Open Book Takeover Open House – Amos Paul Kennedy

Open Book Takeover

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is honored to host Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. as printer-in-residence for the entire month of July. Through generous funding from The Joyce Foundation, Amos will lead a series of work sessions at MCBA where participants from community organizations across the Twin Cities will learn to print signage by hand. The prints will be featured in an exhibition spanning the entire 55,000 square-foot Open Book facility as a building-wide “takeover.”  

This project uses the Open Book building as a central artery for distribution, every wall covered with prints and placards with messages from the communities we’re working with. This work is about awakening within the masses the art that is already there. It’s about democratizing art, for everyone.

— Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.

Get Involved!

You are an important part of this project. Join us for the following free opportunities:

Open Call for Content
In these times, what does the world need to hear? What words carry the most meaning and power to you? What messages need amplifying? Submit your ideas for original poster content here by Tuesday, July 11, and selections will be printed by Amos and volunteers at MCBA. Please limit your submission to fifteen words or less. All languages welcome!

Open Book Takeover: Building-Wide Installation
June 8 – July 31
Free and open to the public
Visit us throughout the month of July as the installation grows to cover walls, ceilings, hallways, and doors throughout the Open Book Building. View thousands of letterpress posters printed by Amos and others. The final print will be hung by Friday, July 21st, so make sure to see the building in all of its print-covered glory!

Power of the Press Community Open House
Tuesday, July 18; 4-9pm
Free and open to the public
Drop by MCBA’s print studio and work with Amos to create posters for the Open Book Takeover. Print powerful messages that raise awareness of contemporary issues in our community. No prior printing experience is necessary. All are welcome. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. RSVP to the Facebook event here.

Print with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.
We are pleased to partner with East Side Neighborhood Services, Epic Enterprise, Indigenous Roots, Mizna, and Simpson Housing Services in a series of free printing sessions.

If you are interested in bringing a group to Minnesota Center for Book Arts for a printing session with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., please send an email with the subject line “Print with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.” to mcba@mnbookarts.org that includes: your name and phone number, information regarding the group you hope to bring, and why the group would benefit from the experience. Sessions will take place in the month of July. We will do our best to accommodate interested groups, but please know that space is limited.

Organizations and groups serving people of color, immigrants, individuals with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ communities are warmly encouraged to contact us.

About the Artist

Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. uses the book form, posters, postcards, and other printed media produced in a highly typographic and colorful style to deliver messages of social relevance. He uses letterpress printing and antique wood type to express his socio-political views about such topics as the vulnerability of children, his African heritage, and community activism. Much of his work centers around literary works by people of cultural heritage and civil rights activists, raising questions of race, class, and equality in American society. As a public artist, his art is not only the created work, but also the process of facilitating engagement.

This programming is presented in conjunction with the 2017 Book Art Biennial, Shout Out: Community Intervention, Independent Publications, and Alternative Distribution, and is made possible through the Joyce Awards, a grant-funded program through the Joyce Foundation that supports artists of color in major Great Lakes cities. The Chicago-based foundation has awarded nearly $3 million to commission 55 new works since the program started in 2003.