Copper Plate in Progress

A city is growing between my ribs at the studio these days...

NYC Maker Faire

 On September 21 & 22, my paper Montreal and I went to visit the New York Hall of Science as an exhibitor and pop-up demonstrator at the MYC Maker Faire 2013!

In addition to exhibiting my own artwork, I gave a series of free demonstrations, where people could sit and create their own pop-up cards with me. People of all ages got to take home their own fearsome shark, or their own cityscape - and some umbrellas too!

Showing my lifesize pop-up people and their surrounding neighbourhoods was an amazing way to connect with other makers, especially papercraft artists! One beautiful origami piece was by a fellow Canadian named Jonas Lobo. He had a beautiful round folded piece of paper that slowly breathed:
(http://makerfaire.com/makers/giant-dynamic-interactive-origami-sculpture/)

And a tiny city-builder, by the name of Wurlington Press!

 As well as the Life-Size MouseTrap performance troupe all the way from San Francisco!

There was an amazing kids-only Robot Foundry, with the ROBOT of FREE HUGS!

And the Texas Bike Zoo's 2-person butterfly bikes - which I could seriously have ridden all the way back to Canada in!

And of course - delicious food trucks!

The NYC Maker Faire was a pretty magical weekend to spend in NYC - and I hope the people who learned how to make their own pop-ups make some magic of their own!

Finished a version of 'Inner Cities' and I've uploaded it on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/72005553

Enjoy!

Inner City Stop Animation in progress

A preview of what I've been working on in my studio!

A Merit Badge-Making Machine!

The side project of merit badges has brought a lot of colour and happiness to my down-time. Sewing away on the metro, cutting badges out during slow moments at work, and seeing badges go home with people really brightens my day. And gives me the PERFECT EXCUSE to go to art supply stores!!

Pop-Up Workshop at Montreal's Griffintown Art School

Come learn 4 pop-up techniques and build 10 cards this Sunday at Griffintown Art School with me!

http://griffintownartschool.ca/?page_id=3404

The Magic of Pop Up Books

Recently I've been redrawing new samples to include in my pop up book workshop, and I'm really excited to introduce some new drawings and pop-ups with more layering. While in Toronto at Graven Feather Studio, they kindly took some amazing photographs of the new pop-ups:

 The multi-layered shark, which works using 4 layers of TOOTHY shark teeth!

Starting off with maquettes to master newfound folding and gluing techniques, in the workshop students go from the basic instructions to creating illustrated creations!

 Stacked buildings of St. Laurent.

Using collage pieces on a blank form, people can add any imagery of their own - even their own hands!

And a lovely example of found music paper being turned into a ribcage!

Terra Cognita at the Lennox Contemporary

Interested in signing up for my workshop in how to create your own pop up books?

Click the link below:

Pop Up Book Workshop in Toronto!

to sign up!!

Learn 4 introductory pop-up book basics to get launched into the world of transforming books! All materials provided; creativity is encouraged!

You will learn the 'Talking Mouth' fold; Boxes; Boxes with Supports; the Stacked Boxes fold; and the Single and Multi Floating Platform folds!

 The class is offered at Gravenfeather, a downtown Toronto print studio in Queen West. Spaces are limited!

By the end of the class, you will have created a working example of each of the above folds; you will understand how to choose suitable paper types; how to create archival tabs; and how to design and construct multi-step pop-up elements in your own work, providing you with the foundations for future pop-up projects!

 From start to finish, the merit badges are stacking up!!

Screenprinting

Drying Rack!

Amazing what happens on long bus rides.

Banff Paper

The colours of Banff! Handmade paper where I have recorded the shifting sky, water and rocks of my surroundings.

 

Recently I've been a papermaking and dyeing fiend! As you can see, I've been making paper with bingo sheets in them (straight from the Royal Canadian Legion Hall in Banff!), paper with swirls of sky and granite colours in them, and a ton of long dyed mountain-paper.

I love the 70's colour palette of the hard bingo cards!!

 

This map of Alberta's Rocky Mountain stratigraphy is fascinating and colourful!

Some of the inspiring colours from nature:

 

A sneak peak of the installation in progress

 

 And, of course, this post is marmot-approved!

The studio I'm printing in at the Banff Centre has the most wonderful retro Health and Safety signage. It somehow is much more satisfying to wear my safety goggles and gloves.

 

Inspired by these icons and the merit badges I used to get in Brownies (mini-Girl Guides), I've been working on my own set of real-life merit badges for everyday accomplishments!

 

(including updating my blog - finally a high-five!)

 

A little Batman and a Cosplay badge always goes well, as suggested by a friend.

 A bright yellow ink for maximum visibility!

 

Here's the first few, stitched together on the bus!