Events: Star Wars Reads

On October 6th, 2012, fans will come together to celebrate reading and Star Wars!  Matthew will be appearing at the NYC event along with several other Star Wars authors  – so come joint the fun!  

All events will have giveaways and a raffle. Select events will have authors and/or costumed characters on hand from the 501st Legion, the Rebel Legion, the Mandalorian Mercs and the R2 Builders Club.

Click here for more details about other Star Wars Reads events all over the galaxy. 

Join Matthew for Star Wars Reads!

557 Broadway (Scholastic Store)

New York, NY 10012

Event Time: 2-5pm

What's Popped Up: Human Body by Steve Parker

"Human Body: An Interactive Guide to the Inner Workings of the Body" by Steve Parker (Barron's 2008) has fantastic photos, illustrations, pull-tabs, pop-ups and other interactive features (engineered by Alan Brown and Zerina White). There's a lot to discover here for kids of all ages. I liked opening the skull with the brain inside!

What's Popped Up: Miami Watercolor Society

I have some wonderful news to share with you all!  One of my watercolor paintings has been accepted into the Miami Watercolor Society's Online Exhibition!  I'm so thrilled to be able to show my work along side other amazing painters.  Check out the online exhibition here and check out my painting below!

-- Jess

Artist Watch: Tien-Min Liao

Tien-Min Liao, a graphic designer from Taipei, Taiwan, discovered a lovely alphabet hidden in plain sight Grand Central Station in New York City. You can see the full alphabet book and Tien-Min's other projects here. Her work has been featured on Colossal, Adweek, and other websites.

-- Becca

Artist Watch: Theo Jansen

One of the reasons I decided to become an engineer was because I realized that engineering and art are not exactly opposites, as the course load for each would suggest, but rather one can greatly influence the other.  One artist that I found that walks the line between the two is Theo Jansen with his Strandbeests.  The Strandbeests are mechanical animals that live on the beach and are self-propelled by the wind.  Theo Jansen is able to take the engineering principals that would make a machine like this move, and apply his artistic vision to make it move and look like a real animal.  Since discovering Theo Jansen, pop-ups have only reinforced this notion of combining paper-engineering with art to create a movable masterpiece!  You can find out more about Theo Jansen and his work at http://www.strandbeest.com/

Here's a video of one of his pieces:




--Matt

Artist Watch: Gemma Correll

Gemma Correll is an illustrator from the United Kingdom.  Her style is simple, quirky, and quite comical in my opinion.  I love her line work and the one to two spots of color she uses.  Check out more of her work on her website and her blog!

-- Jess

What's Popped Up: Movable Book Society Conference

Three reasons this summer is awesome: I got to work in the studio and learn how to make pop-ups, the Olympics were amazing, and the Movable Book Society is about to have its 9th biennial conference in Salt Lake City!!

The Movable Book Society was founded in 1993 as a way for collectors, artists, curators, booksellers, book producers, and anybody who loves pop-up and movable books to get together and share their enthusiasm for the art.  This year’s conference should not disappoint with presentations from Chuck Fischer, Andrew Baron, Robert Sabuda, and a whole lot more!  There will also be workshops and demonstrations where visitors have the opportunity to get their hands dirty and make some of their own pop-ups as well as a tour of local book studios and a pop-up exhibit from the collection of Ann Montanaro Staples.

So if you want to meet a bunch of awesome people who love pop-ups as much as you, you can find all of the information you need and a registration form at the Movable Book Society conference website, but act fast because early registration for the conference ends on Wednesday, August 22nd!

-- Matt