Halifax gets its own pop-up book

Local artist Brad Hartman releases ‘Halifax Pop-Up’, a manual that recreates landmarks like the Public Gardens, Peggys Cove and more as beautiful, three-dimensional art

CITYnews \ Steve Gow

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There have been countless historical accounts, photobooks, annual calendars and even colouring books dedicated to Halifax but paper engineer Brad Hartman will be delivering the city it’s very first pop-up book.

In bookstores soon, Pop-Up Halifax is a beautiful, hand-designed manual that captures some of the most famous landscapes in the province. Brought to life in the organic three-dimensional artform, Hartman has captured such iconic sites as the Halifax Harbourfront, Lawrencetown Beach and even Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where many victims of the Titanic disaster are famously laid to rest.

“I feel like there was some really obvious landmarks you’d want to represent in Halifax like Public Gardens — such an iconic place — or Peggys Cove,” says Hartman of how he decided on what landmarks to include in Pop-Up Halifax. He adds that he felt compelled to showcase many of the top locations that most out-of-town tourists would ideally visit. “There are some really beautiful landscapes all over Nova Scotia but I really tried to keep it in the city.”

If Hartman’s pop-up art looks familiar, it may be because the artist also designs greeting cards under the moniker bardbardbard, which are showcased in select gift stores and shops around HRM. It was through his work on the pop-up greeting cards that Hartman decided to craft a similarly-themed book.

“Most of my card designs are Halifax-themed. I am originally from Ontario and I moved here about a decade ago and immediately fell in love with the place,” say Hartman. When he originally came to Halifax, he was intent on only staying for a year or two. However, he soon met his partner, married and felt embraced by the city. “I just wanted to make a little love letter to the place that welcomed me into the fold as it were.”

Hartman has only been working in pop-up art since 2018 after he stumbled upon a YouTube instructional video about the art form — which, some say, has a history that stretches back as early as the 14th century.

“I just happened to cross a video of a pop-up book and I thought to myself, that looks pretty interesting — lets see if I can do it,” notes Hartman, who spent approximately eight months designing and constructing a pop-up project for a friend just to see if he could do it.

Soon after realizing his hidden talent for the craft, he began to create pop-up art for sale at markets and online.

In fact, Hartman will be at the Halifax Crafters Society Winter Market, a three-day event at the Olympic Centre on Hunter Street from December 3 to 5 where he hopes he will have his book available. Unfortunately, the release of Pop-Up Halifax has already experienced some delays.

“I don’t think I heard the term supply chain before this year,” laughs Hartman.

As Halifax’s leading paper engineer and pop-up artist, Hartman is sure to gain some attention for his new book once it does arrive. While he is certainly glad to see the book finally come to fruition, he admits it did take about 14 months to complete Pop-Up Halifax.

“A lot of it is trial and error,” notes Hartman, adding that, not unlike painting, much of the prep work involves drawing and sketching before he even tackles the practical design of the book.

“I just start folding some paper and see what happens — there’s a lot of gluing and cutting away (and) you have to work it out quite a number of times to come up with the final thing. Most pages take me about 20 to 30 builds and rebuilds to really hone in on the final pop-up,” adds Hartman. “(It’s a) labour of love for sure!”

To order Pop-Up Halifax or for more information, visit the website.