Open Book

On Friday September 18th I went to a little art show hidden inside of a coffee shop. There can be no better setting for art than this, in my humble opinion. What could possibly be better than sitting with a cup of joe and looking at an artists interpretations of life. So I did just that. I was also able to squeeze in a bit of people watching as well.

The Open Book gallery is in one of the many buildings that line Washington Ave, right near the Metrodome. It is in between some other little shops and below what appears to be apartments. It has a wonderful store front to look at if you are just walking down the street.

Walking into the gallery you almost don't know what to do first. Should I get some coffee and sit for a bit, or should I walk around and see the art? Both are pulling at you, so a compromise must be made. Get coffee and then browse the art.

The floors are hard wood and the walls finished off. The ceilings are very high, so you have a sense of being in a very large space. This is the perfect setting for art. They seperate this area into three parts. The first is for art, it is the Rosalux gallery. Second is the coffee shop and some tables to sit at. Third is a larger art space that is called Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA).

The Rosalux is used mainly as a display area, as is the MCBA. However, the MCBA also has a larger part of it that is dedicated to making screen prints and books. You can also walk through this area and see how the work is done. Classes are taught quite often on how to make your own books. The other part of MCBA houses work from local artists.

There were two seperate shows I looked at. The first was called None of the Above at MCBA and the other was Praise and Punishment at Rosalux. Rosalux is a small space holding a small collection of art of about eight pieces. Even though you are in a smaller space with low ceilings you still feel that you have room to look and ponder. There are two main artists filling this space. The first is Joel Starkey and the other is Toni Gallo. I found myself drawn more to the works by Joel Starkey than Toni Gallo. My favorite in particular was one called All The Things I Meant to Say. This is a large black and white drawing of the artist himself. It looks like he has the guts of a cassette tape coming out of his mouth. In my mind it looks like it is supposed to represent all the things he had been thinking about and then never said. The other piece that I really liked in the Rosalux space was Walking Stars Crowded Self. This one is an oil painting by Toni Gallo. Here we have five people walking around on what looks like a blustry fall day. They all look deep in thought while they are wondering around. It was an easy painting to imagine yourself in.

Over in the other area where art is shown, the MCBA, was a display where artists needed to try and make something that would fit in an 11x13 envelope. It was interesting seeing what everyone came up with, but mostly there were just small paintings. Some people made what looked like invitations while others had small games or political satire. All of these were hanging in celophane sleeves and hung from a wire along the wall.

I like the Rosalux space better than MCBA. It has many windows, the ceiling is high, and there are display cases that you can see the art in. Some of the display cases are towers, tall and skinny. Also, there are a few chairs to sit in and look at the lovely art.

I didn't really like the different works of art in the MCBA as much as Rosalux. Most of them were just small pieces that most people could put together. For example one of them was of different types of currency from around the world. This is called The Bank of FUN by Casidy. It was interesting to see the different types of money, but didnt' really come off as artistic to me. Another was a collection of rubber stamps by Jeff Berner called Making A Life. I can see how this may be artistic to some, since he did have to carve the images on the rubber, but again to me just wasn't a major wow moment.

Overall I liked my trip to Open Book. It was a nice space to be in and made you feel relaxed. I think the next time I go back will be in the evening. I would like to see how the lack of daylight will change the way the art looks. I would recommend this to anyone who is an art lover and would like to see it in a unique space.