During the 2024-2025 McKnight Fellowship year, Karen Wirth will be working on two bodies of work that highlight her various areas of interest. “One, a 40-year exploration of architecture and the book, will be celebrated in a retrospective exhibition at MCBA/Open Book in spring 2025,” she states. “The other, based on research and residencies in the Arctic, is an entirely new direction. To be ending and starting simultaneously feels so right at this stage of my career.” Within her practice, Wirth investigates the natural environment, science, and human experience through her books and sculptures. She identifies as an avid traveler, with a curiosity and drive to learn that informs her work. 

The fellowship includes a $25,000 award in unrestricted funds to explore and deepen art practice thanks to the partnership between Minnesota Center for Bok Arts and the McKnight Foundation, which supports two exceptional Minnesota-based book artists annually. Fellows also receive a range of professional benefits through MCBA, including studio visits from a national critic/curator; a travel stipend, residency opportunity, and educational stipend; the opportunity to participate in an artist panel at Open Book; 24/7 studio access for two years; and a group exhibition in MCBA’s Main Gallery.

“The McKnight Fellowship will enable me to completely immerse myself in this work, receive critical feedback, and engage with national and international artists and critics. A life-changing moment can come at any age, and the McKnight will propel that moment into a long-term future.” stated Wirth.

April 11- June 7, 2025 (Reception April 25, 2025)
Building / Books
Karen Wirth: A Retrospective Exhibition
Open Book and Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Coinciding with the 25 year-anniversary of the Open Book building in Minneapolis MN, Building / Books retrospective exhibition celebrates the architecture-related body of work developed over nearly 40 years. Comprising the book-like Gail See Staircase at Open Book and sculptural books made with architectural fragments, the show includes earlier books and sculpture, as well as new assemblages and an installation. My interest in this emerged when I salvaged used roofing slate as raw material when I lived in Washington D.C., and was further informed by photographing rapidly-built postmodern timber-framed houses when I lived in San Diego. It took form when I moved into a compact bungalow in Minneapolis. It evolved from work about architecture to actual architecture, working with architects on a number of public projects. A catalog will be available.

Open Book and Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis MN

March 10- April 11, 2025
AC23: Climate Change in the Arctic
Central Connecticut State University
Chen Art Gallery

AC23 will showcase the work of 21 artists who participated in the summer 2023 Arctic Circle Residency, sailing the Arctic Ocean out of Svalbard, international territory 10 degrees south of the North Pole. The exhibition is in conjunction with the CCSU Annual Global Environmental Sustainability Symposium.

Chen Art Gallery, 1615 Stanley St, New Britain, CT

September 12- October 17, 2024
Banned
Metro State University, St. Paul MN

Inspired by the unprecedented quantity of books being removed or restricted from libraries, schools, and bookstores across the world, the group of multi-disciplinary artists addresses the subject. An original BANNED exhibition was shown in 2023 at Traffic Zone Center for visual Art in Minneapolis. This Metro State exhibition, also titled BANNED, will coincide with Banned Book Week (September 22–28 to again explore current and historical attempts to censor reading material and the voices that they contain. From photographs to altered books, and from letterpress printing to sculptural objects, this exhibition includes a rich assortment of responses to the banning of books. 

Metro State U Library and Learning Center, 645 East Seventh Street, St. Paul MN

April 18, 2023
2023 Ettinger Book Artist Series Lecture
UW Milwaukee

From artist’s books and sculpture to installation and public art, Minneapolis artist and educator Karen Wirth will talk about how books, reading, and language are the common denominators in her work. A professor emeritus at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Wirth was born and raised in Milwaukee, and received her BFA in art education from UWM and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Minnesota. Her book works include offset editions, one-of-a-kind sculptural pieces, and room-sized installations. In addition, she co-designed four Minneapolis Light Rail stations and the Gail See grand staircase at Open Book in Minneapolis, which houses the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, The Loft writing center, and Milkweed Editions.

The lecture, free and open to the public, is supported by the Ettinger Family Foundation.

For more information or accommodations, email libspecial@uwm.edu.

Winter 2022-2023

  • Karen Wirth has been invited to be a visiting artist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on April. 18, 2023. The visit is part of the Ettinger Book Artist Series. The visit includes the lecture and teaching a workshop for students the following day.

  • A new installation will be included in the upcoming invitational exhibition, Banned, at the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art in Minneapolis, August 12-September 8, 2023, with a reception on August 12. The show features books that have been banned, altered by each of the 12 nationally known book artists.

  • The exhibition Kohler’s Sampler: Assorted Artists’ Books at the University of Wisconsin-Madison featured four artist’s books by Karen Wirth. The show is continuing through spring semester, 2023. 

  • Three of Karen’s artist’s books were included in UWM Creates, a retrospective of student/alumni, and faculty-created artwork spanning nearly 65 years from UW-Milwaukee Special Collections and the UWM Union Art Gallery Art Collection. The show was on view in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery of the Golda Meir Library starting September 2022 and was extended through February, 2023.

  • Karen contributed a collaged drawing to the invitational pop-up show, CHOPSHOP6 at the UW-Madison Art Department Fall Open Studios event. All contributed works will be included in a printed zine.

June, 2023
Residency in the Arctic Circle

Photo credit: Arctic Circle

Karen Wirth has been selected to participate in the Arctic Circle Artist & Scientist Residency in June, 2023. The international group of artists and scientists sets sail out of the Svalbard archipelago, ten degrees south of the North Pole. The three-week residency encourages collaborative research, conversation, and experimentation to engage issues around this important and increasingly threatened area of the globe.

June, 2023
Residency at Halden Bookworks, Norway

Photo credit: Halden Bookworks

Following the Artist Circle Residency, Karen Wirth has been selected as an artist-in-residence at Halden Bookworks in Tistedal, Norway. Their mission is to further cultivate the field of book arts in Norway and internationally.

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