Welcome! Updated: July 9, 2015
Summer 2015 exhibitions opening through late August:
The Contained Narrative at the MCBA in Minneapolis closes July 26.
Making Matters at the Peters Valley Gallery, Layton NJ, opened on May 30th; it will close on August 2nd.
I’ll have some outdoor installations at the au-gust festival, along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and at Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale NY, August 7 -29.
Unusually Natural opens at the Guenzel Gallery at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County, Wi, on August 21st and runs through October 15.
Embarassment of Riches: Perspectives on Sustainability opens at the Altgeldt Museum, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL on August 25 and runs through October 24.
and
I have a small article in the summer 2015 issue of Hand Papermaking magazine, which is out now.
and
There are still a few spaces open in two of my summer classes in July - August.
Recent Updates:
2015:
New on the site:
I’ve added a page to address FAQ for curators.
New artwork: a page for the new 2D Blood Root series, another new 2D work and a book, all currently on exhibit through June 6 at ZIA Gallery (below)
Two exhibitions opened recently:
On Saturday, April 25, Lisa A. Frank and Melissa Jay Craig opened at ZIA Gallery in Winnetka, IL. The show runs through June 6th.
On April 8, The Contained Narrative: Defining the Contemporary Artists’ Book opened at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts in Minneapolis. Curated by Cathy Ryan and Jeff Rathermel, the exhibition runs through July 26 in association with the MCBA’s 2015 Book Arts Biennial. It includes a substantial installation of (S)Edition.
Women’s Studio Workshop’s Lizz Thabet recently interviewed me for the WSW Alumnae Spotlight series; she asked some thoughtful questions!
Abecedarian Gallery recently published an excellent review of my book Manifest, O by Heather Doyle-Maier.
Secreto De Papel featured my work, and, though I am not on Pinterest, pinner Bethany Kingham set up a Melissa Jay Craig page. Thank you both!
(S)Edition continues to bounce around the internet, and during the past few weeks, was featured on Saatchi Gallery’s twitter, instagram and google+ pages, on the librarian’s site Making It Happen, and on Ethos, Eggheads Altervista, wtouatio, Cretique, Creative Spotting, Kurbits and Gingasia. And though I am not on Tumblr either, I now have a page there. Wow!
Last But Not Least: All three of my summer classes are now open for registration!
In February and March, (S)Edition went a bit viral. It was featured on several international art, design and visual culture sites, as well as a few ‘cool stuff’ sites:
This Is Colossal, npr Books, Make Zine, Oddpad, Culture Designers, My Modern Met, Green Chair Press, Archie McPhee’s Geyser of Awesome, El Comercio, Hoyfrases, Alternoplis, Dianov-Art, Bloggokin, Érectile, Hefeiwomen, Magnética, Kulturologia, Broadsheet, arteallimite, BthatW, Huadong Artron, Fubiz, Caracteres, Yuntoo, Arredo e Convivio, UPSOCL, waaaat?, Minki, Rublevskiy, PostLive, Pento, Chambre 237, and many tumblr sites, including the Austin Public Library’s. I know I've probably missed a few (my apologies.) I’m not on twitter or instagram. Amazing! Thank you all.
I’m excited to be involved in Women’s Studio Workshop’s au gust festival this summer!
In print, I’m very happy that a detail of That’s Life is the cover of the current Spoon River Poetry Reiew, my second!
I hope to have the 2015 exhibition schedule up soon, as links become available. There are currently seven shows planned. The first opened January 5 at the Christopher Gallery, Prarie State College, just south of Chicago. It closed in February.
I plan to teach three summer classes in the east and midwest.
And, new on the site, the Paper Bookworks are turning a page, and the Monitors have evolved.
I’m working on a new series, begun at Ragdale, coming in the spring.
2014:
I was unbelievably fortunate to have had the opportunity to extend my stay at the Ragdale Foundation from late October till mid-December, where I was also surprised and quite honored to learn that I was selected to be the 2014 Prairie Fellow.
Opening November 22nd, I’m happy to be included in ZIA Gallery’s annual group show, my final exhibition of 2014 (and first of 2015).
I’m honored to be included in Pulp Culture: Paper Is The Medium, opening September 21 and running through December 7 at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey.
The Morgan Conservatory recently exhibited “Revive and Renew: Contemporary Artists and Eastern Papers” - an excellent show accopanied by a beautiful catalog, which contains short essays about the appeal of Eastern fibers by each artist. Catalogs are available from the Morgan at $10 each plus shipping.
I’m quite pleased to have had a work chosen to illustrate Aimee Lee’s article “Cultivating Hanji in America” in the Summer 2014 issue of Surface Design Journal. It’s a lovely layout.
The Project Journal for The Monitors is now live and up to date, including the latest installation!
I’m very happy to have a detail of LISTEN as the cover for the Summer 2014 issue of the Spoon River Poetry Review.
2014 Exhibitions:
February 22 - March 15, To Summon Spring, ZIA Gallery, Chicago IL
March 24 - June 1, Intertwined: Words and Art, University of Chicago Medicine Gallery, Chicago IL
April 4 - August 10, Boundless: The Book Transformed in Contemporary Art, Mesa Art Museum, Arizona
April 25 - June 7, Fiber In Flux, Morgan Conservatory Group Exhibition, Heights Arts, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
June 20 - August 2, Pulp Mastery: Mary Ellen Long and Melissa Jay Craig, Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, Colorado
June 20 - August 2, Paper Work, Center for Visual Arts, Metropolitian State University, Denver, Colorado
August 1 - September 20, Revive and Renew: Contemporary Artists and Eastern Papers, The Morgan Conservtory, Cleveland, Ohio
September 21 - December 7, Pulp Culture: Paper Is The Medium, Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey
November 22 - January 2015, Gallery Artists Group Exhibition, ZIA Gallery, Chicago IL
Older News:
I was so pleased to have work in two simultaneous shows in Denver, Colorado, which opened June 20th and ran through August 2nd.
The venerable book arts gallery, Abecedarian, featured numerous paper-based book works, and, across the street at Metropolitan State University’s Center for Visual Arts were larger, non-book pieces in the group exhibition Paper Work.
I’ve added new pages to the site, including The Monitors, Paper in the Landscape, and 2D Paper.
I’m very pleased to have been featured in an article by Katie Rose McEneely in Sheridan Road Magazine, and to have a lovely, articulate mention in an interview with special collections librarian Allison Jai O’Dell in Fine Books and Collections Magazine.
I was pleased to participate in Emily Martin's Pantone Postcard Project. I can’t keep up with all the places it’s been shown, so check out the page.
I'm very happy to have been included in Susan Mills' excellent podcast series, Bookbinding Now, interviewed by Meredith R. Winer, Founder/ Director of the innovative Transit residency program.
I'm honored to have been interviewed by the wonderful Nora Maynard for her series on Book Arts in the online section of the literary magazine Ploughshares.
I'm very pleased to be able to to offer you the opportunity to read Without Words, an excellent interview by Richard Minsky for his column in Fine Books and Collections magazine, in the Autumn 2012 issue.
Here is another excellent Q&A interview by Shannon Gallagher for ZIA: Gallery.
I'm proud to have contributed the back cover notes to Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking by Aimee Lee, published by Legacy Press (October 2012).
I'm honored to be included in the 21 International Contemporary Paper Artists section of Helen Hiebert's new dvd, The Papermaker's Studio Guide, released in Fall 2012.
IdeaStream at WVIZ/NPR & 90.3WCPN radio in Cleveland, Ohio, devoted a show to Rust Belt Chic. I'm pleased to have been interviewed for David C. Barnett's segment, beginning at 8:40.
Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology is now available. I'm happy to be included in an article about odd early art activity by David C. Barnett: Tales of the Regional Art Terrorists.
I was honored to have been chosen as an inspiration for Laurie LeBreton's lovely paper installation River Song, in Inspired By: Celebrating Illinois Women Artists, August 24 - September 27 at Woman Made Gallery, Chicago.
I was pleased to see (S)Edition featured in a lovely article in Quiet Lunch Magazine.
I'm happy to have a few works included in 1000 Artists' Books, edited by Sandra Salamony and Donna and Peter Thomas. Available here or better yet, at your local bookstor
