The artists will be honored for their collaboration on the book My Might Journey: A Waterfall’s Story.
December 13, 2019, SAINT PAUL, MN – The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library has named a collaborative group as the winners of the 2020 Minnesota Book Artist Award for their collective efforts on the new artist’s book My Mighty Journey: A Waterfall’s Story. Sponsored by Lerner Publishing Group, this annual award is presented as part of the Minnesota Book Awards with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA), and recognizes a Minnesota book artist or book artist collaborative group for excellence of a new artistic work. Winners also show demonstrated proficiency and quality in the book arts through supporting previous work, as well as an ongoing commitment and significant contributions to Minnesota’s book arts community.
My Mighty Journey, written by John Coy and illustrated by Gaylord Schanilec, is the story of the only major waterfall on the Mississippi River – and the changes it has witnessed over twelve thousand years. The idea was originally conceived twenty-three years ago as Coy worked for the Minnesota Historical Society, guiding Minneapolis Riverfront tours. Through his words, and eventually his own participation in image creation, text composition and printing, he brings to life the geology, history, and people of this place, told from the waterfall’s perspective.
Enhancing this dramatic story are stunning images created by a collaboration of book artists using materials collected along the riverbank: wood and bark from fallen trees, fossil encrusted limestone, discarded bricks, and even a long dead Dogfish. Collected materials were prepared for direct printing, creating type high printing blocks, inked and impressioned using Vandercook cylinder printing presses. The illustrations show the progression of the waterfall – eventually known as St. Anthony Falls – as it moved fifteen miles upriver from present-day Saint Paul to its current location in downtown Minneapolis.My Mighty Journey helps viewers realize that most of us are newcomers and that there is so much to learn about the waterfall, the land, the people who have been here, and our relationship to them.
Members of the award committee praised the way that the book clearly demonstrated the great amount of thought and detail that went into every aspect – from the illustration, words, binding, paper, and typeface – and how the book itself exists as a kind of community, honoring everyone’s best abilities. The committee also commented on how the weight and impressive scale of the work fits with the subject. “I found it overwhelming in vision, execution, and structure. All of the elements blend together to create a magnificent portrait of the river in print; the experience of handling and reading it surpasses expectations,” stated one juror.
Anchored by internationally acclaimed artist Gaylord Schanilec, the image development, composition, printing and binding team grew over the five years of this collaboration to include artists Paul Nylander, Barbara Eijadi, Sorcha Douglas, Emily Pressprich, Greta Lapcinski, Paris Fobbe, Rayan Macalin, Kerri Mulcare, Ellen Janda, Hans Koch, Monica Edwards Larson, Diane Wilson, Ernie Whiteman, and papermaker Amanda Degener.
An exhibition celebrating My Mighty Journey will be on display February 7 – March 22 at Minnesota Center for Book Arts, located in the Open Book building (1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis). A reception will take place on Thursday, February 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. in MCBA’s Main Gallery, with an artist talk in the Target Performance Hall at 7 p.m. The group will also receive special recognition and an award at the 32nd annual Minnesota Book Awards Celebration on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at the Ordway in downtown Saint Paul, sponsored by Education Minnesota.
About
the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA):
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
(MCBA) is a visual arts nonprofit organization that supports creative
expression through traditional and contemporary book arts, including
papermaking, bookbinding, and letterpress printing. MCBA’s philosophy and
artistic vision challenges its artist community to think beyond the traditional
notion of the “book.” Today, books can be bound and unbound, fabricated into
sculptures, interpreted as metaphor, experienced as installation or
performance, and interacted with virtually. What unites this varied work is a
focus on the interdisciplinary expression of narrative.
About the Minnesota Book Awards:
The Minnesota Book Awards is a year-long program of The Friends of
the Saint Paul Public Library that connects readers and writers throughout the
state with the stories of our neighbors. The process
begins in the fall with book submissions and continues through winter with two
rounds of judging. Winners are announced at the Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony
each spring. Woven throughout the season are events that promote the authors
and connect the world of Minnesota books – writers, artists, illustrators,
publishers, editors, and more – to readers throughout the state. In recognition
of this and its other statewide programs and services, the Library of Congress
has recognized The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the state’s
designated Center for the Book. For more information visit thefriends.org/mnba.