Vintage Moveable Review: There is no escape

Love is in the air around the studio so I thought I would feature another antique valentine. Like most mass-market valentine cards, this little guy speaks for itself. Which is a good thing, since I have no information on this piece. Measuring 3” wide by 5” tall this Valentine is a typical of the cards constructed in the early 1900’s. It is diecut out of one piece of stiff card and appears to be chromolithography. The mechanic is the standard single box layer, in this case of a creepy kid with a flower wreath bearing the label “Love’s Joy”. The child with the pageboy haircut and piercing eyes is kneeling before the viewer in front of what appears to be an arch or upside down horseshoe of hearts. Below the text reads, “There’s no escape my Valentine. I have your Heart and you have mine.”

A little spooky right? On the reverse we find that the pop-up has been patched but can still read the inscription: “To Margaret Munden. From Pearl Ganes.” Looks like Pearl practiced in pencil before moving to the blue fountain pen. I was excited to receive this card, but I always wondered how Margaret felt about the sentiment in this love token.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Rara Avis

Rara Avis \RAIR-uh-AY-vis\ noun

1. A rare or unique person or thing.

Origin:
Rara avis is Latin for "rare bird".

(The Asian Crested Ibis)

Weekly History Lesson: Nautilus Travels Under North Pole

On August 3rd, 1958 the U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplished the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole.  It was also the world's first nuclear submarine.  The USS Nautilus was constructed and designed by U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover who was a brilliant Russian-born engineer.  Rickover had joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946, and in 1947 was put in charge of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program.  Rickover succeeded in creating a nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule, the submarine was launched in January of 1954.

USS Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on July 23, 1958 to embark on "Operation Northwest Passage" which would be the first crossing of the North Pole by submarine.  The 111 man crew and 4 civilian scientists accomplished this on August 3, 1958.

~Jess

Word of the Day: Panacea

Panacea \pan-uh-SEE-uh\ noun

1. A remedy for all diseases, problems, or evils; a universal medicine; a cure-all.

Origin: Panacea derives from Greek panakeia, from panakes, "all-healing," from pan-, "all" + akos, "cure."

Weekly Beast: Pancake Batfish

Halieutichthys intermedius is also known as the Louisiana Pancake Batfish.  This species was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico just before the oil spill in 2010.  This animal is flat like a pancake and hops on its fins and has huge bulging eyes.  They are found roughly 1,300 feet below the water's surface.  Scientists are not sure as to how many of the fish are in existence, especially after the oil spill.

I'm not sure this is a pancake I'd look forward to eating!

Artist Watch: Katherine Baxter

Katherine Baxter is an artist who is fascinated with seeing the world from above.  Be it from the top of the Empire State Building or from a plane, the vistas inspire her maps and other pieces.  Check out more of Baxter's work on her website.

~ Jess

Word of the Day: Piebald

Piebald \PY-bald\ adjective

1. Having spots and patches of black and white, or other colors; mottled.
2. Mixed; composed of incongruous parts.

Origin: Piebald is from pie, the parti-colored bird + bald.

 

What's Popped Up: Publicolor Visit

A few weeks ago Matthew visited the kids at Publicolor to talk about pop ups, inspirations, and give a demonstration as well!  Publicolor is a not-for-profit organization that uses art to re-engage students in their education and community.  And as you can see in the photos below, everyone in the class enjoyed learning about pop ups so much that they sent us thank you cards!  It's very exciting for us to see more budding artists playing with pop ups.

~Jess

Word of the Day: Lackadaisical

Lackaddaisical \lack-uh-DAY-zih-kuhl\ adjective

1. Lacking spirit or liveliness; showing lack of interest; languid; listless.

Origin:
Lackadaisical comes from the expression lackadaisy, a variation of lackaday, itself a shortening of "alack the day"

Vintage Moveable Review: Luna Luna Pop-up

I recently learned about the fanciful artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his various creations like the Green Citadel. I also learned that he took part in Luna Luna Park in Hamburg, Germany back in 1986. Luna Luna was the brainchild of the equally interesting Andre Heller and was a traveling combination of a contemporary art park and a “child’s dream” of an amusement park. Heller invited famous artists of different generations to participate. Salvador Dali, Jean Tinguely, Jim Whiting and Roy Lichtenstein created special installations. Younger Americans Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf, along with several German neo-expressionist painters decorated children’s rides. Seeing Haring listed here reminded me of a special pop-up.

Of interest to us today is the pop-up folio that celebrates the colorful carousel created by Keith Haring for Luna Luna. This 12” x 12” single spread pop-up was paper engineered by Ron van der Meer and produced in 1986 by Carvajal in Columbia. The edition is rumored to be around 2000 so this pop-up is a rare breed to come across. Equally scare is information on Luna Luna Park and it’s success. Nonetheless, I would have loved to visit this avant-garde carnival and hope that one day I can at the very least own a pop-up artifact from this bizarre wonderland.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Aestival

Aestival \ES-tuh-vuhl\ adjective

1. Of or belonging to the summer; as, aestival diseases.

Origin: From the Latin æstas, "summer"

Word of the Day: Hoary

Hoary \HAWR-ee\ adjective

1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.

Origin: Hoary derives from Middle English hor, from Old English har, "gray; old (and gray-haired)".

Weekly Beast: Angora Rabbit

Yes there is a living animal under all that hair!  The angora rabbit has been bred for its luxuriant wool for centuries and originated in Ankara, Turkey along with the Angora cat, Angora goat, and the very rare Angora goldfish.  (Okay there was no goldfish.) These fluffy bunnies were a favorite of the French monarchy in the mid 1700s and were soon the rage all over Europe.  There are four different ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) -recognized Angora rabbit breeds: English, French, Giant and Satin.  They are usually active and friendly and make great pets, especially if you need to dust under the sofa!

~Will

Artist Watch: Calvin Nicholls

Calvin Nicholls is a Canadian artist who works in paper.  His paper sculptures have been in children's books, corporate offices, and advertisements.  Nicholls began working in paper as an illustrative medium in the 1980s and hasn't stopped since!  The amount of detail that goes into his sculptures is incredible!  Check out all the pieces of paper on the beavers!  And the feathers on the birds!  Lots of time and patience is definitely needed for these works.

Check out more of Nicholl's work here!

~Jess

Word of the Day: Legerdemain

Legerdemain \lej-ur-duh-MAIN\ noun

1. Sleight of hand.
2. A display of skill, trickery, or artful deception.

Origin:
Legerdemain is from Old French leger de main, literally "light of hand":  leger, "light" + de, "of" + main, "hand."

Whats Popped Up: The Wizards of Houston

The Wizards of Pop Exhibition has made it to Houston, Texas and this weekend starts off a series of fun activities celebrating the show. Stop by the Children’s Museum of Houston to see 80 images from 16 books created by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. Then stick around to make your own pop-up cards or pop your own bubbles in activity centers.

The Wizards of Pop exhibit premiered at the NCCIL in May 2009. It recently made a stop at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and will be off to the Noel Art Museum in September. And if your in the Houston area you have until August 28^th to take the kids down for some fun.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Pukka

Pukka \PUHK-uh\ adjective

1. Authentic; genuine.
2. Superior; first-class.

Origin: Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks".

Word of the Day: Arriviste

Arriviste \a-ree-VEEST\ noun

1. A person who has recently attained success, wealth, or high status but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart.

Origin:  Arriviste comes from French, from arriver, "to arrive," from (assumed) Vulgar Latin arripare, "to reach the shore," from Latin ad-, "to, toward" + ripa, "shore".

Artist Watch: Brittney Lee

Last weekend Harry Potter began dominating the movie theaters and it was all that folks talked about at work. Now San Diego Comic Con is starting up this weekend and the office is getting excited to take part. So it only seemed fitting that I pick to showcase the talents of Brittney Lee.

This California based paper cutter came to my attention via the great blog, Dude Craft. Her recent tributes to Harry Potter are excellent and the more I viewed her past projects I more impressed I was with her skills. She will be at the comic convention this weekend sharing her new book of work so if you like what you see stop by and say hi.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Pangram

Pangram \PAN-gruhm\ noun

1. A sentence, verse, etc. that includes all the letters of the alphabet.

Origin: Pangram is combination of the Greek pan-, "all" and -gram, "related to writing".

History Lesson: Bruce Lee Passes Away

On July 20th, 1973 the martial-arts expert and actor Bruce Lee died in Los Angeles at the age of 32.  He died from a brain edema that was possibly caused by a prescription painkiller.

Jun Fan (Bruce) Lee was born on November 27, 1940 in California.  A year later Lee and his family moved to Hong Kong where he starred in roughly 20 Chinese films as a child actor.  Lee studied dancing and also trained in Wing Chun style of gung fu (also known as 'kung fu').  In 1959 Lee moved back to America where he went to the University of Washington and opened a martial-arts school in Seattle.

Lee moved with his wife and children to Los Angeles where he starred as Kato in the TV series The Green Hornet (1966-1967).  He later went on to make films in Hong Kong where he established himself as an action star in Asia.  His last film Enter the Dragon (1973) was released in the United States, but Lee tragically died one month before the film was released.

Word of the Day: Crabwise

Crabwise \KRAB-wahyz\ adverb

1. sideways
2. to move like a crab

Weekly Beast: Rainbow Toad

Ansonia latidisca was rediscovered recently by Indraneil Das.  Ansonia latidisca is also known as the Bornean rainbow toad which hasn't been seen since 1924!  Below is the first ever photograph of the toad; check out all of the amazing colors on it!  It's pretty amazing to see a toad that resembles some of the papers here in the studio!

~Jess

Whats Popped Up: A Japanese Book

This weekend we got to see Japan’s overtime win in the finals of the Women’s World Cup. I do not confess to be much of a soccer fan, but even I eagerly watched the penalty kicks as an underdog Japanese team bested the U.S. squad. Let face it, Japan needed a win after the horrible trifecta of earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

So today, we are taking a closer look at Japanese pop-up books. Long coveted with high price tags, I can only drool over photos and Ebay listings. Today I found a link to A Japanese Book, a small online bookseller based in, you guessed it, Japan. The owner has created a webpage that showcases 60 years of Japanese edition movable books, which you can find here.

He prefaced the list with these words: “Modern Japanese pop-up and movable books (tobidasu ehon) are still at their beginning. Japan counts numerous fine illustrators and writers, and has a very active book industry — the only thing left is for paper engineers and publishers to give one another the means to realize their desires and meet our expectations! Greatly looking forward to it.”

I too am looking forward to the creative collaborations that continue to come out of this tiny island nation. Some of these pop-up books are simple adaptations of popular cartoon enterprises but as you scroll down to more recent titles you will see there are many winners; just like Coach Sasaki and his team of champions.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Deipnosophist

Deipnosophist \dyp-NOS-uh-fist\ noun

1. Someone who is skilled in table talk.

Origin: Deipnosophist comes from the title of a work written by the Greek Athenaeus in about 228 AD, Deipnosophistai, in which a number of wise men sit at a dinner table and discuss a wide range of topics.  It is derived from deipnon, "dinner" + sophistas, "a clever or wise man."

Vintage Moveable Review: Bajazzo

One of my favorite pop-up books is also one the most mysterious. This German edition is titled “Bajazzo, Die Freude Heiner Leute”. My German is very sparse but one translation I found read as: Pagliacci the happy Heiner people. This leads us to the Italian opera Pagliacci that premiered in Milan in 1892. Based on the paper and the coiled wire rivets I would place the book’s creation around that time period. The book contains seven lithograph color plates with multiple movable parts activated by a pull tab. The mechanisms are simpler than Meggendorfer and more in line with movable books from Capendu in France. Alas, while the actions are interesting and bizarre they do not match up with the plot of the opera. One can surmise that the movable book is less an adaptation but an original narrative starring this Italian clown. The 25 page accompanying text suggests that the author was a Georg Tllers and the publisher may be Burgftadt or from the Burgstadt region in Germany.

While I do enjoy the book as well as a good mystery, if any reader has more insight or information on this title, please feel free to comment below.

~Kyle

Word of the Day: Troglodyte

Troglodyte \TROG-luh-dyt\ noun

1. A member of a primitive people that lived in caves, dens, or holes; a cave dweller.
2. One who is regarded as reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.

Origin: Troglodyte comes from Latin Troglodytae, a people said to be cave dwellers, from Greek Troglodytai, from trogle, "a hole" + dyein, "to enter."

History Lesson: Live Aid Concert

On July 13, 1985, Live Aid is opened by Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the Wembley Stadium in London.  Live Aid is the brainchild of Bob Geldof, the singer of an Irish rock group called the Boomtown Rats.  After hearing news about the horrific famine in Africa and traveling to Ethiopia, he put together Live Aid to raise awareness of this crisis.

Live Aid was a 16 hour "superconcert" that was globally linked via satellite.  The majority of the artists performed at Wembley Stadium or at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium.  At the end of the "superconcert" they had raised $125 million for famine relief for Africa.

Word of the Day: Dishabille

Dishabille \dis-uh-BEEL\ noun

1.  The state of being carelessly or partially dressed.
2.  Casual or lounging attire.
3.  An intentionally careless or casual manner.

Origin: Dishabille comes from French déshabiller, "to undress," from dés-, "dis-" + habiller, "to clothe, to dress."

Weekly Beast: Emperor Tamarin

The Emperor Tamarin (Saguinus imperator) is a tamarin supposedly named after the German emperor Wilhelm II.  The Emperor Tamarin is a primate that inhabits tropical rain forests, living deep in the forest and also in the open tree-covered areas.  They live in groups of 2 to 8 animals with the oldest female leading the group.