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Bruce Foster
PAPER ENGINEER, DESIGNER, WRITER, AND SPEAKER
How He Got Started
Bruce has been designing with paper since the late 80’s when, as a freelance graphic designer, he was tasked with creating a pop-up marketing piece for Hi-C Juices. Having dabbled with sculptural art in graduate school, the opportunity to convert flat graphic design into movable and three dimensional art was transformative. As such, Bruce has since designed more than 60 pop-up books and countless other pop-up and movable creations for large publishers, museums, packagers, corporations and individuals. He has created an elaborate three dimensional book for the Harry Potter films, worked with industry icons like Mo Willems, Buzz Aldrin, and Paige Braddock, and even provided paper engineering for the Disney film, Enchanted!
A Dynamic Speaker
An energetic and entertaining speaker, Bruce visits elementary schools often, and has also given presentations to adult audiences at The Smithsonian in Washington DC; The Public Library in Cincinnati, OH; The Dennos Museum in Traverse City, MI; the IDA Center in Seoul, South Korea; and most recently, was the keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary conference of the Movable Book Society.
Current Affiliations and Duties
Bruce is proud to be affiliated with the two outstanding organizations, the Movable Book Society and the Houston chapter of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Bruce serves as the Editor-in-Chief and designer of the quarterly magazine for the MBS, Movable Stationery, often writing articles for this and other publications. The MBS is the world’s largest organization of pop-up and movable book creators and collectors. While the magazine is a member’s only premium, I invite you to view one issue here. If you are a fan of pop-up books, I highly encourage you to join the MBS to meet paper engineers and collectors from around the world. And you will receive all the other benefits of membership.
The SCBWI is the international professional organization for authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults with chapters throughout America and the world. Bruce has been a member since 2011, but has served as the Houston Chapter’s webmaster and newsletter editor for the past 8 years. The SCBWI is an excellent and supportive environment for published and unpublished authors and illustrators alike. If you want to become a children’s book professional, make this a must for membership. So many successful authors attribute membership here for their path to this career.
Beginnings
Originally from St. Francisville, a small plantation town in Louisiana, Bruce attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville before meeting the love of his life, Lori, in Florida. Bruce and Lori have raised two wonderful girls (Nicole, now an RN, and Lydia, pastry chef, dog whisperer, and student on her way to joining her sister as an RN) after moving to Houston, TX in the mid-80’s.
Contact Information
T: +1 832-594-8939
Exhibitions and Adult Speaking Engagements
Presenter, The Movable Book Society Conference, October 2021, Denver, CO
Artisan-in-Residence, The Ocean House, Westerly, RI.
September 2021
Editor-In-Chief and Art Director, Movable Stationery, the quarterly newsletter of the Movable Book Society. 2018 to present. See sample issue here.
Keynote Address, The Movable Book Society 25th Anniversary Conference, Kansas City, KS. 2018
AtoZ: Marvels in Paper Engineering, The Movable Book Society’s 25th Anniversary collection. Judge and Designer of the exhibition logo pop-up, 2018.
Logo design by Isabel Uria
The Dennos Art Museum, Traverse City, MI. 2014
IDA Center, Pop-Up World Exhibition, Seoul, South Korea. 2013
The Cincinnati Public Library, Cincinnati, OH. 2012
Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn.
With Chuck Fischer at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC 2010.
Exhibition, Address and Video.
His work has appeared in these prestigious publications.
The Movable Book Society Meggendorfer Awards 1998-2018.
Kyra Hicks 2018
Hermann Geiger Fondazione Culturale Exhibition
POP UP La Magia Dei Libri. 2018
World Pop-Up Art by Art Center IDA in Seoul, South Korea. 2013
Playing with Pop-Ups by Helen Hiebert, Quarry Press. 2012
L’Art du Pop-Up et du livre anime by Jean-Charles Trebbi,
Paris, France. 2012