Shelf Life

Cultural Event #4

On Friday, I attended the opening of the Shelf Life exhibit at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. It was a joint venture between CVA and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. The collection included a number of pieces that stretch the definition of "book" to extremes. One book included a single sentence on a ripped piece of paper next to other small objects. Other books looked more standard, but reading them required that you move to different angles around the opened book to see the pictures and story in full. I'd never seen anything like most of these pieces, so it was a very fun experience.

As for the food (which is always an important piece to a gallery opening)... I couldn't eat most of it. I'm off desserts until March 11, just as a personal challenge, so all the beautiful mini-cheesecakes and eclairs and chocolates were entirely wasted on me. They did have those cute mini bottles of soda and water, and fruit (including strawberries that hadn't been washed - they tasted dry and gritty), but not a lot of salty snacks. Better luck next time, CVA.