Pop-Ups in Durango, Colorado

 

This past weekend was highlighted by a wild west pop-up workshop in Durango, Colorado. The beautiful mountainous setting inspired lots of landscape images, along with many purely sculptural pop-up scenes. Eleven students spent two days in an intensive study of paper engineering structures, and I’m sure many more creations will be designed following the class.

While in Durango, I stayed friends Mary Ellen  and Wendell Long. Mary Ellen is a nationally known paper and book artist who creates wonderful environmental book s that change with the weather and the seasons.

We had a wonderful time looking at her work, seeing a show of fabulous crochet fashions aby Birgitta Bjerke at Fort Lewis College, and enjoying Wendell’s culinary creations.

Exhibit of Brigitta Bjerke's crochet fashions

On the Road in Pittsburgh

 

 

 

 

 

 

My pop-up workshop at the Society for Creative Craft in Pittsburgh was a wonderful mix of students from many different backgrounds. The prize for the student traveling the farthest to take the class goes to Eric Poon of ThinkSmart Training Ltd. in Hong Kong, who flew to Pittsburgh just for the occasion. In addition to a lively workshop session of pop-up construction, there was a gallery opening Friday night for the exhibition “Beyond Shared Language, Contemporary Art and the Latin American Experience,” a Latino Fest at the center on Saturday, and the Pittsburgh marathon on Sunday.

I was also able to visit “House Poem,” the permanent installation by artist Huang Xiang at the Mattress Factory. A large-scale “book” of Xiang’s poetry, I’d been wanting to see and photograph the house for some time, so here are the photos.

    

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Laura and Janet at SCC for bringing me to Pittsburgh for my first visit there.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Last week I was a guest artist at the University of Tennessee’s Art Department, a visit sponsored by their Print Club. The two-day trip was packed with activities and student critiques. Tuesday night I gave a lecture for a general audience at the school; Wednesday I had discussions with sophomore graphic design students about producing artists’ books and an evening workshop in paper engineering; Thursday I met with graduate printmaking students to discuss their work. I also had time to see a few galleries in downtown Knoxville, hear a little bluegrass music, and visit the fabulous Yee Haw Industries letterpress shop. Thanks to Katie Ries and Jason Shoemaker for arranging the visit, and to Beauvais Lyons for making me a welcomed visitor in the printmaking department.

St. Petersburg Pops!

It was warm and sunny in St. Petersburg this past weekend where I conducted a workshop in paper engineering techniques for the Florida Craftsmen Gallery. The class included a number of professional artists who had lots of creative ideas for using pop-ups in their work. I’m looking forward to seeing the results this fall when the gallery hosts a special juried exhibition of artist-designed pop-ups and paper engineering!

Center for Book Arts, New York

This past weekend I taught a lively class in paper engineering for a diverse group of students at the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan. Lots and lots of great questions, and a wide range of skill levels contributed to an ongoing discussion about what is and is not possible within the realm of pop-ups, and how to meld graphic images with available structures. Plus, it was fun just walking around the city, as usual.

Families Celebrate Black History with Pop-Ups

Sunday was a Family Day Celebration at the Smithsonian Institution’s Ripley Center. To celebrate Black History month, parents and kids were treated to a hall full of free activities, including theater performances, a jazz band, exhibits, and crafts. I worked with two wonderful volunteers, Robert and Ann, to teach kids how to make pop-ups illustrating their communities and families. We had lots of young paper engineers who participated and they took home their own pop-up designs.

Carol with Scott Simon on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”

 

Yesterday afternoon I visited NPR’s studios in downtown Washington, D.C., to tape a segment with Scott Simon for next week’s “Weekend Edition.” Scott actually made a copy of the commorative Inauguration Pop-Up as we did the interview. The program will air on the Saturday before the inauguration, January 17, and the pop-up will appear in the Washington Post on the day of the inauguration, January 20th.

The Inauguration Pop-Up

 

I finished designing the 2009 Inauguration Pop-Up today and delivered the files to the Washington Post. The do-it-yourself commemorative pop-up will appear in the KidsPost section of the paper on inauguration day, January 20th. People will either be able to cut it from the newspaper and glue it onto heavier card stock, or download and print it either from my web site or the Post’s site.

http://www.popularkinetics.com/making_page.html 
www.washingtonpost.com

Working with Kids at Washington Children’s Hospital

This past week I spent a day working with young outpatients in the Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology Lab at Children’s National Medical Center here in Washington, D.C. Under the direction of department head Dr. Sze and child life specialist Grace Tan, we wanted to see  if the activity of making pop-ups in the waiting room helped lessen children’s  anxieties about their hospital visit by making their wait a fun and participatory experience. Based on responses from the kids, the idea seems promising. We’re hoping to develop related activities, and possibly a pop-up kit, that can be handed out and constructed when staff are not available to help.

Teaching at Seaton and Hoffman-Boston Elemenatry Schools

This past week I visited two local classes to teach students how to design their own pop-ups. Fourth and fifth-graders at Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., worked on ideas for their books on artists, and third graders at Hoffman-Boston Elementary in Arlington, Virginia, created pop-up scenes related to Greek and Roman history. I look forward to seeing their finished books in the spring when they’re exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, sponsor for the programs.