A conversation, but not a closing

Tonight we had a conversation, wide ranging, fun, about the return to physicality in art . Jeff Rathermel, Paulette Myers -Rich and Marianne Combs led the discussion with much response from the audience.

Perhaps Jeff looks like he is pontificating and perhaps Marianne looks a bit incredulousBut, really, we were having a great discussion that ranged across history and media.

The show continues next week, through Friday, November 18. The gallery is open Monday, 10-5 . Other days, you should call ahead to set a time. I have a few appointments off site, but would love to have you in to see the show.

Time Consumed!

Though Jeff's show project gutenberg project continues, and people do come by to see it, my time has been consumed with saving the building!

It was time to attack stucco repair, before winter heaved more off. As is the usual nature of stucco repair, issues were revealed and the repair quickly doubled in scope and price. There was rotting along the foundation line...now fixed. Phew! It could have been so bad! Really bad!!! But Donnelly Stucco found it in time.

Another Opening, Another Show

project gutenberg project proved to be a very busy opening with lots of "red dots." So many red dots that I really did not have time to shoot photos of the crowd until we were down to the few lingerers!


They were really NICE lingerers...writer Betty Bright, artists Paulette Myers-Rich & Jodi Williams, gallerists Steve and Karen Sugarmen.

project gutenberg project opens FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 7pm

 project gutenberg project opens TOMORROW! 
Friday, September 23, 7-10 pm. The food and beverages are chilling.  The lights are set, the floor needs sweeping, the trim on the new shop windows is painted.  

Now:  BEGIN!

I am so excited!  It is a simply beautiful show.

You must come see to believe it.  Jeff Rathermel has created an installation that is a cross between a bookstore, a library and a cabinet of curiosity!

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

Sept 23-November 18

About installing art

 Jeff Rathermel is a master!  His show, project gutenberg project, is a series of groupings around a topic.  The green sheets are the titles of the series.  The red sheets are cut to the precise size of the artwork being installed.  They are laid out in their precise grids before any artwork actually is hung.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

An orderly procession

Project Gutenberg, the online archive of literature, ironically destroys printed books in order to salvage the information. Ironically, the process turns well ordered, collated text into a collection of dis-bound, chaotic materials that may or may not convey conventional information to us.With the project gutenberg project Jeff Rathermel has collected this discarded material and compiled and re-oredered it into comprehensible collections of information. He has reconsidered the book in all its parts and has chosen attributes to highlight.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

Gotta Love that Laser Level!

Jeff has the coolest tools!

What a cool laser level!

Without a laser level, this is how I would have hung the show!

project gutenberg arrived today

Boxes upon boxes and bags upon bags of artwork arrived today.  It is always hard to believe that a well ordered show comes out of the chaos of an install...But then there are people like Jeff Rathermel who are so organized and so experienced that anything other than order is unimaginable.

project gutenberg project

by Jeff Rathermel

September 23- November 18, 2011

Opening Reception Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

PROJECT GUTENBERG PROJECT

PROJECT GUTENBERG PROJECT

Saved words, broken books, new appreciation

September 23- November 18

Jeff Rathermel is the executive director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts. But he is also an artist. Running a non-profit often saps his energy and thought processes for studio work. It is with great relief and excitement that he presents the Project Gutenberg Project, opening Friday, September 23 at Susan Hensel Gallery.

More and more, we are giving up the tangible for the digital. Project Gutenberg Project responds to this by celebrating the material beauty of the book and the value of tactile experience. Using book remains to create two and three dimensional work, this project both embraces and criticizes the power of technology to shape our understanding of the world.

The idea for the project grew out of a donation received by the Minnesota Center for Book: broken, dis-bound, trashed books. There were great works of literature, minor literary works, beautiful papers, illustrations, bits and pieces of varying quality that were the remains of the process of digitizing libraries undertaking by Project Gutenberg. In order to save the words, the books were destroyed. The organization could use little of what remained. Jeff Rathermel looked at these remains with the eyes of an artist who has been devoted personally and professionally to book and paper arts for years.

Project Gutenberg Project may be viewed simply at face value - a commentary on digital libraries and the "demise" of physical books - but it also has deeper underpinnings that explore notions of aesthetics, immediacy, cultural values and the basic human need to engage all senses to most effectively and satisfactorily experience the world they live in. And the reasonably priced objects and publications are just plain beautiful.

The show opens at Susan Hensel Gallery Friday, September 23, with a reception from 7-10pm. Also join Jeff for a closing event ,Keep in Touch: Physicality in Contemporary Art , on Friday November 11, 7-9pm, when he will be joined in conversation by Marianne Combs and Paulette Myers-Rich.

What: Project Gutenberg Project, by Jeff Rathermel

Where: Susan Hensel Gallery, 3441 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis

When: September 23-Nov 18

Opening Reception : Friday, September 23, 7-10pm

Closing Conversation : Friday, November 11, 7-9pm

A certain nostalgia is in the air

Jeff Rathermel's show, project gutenberg project, opens September 23. It successfully combines a certain nostalgia for old books, the irony of their destruction in service of salvation, and a new appreciation for the beauty of their materiality, even in their broken status.

About Project Gutenberg Project

Project Gutenberg Project Description: Commentaries on the pace of everyday life are far from unique but remain important as humans increasingly forfeit physical relationships for digital immediacy. The Project Gutenberg Project celebrates the beauty of book structures, honors traditional book art processes, exposes overlooked materials, and draws attention to the gratification that comes from tactile experiences. Using the remains of books scanned into digital libraries, Project Gutenberg Project speaks to the lack of physicality in contemporary art and the trend toward fetishizing book objects. Full of irony, the project both embraces and criticizes technology while elevating and violating its subject matter. Equal parts commentary, prophecy and preservation, the Project Gutenberg Project compels viewers to reflect on their interactions not only with books, but with all physical objects in their lives.

Project Gutenberg Project?

Jeff Rathermal, Executive Director of minnesota Center for Book Arts, stopped by the other day to show me how his exhibition, The Project Gutenberg Project, was coming along. He has been hard at work in his studio, working with the detritus from the Gutenberg Project. The Gutenberg Project disassembles old books, of varying value and states of repair, and digitizes them for posterity. You can actually download some from the internet. The gathering of the information is laudable, but the destruction of the books is sad. He has been examining the scraps, working with them to make beautiful objects that also comment on the irony of destroying to preserve.

Project Gutenberg Project

opens September 23, 2011

reception 7-10pm.