I've had the honor of being invited to speak and demonstrate paper engineering at four pop-up book exhibitions held in Asia. Two in Taiwan and two in China.
The two exhibitions in Taiwan were held simultaneously in Taichung in the middle of Taiwan and Kaohsiung in the south. No sooner had we finished our appearance in Taichung then we took the hi-speed train to Kaohsiung. Both exhibits were curated by Michael Yang, an avid pop-up book collector and host of a great website called The Pop-Up Kingdom.
My first time in Mandarin!
Marion and I sign our books for visitors.
From left: paper engineers Ray, David Carter, Marion Bataille, and Kit Lau.
Curator Michael Yang arranges a pop-up book for exhibit.
Demonstrating "Paper Blossoms" in Taiwan.
Exhibition curator Michael Yang and I.
I found something I recognized in the exhibit!
Marion and I present our books to the Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung.
The Shanghai pop-up book exhibition was held in an upscale shopping mall in downtown Shanghai. It was unusual because it was an interactive exhibition for local people to go and experience pop-up books by opening them and not viewing them behind glass. The irony being that until relatively recently a lot of Chinese people could not afford to buy pop-up books produced in China.
Exhibition poster on the Shanghai subway.
The closest I'll get to seeing my name in lights!
Colette Fu's amazing giant photo montage pop-up.
Visitors explore some of the books on display.
Pop-up books on display in the concourse at the mall.
David Carter, Colette Fu, and myself.
David Carter checks out someone else's work.
The amazing Chinese Museum of Art!
In Yinchuan two months later myself, David Carter, and Colette Fu were guests at another exhibition. Yinchuan lies on the route of the old Silk Road and consequently many travelers from the Middle East passed to and fro Yinchuan leaving an Islamic influence to the city.
The dramatic entrance way to the exhibition hall.
Lots of attendees hard at work making pop-ups!
The winners of the "Make a Pop-Up" competition.
Lots of kids showed up to make pop-ups!
As someone who loves to travel it was a wonderful experience to visit all of these places and I'd like to thank all the people that I met who made it possible and for the generous hospitality they gave me!
I'd go back again just for the baked eggplant!
I even demonstrated paper engineering to a high school math class!
I presented a special "Yinchuan Phoenix" pop-up to the exhibition organizers.
And I also found time for a little tourist sightseeing.