera in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Their bright and colorful zines, artist books, prints, and animations center play as resistance, celebrate queer joy, and testify to the strength and creative potential of the transgender body. Their artworks are included in the collections of more than 50 institutions internationally, including the libraries of the Walker Art Center, the MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Tate Britain, as well as numerous publicly accessible high school and community libraries.

Work

Artist Statement

I am a gay, transgender book and print media artist. My practice envisions book art as a socially involved, accessible, and flexible mode that intentionally includes both the creation and the distribution of narrative artworks. Within this framework, I view the book as a conceptual tool of disseminating text-and-image-based information that encapsulates fine craft, hand-printed artist’s books, DIY print media, and new media such as video and projection.

I am interested in the book as a democratic object: a portable, accessible technology that can travel amongst the people it is meant for. Queer print history has taught me that the power of the book as a form comes from being read. As such, I have developed a large distribution network that allows my work to reach queer and trans people across the English-speaking world. This network includes partnerships at zine distros, festivals, direct mailing, and placements in more than fifty collections ranging from the MoMA to high school libraries. I work with an audience of future queer and trans people in mind, both young people and those coming out later in life.

Each body of work I create has multiple entrance points, most of which can be accessed free of charge. I create and distribute zines, artist books, animations, posters, and other forms of ephemera. I root these various outputs in screenprinting because it is a medium in which the pressure needed to create a print comes from the same areas of the body that were most affected by my gender-confirming mastectomy: the chest, arm, and upper back muscles. This connection between my physicality and my craft results in indexical images, works that testify to and bear the direct mark of the strength of my transgender body. In this way, my work is a record and an assertion of transgender existence in the face of an erasure-driven political climate. Subject-wise, my work celebrates the tenderness of human connection and positions Queerness as a practice of transformational love.

Ultimately, I create this work because I know my Queerness and Transness are essential not just to my personal identity but to my humanity. This truth—and all other aspects of queer life, love, family structure, and connection that this truth has gifted to me and others—can and should be represented in the public record.

Jurors

Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, artists’ books, and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work internationally and online, and is the author of several how-to books about papermaking and papercrafts. Helen has an extensive network of paper colleagues around the world and her interest in how things are made (from paper) keeps her up-to-date on current paper trends, which she writes about in her weekly blog called The Sunday Paper. She interviews papermakers and paper artists on her podcast Paper Talk, and she holds an annual paper retreat and papermaking master classes in her Red Cliff studio.

Sarah Matthews is a highly skilled printmaker and book artist with a background in art and business. Her work reflects her commitment to exploring the complex issues of race, equality, and gender while shining a light on social injustice. She holds an MA in Art & the Book from the Corcoran College of Arts and Design at George Washington University, an MBA with a Marketing Concentration, and a BS in Sociology from Bowie State University. Her works have been exhibited internationally and are part of prestigious collections at institutions such as the National Museum of African American History & Culture Library, Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, George Washington University’s Gelman Library, University of Puget Sound, and Samford University. Mrs. Matthews is also a dedicated educator, teaching Artist Books at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and bookbinding and printmaking classes at various art centers and platforms. She currently serves as President of the College Book Art Association (CBAA): The Association for Book Art Education.

Catherine Alice Michaelis is a bi|queer artist and curator. Her entry into artists’ books began in 1989 when learning letterpress printing. She works around themes of plants, gender, feminism, and hormonal life stages. She makes both unique and multiples, often using hand stitching and cloth fabric in her work. Her artists’ books are in over 100 public collections, and she has exhibited widely. Catherine has a B.A. in creative non-fiction and media studies from the Evergreen State College in Washington State. Currently, Catherine is the curator of the Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the project manager for Artists’ Books UnShelved, a twice-monthly episode sharing artists’ books from the Cynthia Sears Collection and about the artists who made them.

About the McKnight Artist & Culture Bearers Fellowship Program

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2025 MCAD Collegiate Fellowship Announced

Guest User — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:12:57 +0000

MCBA is pleased to announce Reghan Sage as the recipient of the 2025 MCAD Collegiate Fellowship at Minnesota Center for Book Arts!

Reghan Sage (she/her) is a printmaker and papermaker from Minneapolis. Her work is inspired by process, materiality, natural spaces, and a sense of home. She uses artmaking as a way to process and heal from experiences. Recently, she’s been exploring weaving as a medium to further explore meditation in her practice. She lives in Saint Paul with her fiancée and two cats, Fern and Fig. She loves to spend time outside and buy lots of houseplants!

“During this fellowship, I plan to explore my interrogations of fencing further. This object holds space for many themes, including control of land and people, societal structures of family life, suburbia, access, class, and more. I will further explore these themes by making a handmade paper waffle weave with fence imagery pushing and pulling across the surface. Having this fellowship will allow me to deepen my skills and research, and I am very grateful for this opportunity!” - Reghan Sage

About the MCAD Collegiate Fellowship

The MCAD Collegiate Fellowship gives senior and graduate level students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) the opportunity to complete an advanced project in book arts with a project stipend and access to MCBA studios.

Learn more

Related News

A Guide to Minneapolis Art Galleries for Beginners

Guest User — Mon, 12 May 2025 15:23:24 +0000

Racket gives a shoutout to Minnesota Center for Book Arts in their article, “A Guide to Minneapolis Art Galleries for Beginners.”

Art Hounds: Somali dance traditions, sculptural books and raw photography

Guest User — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:51:52 +0000

MPRNews’ Art Hounds spotlights, Building / Books | Karen Wirth: A Retrospective Exhibition. Former museum and arts administrator, Peggy Korsmo-Kennon highlights Karen’s “extraordinary ability to think spatially and structurally, creating work with both conceptual depth and visually engaging images.”

Minnesota Center for Book Arts Announces Leadership Transition Following Six Years of Growth

Guest User — Thu, 08 May 2025 18:16:07 +0000

Contact:
Mary Pat Ladner
MCBA Board
612-810-4939
Marypat.ladner@gmail.com

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (May 8, 2025)—Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) Board of Directors today announced Executive Director Elysa Voshell will step down from her position in September 2025 after six years of leadership. Voshell will be relocating to Los Angeles to join her wife and to focus on her personal artistic practice.

During her six-year tenure, Voshell successfully navigated the organization through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling MCBA to emerge as a stronger organization with increased visibility and funding. Under her leadership, MCBA grew revenue by 45% and assets by over 300%, a remarkable achievement during a period when many arts organizations faced significant financial strain. Voshell strengthened MCBA's position as a global leader in book arts through strategic programming, community engagement initiatives, and expanded partnerships.

"Elysa has been a transformative leader for MCBA during a pivotal time in our 40-year history," said Jenny Henningsen, Chair of MCBA's Board of Directors. "Her vision and dedication over the past six years have significantly advanced our mission to ignite artistic practice, inspire learning, and foster diverse creative communities through the book arts. While we're sad to see her go, we're grateful for her contributions and excited about MCBA's bright future."

Voshell expressed appreciation for her time at MCBA: "It has been the greatest honor and joy to lead this remarkable organization for the past six years and to work alongside such talented artists, dedicated staff, engaged board, and passionate community members. I am so proud of what we have accomplished to push the limits of this dynamic art form while expanding access and lifting up new voices in the field. Spaces like MCBA that foster creativity, community, and connection are vital to our shared humanity. I am excited to continue to be in community with the many wonderful people I've gotten to know here. MCBA is well-positioned for its next chapter, and I look forward to seeing how it continues to thrive."

"Thanks to Elysa's leadership, MCBA is in an exceptionally strong financial position," added MCBA Board Treasurer Deb Weiss. "The organization's stability and growth provide a solid foundation for our next Executive Director to build upon."

A search committee has been established to identify MCBA's next Executive Director, comprising board members and community stakeholders. The search process will begin immediately, with finalist interviews expected in September 2025. The committee aims to announce Voshell's successor this fall, allowing for a smooth leadership transition.

"We are seeking a dynamic leader who will honor MCBA's legacy while bringing fresh perspectives to further our mission," Henningsen said. "We're committed to finding someone who shares our dedication to artistic excellence, community engagement, and making book arts accessible to all."

Information about the application process will be available on MCBA's website by May 15th, 2025.

MCBA will host a celebration honoring Voshell's six years of contributions in September 2025. Details will be announced later this summer.

About Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA)

Now in its 40th year, Minnesota Center for Book Arts is a global leader in the field of Book Arts. Twenty-five years ago, MCBA was a founding partner in Open Book, a community gathering space dedicated to diverse, dynamic collaboration and creativity in literary and book arts practices. Works created at MCBA can be found in prestigious collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, and Walker Art Center, among many public, university, and private collectors. MCBA continues to advance the book as a vital contemporary art form, allowing artistic expression to be available to all, preserving traditional artistic practices while encouraging innovation and experimentation.

MCBA's mission is to ignite artistic practice, inspire learning, and foster diverse creative communities through the book arts. The organization's vision is a world in which creative expression through book arts is accessible to all.

For more information, visit www.mnbookarts.org

Critics’ picks: The 14 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week

Guest User — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:17:59 +0000

The Star Tribune features MCBA’s exhibition, Building / Books | Karen Wirth: A Retrospective Exhibition in their Critics’ picks: The 14 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week.

Fine Books & Collections on McKnight Fellowship Exhibition

Guest User — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:59:04 +0000

The Fine Books & Collections highlights the McKnight Fellowship Exhibition featuring work by CB Sherlock, Corinne Teed, Brien Beidler and Todd Thyberg.

FIBER ART NOW: Storytelling Takes Shape

Annie Gerway — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 15:32:54 +0000

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.