Steven McCarthy, a professor of graphic design at the University of Minnesota, has won the 2017 Minnesota Book Artist Award from the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.
McCarthy was selected for his Wee Go Library project, a mobile display built of 22 highly used books selected from Little Free Libraries around the Twin Cities. The Wee Go Library is housed in custom-built oak and pine display cases with felt-lined drawers, each of which hold books that McCarthy has altered by cutting, folding, tearing, or other methods.
Here's what they look like:
Members of the award committee praised the Wee Go Library as a "play on books, narratives and libraries," saying that it "transforms existing text for an experience that is at once random and intentional." An exhibition celebrating McCarthy's work will be on display from Jan. 20-March 26 at the Cowles Literary Commons in the Open Book building, 1011 Washington Av. S., with a reception at 5:30 p.m.Feb. 10 McCarthy will be honored at the annual Minnesota Book Awards gala celebration on April 8 in St. Paul.
