A mystery unfolded in a series of Scottish libraries and museums this past fall when small sculptures constructed from printed pages started appearing on their shelves. Made with exquisite care, these tiny treasures started a sculptural scavenger hunt among the book collections of such institutions as the Scottish Poetry Library and the National Museum of Scotland. A cryptic note was found explaining some aspects of the project, but the name of the artist remains unknown: some mysteries are best when they persist. To follow the adventures of the Library Phantom, visit Robert Krulwich’s sciencey blog at http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/11/29/142910393/the-library-phantom-returns  Thanks to Sue Hoegberg for sending us this link.

Torn paper often finds its way into the recycling bin (we hope). But Australian sculptor Anna-Wili Highfield uses it in another way by molding paper into her amazing bird and animal sculptures. Loosely painted, the paper pieces are sewn together into finished animal forms. Her sculptures have a light and airy feel that transcends the “deadness” of traditional taxidermy and evokes the thrill of watching creatures in motion. Anna-Wili worked as a scenic artist at the Opera Australia in Sydney before taking off in her sculptural career. To see more of her work, visit her web site, http://www.annawilihighfield.com/cgi1/index_Final.cgi

Can’t live without the Hogwarts’ wizardry in your Harry Potter books ? How about wearing it? Ravenna Osgood, a young, hip designer in New Mexico, has been winning prizes for her fashions in Santa Fe’s Recycled Arts Festival for years. This time around she’s concocted a wearable book, literally, crafting her dress from J.K. Rowling’s now-classic texts. She’s proven herself a fashion magician with found materials ranging from coffee bags to credit cards. For more pictures of Ravenna and the Recycled Arts event, go to http://recyclesantafe.org/2009winners.htm

Aside from Washington, D.C.’s impressive monuments, museums, and libraries, our nation’s capitol has a thriving theater community. The Synetic Theater Company is one of the city’s theatrical treasures. Billed as “physical theater,” most of its performances are wordless interpretations of great dramas, combining mime, dance, and acrobatics with amazing sets, props, and costumes. This season’s Speak No More  silent Shakespeare Festival features three plays, MacBeth, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet.

The idea of a silent performance of Shakespeare may seem to run counter to the Bard’s emphasis on words and dialogue, but Synetic’s performances work on an intuitive level, using the universal languages of movement and art to convey the essential meaning of the plays. The company has also mounted performances of Dracula, King Arthur, Frankenstein, and our favorite, The Master and Margarita with actors posing as manuscripts in costumes of hand-written text.

Founded in 2001 by Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili from the Republic of Georgia, the company’s experimental approach to theater is a joy to experience. Washington visitors should definitely add a Synetic performance to their list of must-see D.C. attractions.

Brooklyn artist Ariana Page Russel has turned her medical condition into an art form. She has dermatographic urticaria that causes her skin to  become raised and inflamed when scratched, rubbed, or stroked. The inflammation is painless and lasts about 30 minutes. It’s just enough time to allow the artist to photograph herself after she’s finished her skin drawing. She exhibits the photographs, and also makes collage designs and wallpaper from the photos. Apparently she can control the pink or red hues in her designs by the pressure she exerts on her skin. For more on Ariana, visit her web site, http://www.arianapagerussell.com/

After serving his two terms as U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson retired to Monticello, his home outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, and began work on constructing his own “Bible,” a collage of clippings from other Bibles in English, Greek, Latin, and French. Jefferson was most interested in the moral teachings of Jesus, and assembled the clippings from the Four Gospels of the New Testament in chronological order, creating a sort of “scrapbook” of Jesus’s life and philosophy. He glued the cut pieces onto loose pages in four columns for easy comparison. The pages were later bound into a book that was titled The Life And Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, now known as the Jefferson Bible.

A few months ago we visited the conservation lab at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, where the Bible was being restored by conservator Janice Stagnitto Ellis. The book’s binding was cracked and damaged, and the pages fragile. It’s been a year of difficult work for Janice and her staff. Because the book is so stiff and delicate, it can only be partially opened, and many of the repairs were accomplished with tweezers.

It was a thrill to see Jefferson’s finished book, and we also enjoyed seeing one of the Bibles from which verses were extracted because it looked so much like an artist’s book with all the missing cutouts.

With the conservation mission accomplished, the Jefferson Bible will be on display at the NMAH’s Albert H. Small Documents Gallery, starting in November. For more information, visit the SI Newsdesk.

Team Florida House

Florida International House

Last week we at Popular Kinetics visited one of our favorite events in Washington, D.C., the 2011 Solar Decathlon. Featuring 19 solar-powered homes designed by teams of architecture, design, and engineering students at prominent universities from around the world, the houses were on display for 10 days at a site along the Potomac River between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The houses compete in 10 contests testing their energy efficiency and evaluating their affordability and design features. Visitors are invited to tour the houses, and students are available to answer questions.

Although Popular Kinetics is focused on paper engineering, we get many of our ideas by studying architectural and engineering strategies developed in cutting-edge projects such as these.

This year’s winner was our home-state University of Maryland entry, which focused on water management inspired by the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem. Congratulations, Team Maryland!

For more information on the Decathlon, visit www.solardecathlon.gov 

New Zealand house

A sequel to the popular “Green Porno” series of videos about animal and insect reproduction, the “Seduce Me” videos expand on the playful combination of paper props, unique musical scores and amazing costumes worn by Isabella Rossellini to describe how creatures attract each other for the purpose of procreation. A combination of hard science, art, sound and poetry, the videos make learning about the natural sciences fun. Visit the web site to see all the videos along with behind-the-scenes views of  the creators and the making of the props. http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

We pop-up book enthusiasts were delighted to see that J.P. Morgan Chase has bought into the trend of using the pop-up book as a motif in their advertising. The video, done in black and white, uses dimensional paper images of homes and businesses to promote their mortgage lending services and their role in the financial recovery. The image of a popped-up economy may be premature and the message a bit overly upbeat, but the pop-ups themselves are nicely done. Let’s hope the economy follows.

The web site for this Estonian Paper Museum looks intriguing. We ran it through Google’s translator (which did a fairly good job) and came up with the following bits of information. The museum was established recently in the city of Tartu, Estonia’s second largest city. Tartu (among other cities) claims to be the birthplace of paper. We’ll sidestep that debate here because we’re more interested in the museum itself, which appears to be doing some innovative work in highlighting the merits of paper, it’s use in 3-dimensional design, and modern innovations in its manufacture. Paberimuuseum offers a range of classes and exhibitions. If anyone is planning to visit Tartu and stops at the museum, we’d love to get your feedback. Otherwise, you can visit virtually by clicking here.