Colette Fu

Colette Fu is a photographer, book artist and paper engineer based in Philadelphia, PA who makes pop-up books from her photographs. She teaches pop-up courses and community workshops with marginalized populations at various art centers, universities and institutions internationally.[3] Her large-scale, three-dimensional pop-up books feature photographic images which extend towards the viewer for many layers. During an artist residency in Shanghai, Fu designed China's largest pop-up book. Pop-up and flap books originally illustrated sociological ideas and scientific principles; she constructs her own books on how our selves relate to society today. In 2008, Fu was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to create a pop-up book of the 25 ethnic minority groups residing in Yunnan Province, China, from where the artist's mother's family descends. 25 of 55 minority tribes of China reside in Yunnan and comprise less than 9% of the nation's population, with the Han representing the majority. She uses her artistic skills to spread knowledge and provide a brief portrait of their existence.[4][5][6][7]

Colette Fu
Born
Princeton, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican Chinese
Education
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Yunnan Nationalities University
  • University of Virginia
OccupationBook artist, paper engineer, artist, photographer, teacher
AwardsFulbright Scholarship, Leeway Transformation Award, En Foco New Award, Puffin Foundation Artist Grant, Society of Photographic Education Achievement Scholarship, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Artist Fellowship
Websitecolettefu.com
Axi Fire Festival at the Center for Book Arts
For Our Ancestors at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists[1]

Alex, from Good Day Philadelphia, visits Tao Hua Yuan Ji[2]

Biography

Fu, born in Princeton, New Jersey, is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Fu traveled to China with a student tour and shortly returned for three years to teach English and, later, to study Mandarin and art. Fu traveled throughout Yunnan, where her mother, member of the Nuosu Yi community, was born, photographing various people in ethnic dress.[8] After returning to the United States, Fu studied photography at Virginia Commonwealth University and Rochester Institute of Technology, where she began collaging images into detailed hyperreal fantasy scenarios.[8]

Fu's well-received pop-up book series include:

  • Haunted Philadelphia explores the psychology of fear and spookiness in locations around the city, such as Fort Mifflin, Rodin Museum, Academy of Music and the Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry.
  • We Are Tiger Dragon People, started in 2008, is a series of pop-up books showcasing the diversity of ethnic minority communities in Yunnan Province in southwestern China. The books feature aspects of the local culture: festivals, clothing, dance, folklore, deities, and people.[8]
  • Tao Hua Yuan Ji,[9] presented at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, is the World's Largest Photo Book measuring 13.8 x 21 feet, and 5 feet high. People could enter into the pop-up book.

Fu's commercial clients for paper engineering have included Louis Vuitton, Vogue China, Canon Asia and Children's Medical Center in Texas.[10] Fu's books are in collections including Library of Congress, Yale University, Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Technique

On a visit to her local Borders Book Store, Fu stumbled onto a Robert Sabuda pop-up book and was instantly enamored.[11] Fu then learned paper engineering mechanics by reverse engineering pop-up books purchased on eBay while attending numerous artist residencies.[12][13]

Each of Fu's pop-up books are a single, large format spread. A good variety of her pop-up books are based on her experiences traveling to China and learning about her culture. Fu creates a digital collage using her own photographs on her computer, then "works on the pop-up mechanisms that cause her composition to explode from the page."[14] Fu does all the work herself, including printing and binding, and each pop-up element is cut by hand. Some books include up to 20 photographs and measure 3 x 4.5 feet.[11] An average pop-up can take about two to three weeks to design and build.[15]

Tao Hua Yuan Ji at the Taubman Museum, Roanoke, VA[16]
Yi Costume Festival

Extended study of Chinese minorities

Colette Fu's projects have taken her across the globe and can take years to fully materialize. With the help of a Fulbright fellowship, a recent endeavor found her in southwest Yunnan Province, China, where she studied the local population, learned about their culture and immersed herself in the daily life of its people. The project took ten years to complete, but resulted in some of Fu's most notable work.[17][18]

Exhibitions
Year Title Location
2019 We are Tiger Dragon People[16] Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
2018 We are Tiger Dragon People Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin and Marshall College[19]
2017 Tao Hua Yuan Ji: Source of the Peach Blossoms Philadelphia Photo Arts Center[2]
2016Wanderer/WondererThe National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC,
catalog included[20]
2015Land of Deities [21]Georgetown University, Washington, DC
2013We are Tiger Dragon People & Photo Binge[22]Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Boca Raton, FL
2011Haunted Philadelphia[23]Philadelphia Athenaeum, Philadelphia, PA

Awards
  • Yaddo Fellowship, 2018[24]
  • MacDowell Colony Fellowship, 2017
  • Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Project Stream Fund, 2017, 2009[25]
  • Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Visual Arts Fellowship, 2015[26]
  • Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency, 2014[27]
  • Leeway Transformation Award, 2013[28]
  • Puffin Foundation Artist Grant 2015, 2010, 2003[29]
  • Smack Mellon Hot Picks, 2010[30]
  • Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship, 2010[31]
  • Fulbright Research Fellowship to China, 2008[30]
  • Fulbright Scholarship, 2008[29]
  • Virginia Commission for the Arts, Artist Fellowship, 2007[32]
  • En Foco New Works Award, 2004[33]
  • Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Artist Fellowship, 2004[30]
  • Puffin Foundation, Artist Grant, 2003[30]
  • Society of Photographic Education Achievement Scholarship, 2002[30]

Book contributions
  • Making Books with Kids: 25 Paper Projects to Fold, Sew, Paste, Pop, and Draw[34] by Esther K. Smith, 2016. Fu's Spinning Flower Pop-Up, page 83.
  • Playing with Pop-Ups: The Art of Dimensional, Moving Paper Designs[35] by Helen Hiebert, 2014. Fu's pattern for a pop-up version of Philadelphia's First Bank of the United States is on pages 60–63.

References
  1. "CFEVA EXHIBITIONS | The Center for Emerging Visual Artists". www.cfeva.org. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  2. "桃花源記 Tao Hua Yuan Ji / Philadelphia Photo Arts Center / PPAC". www.philaphotoarts.org. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  3. "Colette Fu".
  4. "Colette Fu | 2015 Exhibitions | The Center for Book Arts". Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  5. "Colette Fu | National Museum of Women in the Arts". nmwa.org. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  6. "I Love Shanghai - pop-up book for Réel Shopping Mall". July 13, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  7. Marshall, Ray. "HUGE entry way pop-up by Colette Fu". Flickr. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  8. Lovelace, Joyce. "To Be Seen | American Craft Council". American Craft Council (August 2015). Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  9. "Internationally-Renowned Colette Fu Builds World's Largest Pop-Up Book at Philadelphia Photo Arts Center". ArtfixDaily.
  10. Irish, Alex (May 12, 2014). "The Perfect Pop-Up Art of Colette Fu". CF Magazine. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  11. Stinson, Liz. "A Mind-Blowing Pop-Up Book Shows China's Vanishing Tribes". WIRED. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  12. Lofthouse, Gracie. "The secret art of pop-up books – Libertine". Libertine. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  13. MacDonald, Kerri. "Yunnan Province in Three Dimensions". Lens Blog. The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  14. Hua, Vanessa. "Ancient Art Revives Connection to a Culture Left Behind – NBC News". NBC News. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  15. McGrory, Marie (February 23, 2015). "It's a Photo! It's a Collage! It's a Pop-up!". Proof. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  16. "Colette Fu: We Are Tiger Dragon People". Taubman Museum of Art. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  17. "Beautiful Journalistic Pop-Up Books by Colette Fu: Capturing the Diversity of China's Southwest Yunnan Province". Visual News. November 12, 2013. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  18. St. Andrew's-Sewanee School. "Colette Fu Pop-Up Book Structures". Shakerag Workshops. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  19. "College Events Calendar". www.fandm.edu. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  20. Fu, Colette; Wasserman, Krystyna (January 1, 2016). "Wanderer/Wonderer: Pop-Ups by Colette Fu : October 14, 2016 – February 26, 2017". Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  21. "Exhibition: Pop-up Books by Colette Fu". art.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  22. "Jaffee Center of Art Book Art". www.library.fau.edu. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  23. "Athenaeum of Philadelphia Newsletter". www.philaathenaeum.org. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  24. "Colette Fu Pop-up Books". COLETTE FU 傅 三 三. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  25. "Booklyn Artists Alliance | Colette Fu, Philadelphia, PA". www.booklyn.org. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  26. "Colette Fu, Fellow | The Center for Emerging Visual Artists". www.cfeva.org. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  27. "Colette Fu - trace | SWATCH ART PEACE HOTEL". www.swatch-art-peace-hotel.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  28. "Colette Fu LTA '13". Leeway Foundation. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  29. 2010. "Colette Fu". www.puffinfoundation.org. Retrieved April 17, 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. "Booklyn Artists Alliance | Colette Fu, Philadelphia, PA". www.booklyn.org. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  31. Tavares, Miguel. "Independence Foundation » View Past Recipients". independencefoundation.org. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  32. http://www.arts.virginia.gov/grants/pdf/Fellowship_Announce_06_07.pdf
  33. http://dev.enfoco.org/exhibitions/exhibitions/view/66/new-works-7%5B%5D
  34. Smith, Esther (2016). Making Books with Kids: 25 Paper Projects to Fold, Sew, Paste, Pop, and Draw. Quarry Books. ISBN 1631590812.
  35. Hiebert, Helen (2014). Playing with pop-ups : the art of dimensional, moving paper designs. ISBN 1592539084.
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