"Forest Notes" - a pop-up collaborative book

"Forest Notes" pop-up book by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill

 Perhaps as a means of a concluding our involvement in the "Forest has the Blues" project Celia Walker and I went on to create a large pop-up artist's book using various components of our own work from the forest installation with the aim of entering it into the 

PCANZ selected artists book exhibition "Thinking_Unfolding".

We are very pleased that "Forest Notes" 

has been selected for this exhibition. 

I would like to thank Celia for inspiring me with the idea of
yet another project to work on collaboratively.

To create 'Forest Notes" we met for multiple "play dates" 

to work together on all aspects of the book. It often required 2 pairs of hands 

to manage the size of the pieces being assembled and 2 brains to puzzle 

our way through the mechanics of how to make certain bits "pop" and fold.

At almost a metre square when fully opened, and 1/2 a metre high,

this is certainly the largest pop-up book I've ever trying to manipulate, 

let alone to have helped construct!

Dimensions: 

 Overall size of closed book:  
 Height:  490mm   Width: 52mm Thickness: 30mm

"Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill

Approx overall size of opened book: 
Ht: 490mm W: (max dimension) 970mm 
Depth: 900mm

"Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill

"Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill

"Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill

Artists' Statement

Toni Hartill and Celia Walker are amateur botanists, gatherers, and collaborators, with an eye for nature and an urge to collect and record their local environment. The botanical compendium Forest Notes is collated and repurposed from their work for the traveling print project Forest has the Blues. The pop-up book format serves as both a repository for their assembled pieces, a catalogue of sorts, and in its opened-out format as a tactile enticement, an invitation to explore the forest depths. From the forest floor to the canopy, our native bush conceals hidden treasures, but also creeping incursions. The sneaking invasions of pest plants and pathogens threaten the viability of our forest remnants, remnants that are vital for our native species.

There are many little surprises and tricky wee features incorporated into the construction of the book with flaps and and pop-out folds, cutouts and attachments and even pieces that can be removed and rearranged (ie. the snail shells). (Snaily is very excited to have been included as part of this book and to have been given such a starring role!)

This book will be exhibited as part of the  
PCANZ "Thinking_Unfolding" artist book exhibition 
which will travel to venues around New Zealand over the next 2 years.

Visit the PCANZ website to keep up to date with the latest venues.

To find out more about our "Forest has the Blues" project 

visit earlier blogs HERE.

Also visit our Facebook page: @foresthastheblues

Thanks for visiting!