Building / Books

Author: Karen Wirth Publisher: Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Open Book (2025) “ contexttextsubtexttexturaltextualarchitecturalstructuralinstructSo begins the word game that ascends across the pages of the Gail See Staircase, the sculptural stair that unites the organizations and the floors of the Open Book building in Minneapolis. The reader travels through hundreds of words that connect ideas about books and buildings while moving through space. This list is also an apt introduction to the way I think about space and place: fluid transitions from idea to form, layers of meaning, ways of telling and experiencing.Building / Books celebrates one body of work developed over nearly 40 years. It began when I salvaged used roofing slate as raw material when I lived in Washington D.C., and was further informed when I photographed rapidly-built postmodern timber-framed houses while living in San Diego. It took form when I moved into a compact bungalow in Minneapolis.I have experienced thi