Out Popped Summer: Bugs, Beaches, and Blossoms

Wheels, pull-tabs, and folds…oh my!  On view is a sampling of the Kohler Art Library’s amazing collection of pop-up books.  The sixteen examples on display celebrate and embrace the season of summer.  The simple pleasures of going to a fair, walking in a park, relaxing at a seashore, observing the beauty and wonders of nature, reading and acting out stories, and traveling to far off become three-dimensional and interactive in these books.  These adventures, and many more, literally pop off the page in vibrant, lively, and masterful works of paper engineering. 

Most of the titles on display were generously donated by Richard and Liz Askey, Ben and Elwyn Weible, and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) at UW-Madison.   The growing collection of almost two hundred examples forms an in-depth resource for the study of movable mechanics and formats in children’s literature and art books.  Although the pop-up collection is non-circulating, all are welcome—students, friends, and family–to visit the Kohler Art Library and enjoy this inspiring resource.
 
The exhibit was co-curated by Sarah Stankey and Carissa Heinrichs, both graduate students in the UW-Madison Art Department.  

On view at the Kohler Art Library from July 3 – August 31, 2017.

Image: Shawn Sheehy.  Welcome to the neighborhood.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2015.

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The Kohler Art Library regularly exhibits materials from its collections, such as artist books and illuminated manuscript facsimiles. Occasionally the library exhibits materials from other sources.