The Magic Merton Pop-up Book

Paul Johnson, a Visiting Research Fellow in Creative Arts at Merton, makes books like no other artist, for they are brilliantly coloured sculptures with towers, turrets and pinnacles with doors and windows that open and close. And that is just the cover!

During his creative fellowship residency at Merton, Paul has made the ‘Magic Merton Pop-up Book’. To gain entry to it you must first unlock the clasp and then the chapel, hall, library and other buildings and the college gardens jump out as you turn the pages. The whole book contains several thousand parts. What is really unusual is that the pop-up pages have no folds. And – wait for it - the book can be taken to pieces and put back together again. Wow!

At the presentation he will demonstrate the evolution of his Merton book from flat sheets of paper to book sculpture, and display the sketchbooks, drawings, designs and models made during the Hilary term.

The event will be followed by a reception. 

What's more

Demonstration Workshop
Date: 18 February 2025
Time: 5.15pm
Venue: Hawkins Room

Hands on Pop-up workshop
Date: 25 February 2025
Time: 5.15pm
Venue: Howard Stringer Room
 

About Paul Johnson

Paul has made books with over 100,000 people worldwide, mostly children - the youngest aged three, the oldest, ninety-five. He has received numerous awards for his sculptural pop-up books, including the Meggendorfer prize from the Movable Book Society and in 2024, the People’s Choice award of the Society of Bookbinders international competition. The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore holds his archive, and there is a collection of his work in the Bodleian Library. He is donating the Magic Merton Pop-up book, and all the models, sketchbooks and drawings made this term to Merton College.