Book Arts Roundtables
Summer 2012

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is a hub of creativity where interesting, passionate, and knowledgeable people like you learn, share ideas, and get inspired. Join the conversation by attending our fun, interactive Book Arts Roundtables in MCBA's lively studios. Always FREE and always OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Tuesday, May 22; 7pm
Celebration of Japanese Book and Paper Arts:
Sumi-e History and Demonstration with Collette Cumella

Collette Cumella is a member and former president of the Minnesota Ming Chiao Chapter of the Sumi-e Society of America. A teacher and nationally recognized sumi-e painter with over 20 years experience, Collette will give a brief history of Sumi-e and demonstrate both brush painting and East Asian calligraphy.

Sumi-e, or ink and brush painting, is an East Asian artistic tradition that has been in practice for over a thousand years. Sumi-e originated in China and subsequently spread throughout Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Contemporary styles range from realistic to abstract. All Asian brush painters use similar tools and similar techniques. The tools are traditionally called "the Four Treasures" -- brush, ink stick, ink stone and rice paper. Watercolors may also be employed. Sumi-e painters strive to capture the essence or spirit of their subject. For more information on Ming Chiao or the Sumi-e Society, visit mingchiaosumie.org.

Tuesday, May 29; 7pm
Celebration of Japanese Book and Paper Arts:
Kiri-e Japanese Paper Cutting Arts with Sheila McNellis Asato

Sheila McNellis Asato (MA, St. Mary's University) is a visual artist with more than 25 years experience teaching and exhibiting in USA, Europe and Asia. Bilingual in English and Japanese, Sheila is founder of the Japan America Arts Forum and a member of the MCBA faculty specializing in traditional Japanese book and paper disciplines. Sheila is also a certified embodied imagination coach and the founder of Monkey Bridge Arts. She regularly leads workshops internationally on the relationship between art, dreams and healing. A past board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Sheila currently serves as a provider at Pathways and is the Healing Arts Program Assistant at the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Hospital.

Thursday, June 21; 7pm
Artist Talk: MCBA Artist-in-Residence Melissa Wagner-Lawler

Join incoming A.I.R. Melissa Wagner-Lawler for an artist talk about the book she'll be creating while in residency at MCBA. The book, titled Everything You Hear, will be a letterpress-printed exploration of the breakdown of communication through digital channels.

In this project, Melissa plans to use found fragments of electronic communications such as text messages, blog entries and status updates, abstracting them through digital means and printing techniques. Cutting, masking, and layering techniques in Illustrator are used to destroy and manipulate the content. Printing, overprinting, and subtleties in ink are used to create a visceral, delicate surface on the page enticing the viewer to decipher the content.

To read more, visit Melissa's website or her project description on Kickstarter.

Tuesday, June 26; 7pm
Univocal Publishing

Univocal joins MCBA for a roundtable discussion on the production and publication of its latest release, Biogea by the celebrated French philosopher, Michel Serres. Univocal publisher Jason Wagner will discuss the construction and production process of Univocal's books, combining letterpress printing with digital printing and binding techniques to allow Univocal to be one of the only independent philosophy presses to construct every aspect of its books in-house. Univocal director Drew S. Burk will speak about Univocal's current publication, Biogea by Michel Serres and its relationship to the press's overall philosophical challenges and tasks of re-establishing a material and aesthetic relationship to the book form with regards to knowledge acquisition and the pursuit of philosophical inquiry itself.

For a complete calendar of MCBA events, visit our Events page.