Burnet Gallery Features Our MFA Students

Tonight, Friday, July 22nd from 6-9pm is the opening for fifteen of our MFA students at Burnet Gallery. If you miss this you can see the show until 11 Sept. This should be a fun event and an opportunity to see some great new art and meet these emerging artists.

We have been fortunate in the library to have had two of these students, Zhongze Lu and Amit Tishler, work for us which they have done very efficiently and competently. I worked with Zhongze Lu during this last year and have had the privilege to have seen some of his artworks as he was working on them. They are very lushly colored fantasies often populated with women and birds in unexpected places. You can see in them what I see in Zongze - a magical quality. The first time I saw him was on the first day of classes last fall. I happened to be right behind him as he entered our main gallery doors. He paused and spun slowly around as if to take in the sights around him and then when he saw he wasn't alone he smiled in a sweet dreamy way. I knew right away he was different and had a gift for loving life. He seems to live in awe of the world and to see the beauty and kindness in everyone. I look forward to seeing his visions on paper.

Go to the show and find out what the world can look like as seen through the eyes of Zhongze and our other artists. It will expand your own outlook.

Say Goodbye to Our Library Director

Next Friday, June 17th will be Suzanne Degler's last day at MCAD. She is moving west with her family where she is looking forward to enjoying the Mediterranean climate of the area south of San Francisco. Instead of MCAD students, she will be bumping into Stanford students at the local coffee houses. Instead of heat, humidity, freezing temperatures, snowfall and tornados she will be contending with fog, drought and lovely day after lovely day. We assume the fortitude forged here will sustain her out there.

We have been fortunate to have had her as library director since 1996. In this time she has overseen the momentous project of bringing our catalog online, including converting typed catalog cards to digital records, undertaking a complete inventory, and barcoding all our volumes. In addition to this, she has selected and acquired all our new materials and managed the people, finances and property of our library.

Maybe you know her and have appreciated her humor and good heartedness. Maybe you loved that she bought that book you requested or that she found books you didn't know you needed (who knew that you loved Kuniyoshi or Andy Goldsworthy). However, even if you don't know her or never directly met her, you can still appreciate that she was the one overseeing your library experience from hiring the staff to replacing the light fixtures (so you could see to read); buying all our new books and DVDs, including that obscure European film that you loved; selecting our periodicals from Adbusters to Scientific American; and making sure we thought about what you students and faculty would need so we could provide good service.

Given all that, please feel free to thank her and say your farewells.

Cory Prahl Opens Photography Show at Weinstein Gallery

Maybe you remember Cory from his time here at MCAD or you heard about that photography MFA student who spent months making one photograph. Months? How is that possible?

Cory takes photographs of suburban streets with houses and then digitally alters them so they become new prairie landscapes. They are sometimes beautiful and mysterious sometimes lonely and post-apocalyptic. These photographs seem familiar and yet are unknown, a world that could exist or maybe will exist after we're gone.

As you will see in this show his finished photographs are very large, about 5x6 feet so that when you stand before them it is as if you are on these streets ready to walk into the scenes.

Bring your sense of magic and go see Cory's vision of suburbia until the 9th July at the Weinstein.

Eva Hyvarinen, Visual Resource Assistant
Minneapolis College of Art and Desgin Library

Come to the Library During National Library Week & Enter to Win These Items

Monday 11th April
	Five Hundred Self-Portraits with an introduction by Julian Bell, 2000 - See how other artists saw themselves from the time of ancient Egypt to the present in this beautifully illustrated book with a full plate on each page.  Find out what your favorite artists look like and compare their different approaches to this pursuit with your own.
	A World History of Film by Robert Sklar 2002 - Here is a readable illustrated chronicle of film over the last 100 years with genres, trends, best films and actors and explanations of filmmaking.  It's a great overview but also is detailed including international films from all around the world and documentaries. Read it for fun or use for reference.
	Futurama v. 2 (Season 2 Episodes 1-19) created by Matt Groening - Enjoy the animated science fiction sitcom featuring Philip J. Fry and his pizza delivery crew in the 31st century.  This show holds the Guinness World Record for "Current Most Critically-Acclaimed Animated Series"and won seven Annie Awards and three Emmy Awards.  This is the complete second season which aired Nov 1999 - Dec 2000. The four disc boxed set also includes commentary, deleted scenes, easter eggs, still gallery and concept art and alien alphabet.

Tuesday 12 April
	Making Worlds: 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) - the catalog of the international exhibition with two volumes so you can see the national artists represented with their work and learn how Daniel Birnbaum who curated the show thought about selecting and exhibiting the artists.
	The Spirit of Folk Art (1989) - a look at 300 of the finest world-wide examples of baskets, pottery, textiles, jewelry, beadwork etc. in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.  This is a beautiful book of colorful plates but it also gives important background information about the cultures and creators.
	The Visitor; written and directed by Tom McCarthy (2008) - Find out what happens to a hapless professor who finds  2 illegal immigrants (a Syrian musician and a Senaglese street vendor) have moved into his apartment in New York's East Village.

Wednesday 13 April
	Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, by Jonathan Katz (2010) - an exploration of same sex desire as seen in portraits: drawing, painting, photography and illustration from the early 1900s to the present.
	Ansel Adams: An Autobiography (1985) - Find out about this master photographer, his love for the wild lands of the west, his friendships with Weston, Strand, Lange, O'Keeffe and Stieglitz and his precise methods, as shown in his photographs, both famous and unknown.
	The Simpsons: complete 7th season (7 disk set) - Matt Groening's animated TV series,winner of Emmie, Annies and a Peabody featuring Homer, Marge and Bart. This is all 25 shows from 1995, including "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", "Bart sells his Soul" and "Two Bad Neighbors"with deleted scenes.

Thursday 14 April
	The Art of Gilbert and George, or An aesthetic of existence, by Wolf Jahn (1989) - Find a complete summation of these British artists' work with 291 color illustrations.  Learn more about this intriguing duo of "living sculptures".
	William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books (2001) - Enjoy the poetry and prints that Blake (1757-1827) created as integrated books full of his mystical view of life and love.
	Life on earth ; a film by Abderrahmane Sissako (2000) - Watching this lovely film by a Mauritainian about life in a Mali village will transport you to a world lived closer to the earth's rhythms.

Friday 15 April
	Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, by Kynaston McShine (1989) - Learn all about this iconic Sixties artist from his paintings to his films with over 600 illustrations. Also read his own statements and comments of his colleagues.
	Frida Kahlo, by Luis-Martin Lozano (2000) - Lose yourself in the story of the Mexican painter's tortured life with photographs and reproduction of her art including large fold-outs.
	The Simpsons: complete 8th season (4 disk set) - See all 25 episodes from 1996's acclaimed season with bonus materials: introduction by creator Matt Groening, commentaries, original sketches, deleted scenes and animators' illustrated commentaries.

National Library Week is April 11-15

To celebrate the Library is holding a book & DVD giveaway!

How to win:

Two books and one DVD will be given away each day.

Fill out an entry ticket when you visit the Library Monday, April 11th through Friday, April 15th.

Entry is open to MCAD students, faculty, and staff.

Items will be on display at the Library's Circulation Desk for your inspection along with entry tickets.

Three names will be drawn after the Library closes and the winners notified by email the next morning.

Rules:

One entry per person per day (indicate your interest in one, two, or all three items on the entry form)

You are eligible to win once during the week 

Good luck!

Mitchell Green, graphic design major recommends....

Graphic Design major, Mitchell Green

Graphic Design is next in our series of student recommended Library material for the MCAD majors.  The Library thanks Mitchell Green for sharing his selections.  Mitchell is an avid library user so come by and check out what he wants you to know about.  They're now on display in the main reading room.  Thanks a bunch, Mitchell!!

The books I have chosen are books that either represent a contemporary or historical view of graphic design as well as a few design reference books. I enjoy that the MCAD Library not only offers the latest and greatest in Graphic Design, but also older, and in some cases hard to find, out of print graphic references. This range offers us designers a great survey of, and foundation to help position ourselves in the design world. Several of the books in this collection are published by Gestalten, an amazing publisher on the topics of art and design and a must know for any designer.

 

Turning Pages is an amazing book looking at the world of publication design and the designers who are redefining the boundaries of print media. Regular Graphic Design Today is a broader survey of design media and looks at the current state of graphic design and presents a new generation of creative excellence. 

 For the older books I picked one that references the old styling of wood type, and one that explores the creative genius of an old master. Wood 2 is a beautiful book showing the nuances of the old wooden type. The layout of the book is incredibly exciting as it is all about the forms. Printed Matter is a book that looks at the process of one of my Graphic Design heroes, Karel Martens (he’s also featured in the current issue of Idea Magazine), and his experimental approach to form making.

 

One of the reference books I choose, Biblio Graphic is a book that highlights 100 books about graphic design which are must reads for any aspiring designer!

Here is Mitchell's full list of recommendations:

Turning Pages : Editorial Design for Print Media

Gestalten, 2010

Call No.

Z246 .T87 2010

Regular Graphic Design Today

Die Gestalten Verlag, 2009

Call No.

NC998.4 .R45 2009

Neogeo : a new edge to abstraction

Gestalten Verlag, 2007

Call No.

NC997 .N46 2007

SHD : Super Holland Design : new graphics

Actar Barcelona ; 2008

Call No.

NC998.6.N4 H37 2008

Stereographics : graphics in new dimensions

Viction:ary, 2008

Call No.

NC997 .S847 2008

Tokyo TDC. Vol. 19, The best in international typography & design

Azur, 2008

Call No.

NC997.A1 J357 2008

Tres logos : [a collection of selected logos]

DGV, die Gestalten Verlag, 2006

Call No.

T325 .T74 2006

Hyphen Press, 1996

Call No.

NC999.6.N4 M37 1996

Handbook of early advertising art, mainly from American sources

Dover Publications, 1956

Call No.

NC997 .H58 1956

The encyclopaedia of type faces

Blandford Press ; Distributed in the U.S. by Sterling, 1983

Call No.

Z250 .J37 1983

Wood 2.

Morgan Press, 1964

Call No.

Z250 .M84

Artists' Books made @ MCAD on view in the Library

NOW ON VIEW IN THE LIBRARY

Inspired by the Made @ MCAD exhibition in the gallery, the Library is jumping in with a mini made at MCAD show of its own.  The exhibit was curated by Fine Arts senior, Maura Doyle, and features artists' books from the Library's collection and on loan by current and former instructors, MCAD students, and alumni.   Included are works by Karen Wirth, Jody Williams, Kinji Akagawa, James Casebere and others using diverse print techniques, unusual materials and in a variety of formats.

The artists' books are now on display in the main reading room of the Library and the second stack room.  Stop by the Library and enjoy!

Allison O'Brien and fellow comic majors recommend

Allison O'Brien

For the fifth in our series of student recommended Library material pertaining to MCAD majors we highlight Comic Art.  The Library thanks Alison O'Brien and her fellow comic art students for compiling this interesting collection of graphic novels and comics now on display in the main reading room.  Check them out, literally!!

Thank you Allison for your insightful comments about the selections, and for sharing your self-portrait.

The items we’ve chosen strike a mark on the genre of comic books with literary and artistic vision that stretch them beyond the norm, whether it be by critical reception or occult appreciation. As a collective we attempted to pick the best of everything we could get our hands on in the widest range of styles possible to truly showcase what this medium has to offer. Enjoy the ride, my friends.

Love and Rockets is a character-driven opus that sets the standard for character and temporal development throughout a comic. The stories and characters span over years and years, growing in and around each other in ways that make it a pleasure to read and reread time and time again to become fully immersed in Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’ world.

Something more readily self-contained but just as fascinating is the award-winning Asterios Polyp. Asterios Polyp is something that can scarcely be explained through mere words, but suffice to say the sheer beauty of its layout is enough to give it precedence. Utilizing character-specific tonal ranges and constantly shifting styles, it’s a comic that forces the reader to come to their own terms and opinions, reexamining passages and artwork alike to fully ascertain even a shred of what Mazzucchelli is trying to convey. 




For something a bit more dark and gritty why not try out The Dark Knight 

Returns.   You’ll get yourself a face full of harrowing physical and psychological    turmoil that only Frank Miller can push to the forefront. It features a fresh-out-of-    retirement Batman up against the cold-war politics of a disparaging Gotham that    push him to the brink more than the darkness he fights ever could. It’s poignant,    harsh, and perfectly fitting with the Batman of our modern media.

And that’s just the tip of iceberg. From the mind-numbingly moving Buddha to the
 quirky antics of Beanworld, take some time to dive on in.