“What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world? Well, at FreeRice it does…the totals have grown exponentially.” THE WASHINGTON POST
What a concept: improving your vocabulary while you feed the hungry world. This is one of Popular Kinetics’ favorite sites. Every English word you get right in a multiple-choice format triggers a donation of 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? But the rice adds up quickly, and every grain is essential when fighting world hunger. A brilliant combination of education and activism! Visit the web site and apply your mind to helping in this great cause.
With Popular Kinetics based in Washington, D.C., national politics is our local news. So we were delighted to find an artist who has used the pop-up format (large-scale, no less) as commentary on the current election campaign. Kenneth Tin-kin Hung has designed two 8×8x8-foot pop-ups, one featuring John McCain and the other Barak Obama. The first is titled Residential Erection: Elephant List, the other Residential Erection: Ultra Donkey. To see more photos, go to the Archives, April-May 2008, at http://www.postmastersart.com
In still animation, each frame advances the story just a little bit. The frames move so quickly before your eyes that you barely notice they are individual images spliced together to create a “moving picture.” Here, the technique is sometimes visible, but all the more amazing because the images that move are painted, then scrubbed out as part of the narrative itself. This short film titled “Muto” is by the artist Blu, shot on walls in Buenos Aires and Baden, with a soundtrack by Andrea Martignoni. It is a totally captivating adventure.
Since August, 2003, artist Shelley Jackson has been “publishing” her 2095-word story, one word at a time. Volunteers to the project agree to tattoo a word that Shelly assigns to them somewhere on their bodies. The word must be in a classic font and large enough to be readable by the naked eye. The project is ongoing, and documentation of it can be seen at her web site, www.inedradicablestain.com If you want to volunteer for your own word, you can sign up through the site.
This e-journal is a wealth of information for those interested in the book arts, bookbinding, fine binding, book exhibitions and related topics. The journal’s clean, attractive design reflects it’s subject, and each issue includes thoughtful, well-written articles by authorities in the field along with a generous number of photographic illustrations. The journal establishes a needed critical discourse on the art of the book, and record of important technical information. The issues are downloadable as PDF files. Visit the website, www.philobiblon.com/bonefolder
The long-awaited Volume 2 of Carol Barton’s The Pocket Paper Engineer is on it’s way, and will be available in late June. This volume will cover the steps in constructing four glued pop-ups: platforms, props, spirals, and straddles. The book includes ten new projects to be constructed right out of the book, plus lots of photos, ideas, and step-by-step instructions for creating your own pop-ups.
Carol Barton recently was interviewed by Mary-Charlotte Domandi on the public radio member station KSFR in Santa Fe, NM, along with Santa Fe Art Institute director Diane Karp. The half-hour segment covers a wide range of topics ranging from Barton’s work with pop-ups, historical background on artist’s books, and even a few science subjects. To listen to the full interview, go to SantaFeRadioCafe.org
The ABC web site is now up! ABC stands for Arts, Books, & Creativity, and is an elementary-level arts integration program that helps students make connections between visual art, writing, and other classroom subjects. Based on a two-year pilot program designed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, ABC is a model for integrating the visual arts into core school curicula.
A complete set of lesson plans on incorporating book arts into the classroom is now available on the web site, www.artbookscreativity.org Please pass this information on to any teachers who might be interested in utilizing this important resource! I’ve been involved as one of the artist-teachers in this program from its inception, and have found that teaching kids to make their own books empowers them to improve their reading and writing skills, explore new subject matter, and develop three-dimensional design and trial-and-error problem-solving techniques. In an era when the arts have been reduced or cut from many school programs, this is an important way to incorporate them back into the classroom as a vital teaching tool.
Did you ever want to pop up photos of your family, your pet, or your best friends? Now you can, by following the step-by-step instructions we’ve posted on Wikipedia’s How-To Encyclopedia. Just go to http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Pop-up-Photograph.
The Wikihow Encyclopedia covers a wealth of subjects, from crafts, to plumbing, to how to make Eggs Benedict. You can add the “How-To Of The Day” selection to your own Google page by going to www.google.com/ig. And we’re excited that our Pop-Up Photo How-To has been chosen by Google to appear as their feature on September 10th!
Between classes this summer, I’m continuing to work on volume 2 of my workbook series, The Pocket Paper Engineer. The upcoming volume will demonstrate how to construct and glue pop-up props and platforms. It’s a big job. First I design the pop-up projects, then I photograph them and adjust the photos in Photoshop. Next I write and illustrate the step-by-step instructions, add more examples of finished illustrations, and test out the results. Since I’m also the publisher, I’ll be “on press” in China, checking color and positioning. I’m anticipating volume 2 to be out in the Spring of 2008.
The Pocket Paper Engineer, volume 1, got a great review on the BoingBoing web blog this week. If you’ve never seen this site, billed as “A Directory of Wonderful Things,” it’s worth a visit. The review was also carried on another interesting blog, Geekdad.com.
