Bruce Foster Paper Engineering

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 host an exhibition of their acquisitions through the summer of 2011. Curated by Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum Library’s Stephen Van Dyk, the show features 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. You can now view this video online! Click here to see it. Chuck and I take 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!

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.

Books of Wonder Pop-Up Celebration 2009

Just returned from New York where I had been invited by the store’s owner, Peter Glassman, to attend the annual Books of Wonder Pop-Up Celebration. It was a fantastic experience that allowed me to present my four new books for the fall, see some old friends and make lots of new ones. Also present was Kyle Olman, Matthew Reinhart, Sam Ita, David Carter, Chuck Fischer, and Bert Fink. Kyle presented his new book of sign language for toddlers, Baby Signs; Matthew his newest release, Nursery Rhymes; Sam showed us his Christmas Tree in a Box; David the last in his incredible abstract art series, White Noise; Chuck walked us through our newest collaboration, Angels; Bert gave us some wonderful backstory to The Sound of Music for which he adapted the text; and I spoke about my other two books, Mo Willems’ Big Frog Can’t Fit In and Sports Illustrated Kids’ Wow! The Pop-Up Book of Sports. See photo.

While in New York I, my wife Lori, and my good friends, Gene Vosough, Beth Bugler (my talented creative director from Sports Illustrated Kids), and her husband Tom dined at the Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, Nougatine. The executive pastry chef is the renowned chef/author Johnny Iuzzini, with whom I am planning a future book. Johnny surprised us with a mind-boggling display of cutting edge desserts that have to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Thank you, Johnny! Then Johnny reacted in his customarily understated way to our pop up book of sports.

And I want to remind everyone about the Little Auction That Could (see previous story below). This online auction for a new library for The Hibiscus Childen’s Center is up and running. There are some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities here, including some great pop-ups. You can bid on a group of 75 books signed by an incredible group of celebrities, authors, and illustrators, including President Obama himself, who signed my friend Chuck Fischer’s White House pop up book. I myself have two interesting entries available here. My Sports Illustrated Kids book was signed by none other than Serena Williams, as seen popping up in the photo with Johnny. I also donated and signed a vintage, collector’s edition three volume set of The Lord of the Rings, the book I selected as my most influential childhood book. I would probably not be a designer if not for that book. Really. This is a great cause and an exciting opportunity for you book collectors. Lets get bidding!

Johnny Iuzzini

My friends at Sports Illustrated Kids have made a video giving a sneak peek at the development of Wow! Included are glimpses of a couple of my developing dummies and a nesting sheet from the printer prior to cutting out the pieces.

Still trying to learn how to post videos using this program, but in the meantime, this link will suffice….

Wow! Pop Up Book of Sports YouTube video