Bruce Foster Paper Engineering

Recently I was asked to design a pop-up for Dreamworks Animation. The national design firm, Curran & Connors, worked with me to develop a corporate presentation for the famous studio. The centerpiece of the leather-bound folder is a pop-up set on the studio’s campus itself, featuring characters from its six animated properties, Shrek, Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train a Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, and the upcoming Will Ferrell/Brad Pitt animated movie, Megamind.

See photos and read more about it on the Film and TV page!

The latest issue of Movable Stationery, the newsletter for members of the Movable Book Society, featured a rather in-depth profile piece on my work by Isabel Uria, a very talented, creative aspiring paper engineer. For those of you who would like to discover more information on my work, history and philosophy, this article by Isabel is quite informative. You can even get a little peek into my fall releases of Chuck Fischer’s A Christmas Carol and Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book, illustrated by Andrew Williamson and published by Insight Editions.  Thank you, Isabel, Ann, and everyone who contributed those kind words.

Bruce Foster MBS interview

Exploring the history of Pop-Up Books, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will open an exhibition of their acquisitions June 14, 2010. Curated by Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum Library’s Stephen Van Dyk, the show will feature more than 50 books spanning four centuries.

Of special note, I was honored to be asked, along with my four book collaborator, illustrator/author Chuck Fischer, to be featured in an 8 minute video that will be displayed on monitors at the exhibition throughout its year-long run. Chuck and I will be taking viewers through our process of collaboration to create a spread from 2009′s Angels, specifically the Annunciation pop up of Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.  The video was filmed and produced at the New York studio of Sean McGee.

While at the exhibition, you can pick up a take home do-it-yourself American Eagle pop-up card designed by Chuck and I.  We will post a downloadable version soon as well on our websites.

You can visit the Library’s blog at http://smithsonianlibraries.si.edu/foldpullpopturn/ for more information. I hope you all can make it to this incredible celebration of movable books. Running through October 2011.

I’ve added a new page to my site: NEWS.  Please visit here for in depth coverage of posts as well as announcements.

I’d like to thank all the great folks at The Public Library of Cincinnati and of course, Carolyn Hughes, for the fabulous reception my wife, Lori, and I were given this past week. The library is exhibiting 115 books from Mrs. Hughes’ collection, which is a very impressive number of books to display, believe me! There were over 325 guests present as I presented a look behind the curtain of how pop up books are created as well as a peek into my new work, including my upcoming fall releases of “A Christmas Carol” (with author/illustrator Chuck Fischer) and “Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book” with Andrew Williamson, of Leavesdon Studios in London, illustrating. I’ve posted photos from the exhibition here. In the meantime thank you all again for inviting me to present. I had an absolutely marvelous time sharing my work and experiences with you!

I am so happy to announce that The Public Library of Cincinnati has invited me to appear at the opening of their exhibit, “The Wonderful World of Pop-Ups: From the Collection of Carolyn S. Hughes”, in just a few weeks on April 11. Carolyn has been collecting pop up books for a number of years and has become not only a close friend of mine, but an ardent supporter in particular, of my work. Thank you, Madam Prez!  She will have 120 books on display from April 11 to June 27. This is an eclectic and fabulous selection of books for children and adults alike.

Carolyn Hughes

In my appearance at 2:30 that Sunday afternoon I will be sharing a presentation about not only how pop up books are produced (a fascinating story in its own right), but using video and powerpoint I will be discussing my own creative process. The presentation will even show some clips and photos of my newest, as yet unreleased work in progress!

A reception for Friends of the Public Library will be held prior to my presentation at 1:30 that afternoon while talented musician Derrick “Suede” Stout favors us with some wonderful music to set the tone for the afternoon. For more information you can contact the Friends at (513) 369-6035 and can even become members at the door of the reception.

If you are in the area, please visit this wonderful exhibition! You can find out much more by visiting the library’s website: www.cincinnatilibrary.org or the newsletter.

The Saturday before Christmas, NBC’s The Today Show featured Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports on its Annual Holiday Gift Guide episode. John Searles, book editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine, chose the selected books and presented them on the episode. This marks the third time in the last four years that a book I paper engineered has been featured on this annual list! It joins The Pop-Up Book of Celebrity Meltdowns (2006) and Christmas Around the World (2007) from previous years. You can view a clip of the telecast by following this link: Today’s Holiday Gift List and clicking the Play Media link at the bottom of the images….  Although I think we could have done without the Tiger Woods joke, John!  We were caught just as unawares as the rest of the world.  Although to be fair, its just too easy, isn’t it?  You can also see the telecast from 2006 by visiting the Celebrity Meltdowns page under the Book List menu above.

Last week, my friend and fellow paper engineer, David Carter, paid a visit to the studios of Martha Stewart. David spoke briefly about his new award winning book, White Noise, before leading the TV audience through his design for a pop-up tabletop Christmas Tree. Congratulations, David, on White Noise being named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book! You can download the templates with instructions, and view David’s appearance on Martha (click here) as well as visit David at his own website, www.popupbooks.com.

December 6, Kaye Guno Cloutman of The Sacramento Book Review interviewed Chuck on his career, how he came to author pop-up books and in particular, this season’s pop-up book, Angels. This is a very in depth and insightful discussion and includes a review of the book as well. Listen to this interesting audio blog to learn more about Chuck and our latest book collaboration as well as some tidbits about our next projects together…

Also, the auction for the Hibiscus Children’s Center has been completed and Chuck’s pop-up book signed by none other than President Obama himself, The White House (designed in collaboration with paper engineer David Hawcock),  brought the evening’s highest bid: a whopping $6500! Congratulations to Chuck, and especially the recipients of the auction proceeds, The Hibiscus Children’s Center, which earned $34,000 during the live auction and more in other bidding.

Last week book reviewer and blogsite, Bermudaonion, after having reviewed Angels earlier, posted a very nice interview with me about my experiences with paper engineering. Thank you for some insightful and interesting questions!

And then yesterday, Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf ran a notice about our book event at Books of Wonder in New York. See Pop Go the Authors.