Artist Watch: Amanda Visell

I first came across Amanda Visell's work through the Kidrobot Dunny series.  She created an elephant with two people riding atop his head, and it is one of my favorite dunnies!  She also creates sculptures and paintings which have been in gallery shows since 2005.  I really enjoy the playfulness in her subject matter and the early 1960s style of her illustrations.  You can check out more of her work here:  http://www.amandavisell.com/news

xo!
Jess

Word of the Day: Funambulism

Funambulism is the art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height.

Tightrope walkers sometimes use balancing poles and may perform the feat without a safety net for effect.

Whoever is proud of his fear dares to stretch ropes on precipices; he launch himself into the assault of the bell towers; he moves away and joins the mountains. 

This is the travel to do: stand up where the wire mixes with the paper of the sky. 

(Philippe Petit)

--Gio

And a little peek at what's ahead...

Hello everyone,

Been kind of tight lipped about upcoming projects - so here's a little sneaky peeky at a future release, a fairy tale starring a certain drowsy young princess. It's her castle home and I think it's pretty cool - because it's a new mechanism we've never used before!



More to come...

Pop-up book + rock music video = Awesome Sauce!

In case you haven't seen this...



LOVE LOVE LOVE!

- xo MR

Keeping Portland Weird, Part 2

Day two of the Movable Book Society 8^th Biennial Conference focused on book artists that incorporate pop-ups and movable elements in their work. The first presenter up to the podium was Laura Russell, owner of 23 Sandy Gallery. She is also the curator of the Pop-up Now! Show, an international exhibition of movable artist books on display until October 30^th. The night before she spoke before a crowd of 650 people and carried that energy before our cozy group of 65. She was kind enough to bring some of the works from the gallery and demonstrated the various inventive movable creations.

After she had whetted our appetite with the samples from the show, we were eager to visit the gallery for a reception later that afternoon. (And I later learned that many of our more curious collectors had toured the exhibition as soon as they arrived in Portland to get a sneak peek of the works.) But we still had a full day of programming to get through and as folks shuffled restlessly in their seats, Laura announced the half dozen prize winners of the juried art show. Pop-up Now! was judged by a three person panel comprised of book artist Jill Timm and MBS boardmembers Ellen “thepopuplady” Rubin and Larry Seidman. Fortunately for the conference, two of the winners were in attendance and were able to share their work in person. Mary Jeanne Linford won Best of Show, Editioned Book for her wonderful book titled Tool Box.

And Elsi Vassdal Ellis received the Gallery Choice Award for her detailed work entitled There Goes the Neighborhood. () A complete list of the winners as well as an online version of the catalog can be found here.

Of course seeing pop-ups online is a poor substitute for the real thing so if you are in the Portland area be sure to stop by 23 Sandy Gallery and check out the show yourself.

~Kyle

Lookit this!

Last week the studio was presented with a new project-- create a window display Matthew's upcoming book signing at Books of Wonder on November 7th, 2010 from 1pm-3pm. We had to make a giant Batman (from our DC Super Heroes pop up book) flying over Gotham City. It was a big challenge since this was the first ever window display we had designed and put together on site. Kyle, Gio, and I trekked up to Books of Wonder after preparing the window pieces to install the display.

Here you can see a few of Gotham's buildings ready to be put in the window...


Kyle and Gio are ready to bind Batman's body together...


Inside the window, Kyle and Gio hang up Batman... he looks a little lonely in there doesn't he?


Bit by bit Gotham is coming together...


Kyle and I are very excited to be stomping around Batman's city (even if it is all paper)!


Tah-dah! The finished product! As you can see, we had a blast making buildings and Batman.

And for all of you in NYC, Matthew will be at Books of Wonder on November 7th, 2010 for a DC Super Heroes book signing at 1pm-3pm!

hugs!
jess