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