My View of Life on the Dock
The other day I got an envelope in the mail from someone in Pennsylvania named Ali Thome, who read my blog posts about the origami Christmas/Fishmas tree, and decided to chip in!
Thanks for the beautiful origami, Ali!
She draws caricatures for a living. Check out her blog!
On Friday night I taught these four holiday decorations at The Hive. From top to bottom: a relatively simple Santa, a star-like ornament, a menorah, and a modular cube (made from six modules, each folded from a square of paper, and joined together without glue).
The origami class time for Tuesday at Art Haven is going to have to change from the 6:30 time slot I mentioned before, but I don’t have the details worked out yet. I will put up the info as soon as I have it.
Mary Ann and David are getting the fish onto the tree! Today I received a whole school of more than 200 wonderful origami fish folded by the students of St. Ann School (huge thanks to Gemma Amero Flavin, their art teacher!). I don’t have an exact total count yet, but with these new additions and those folded throughout the week, we probably have close to 700! Keep folding fish to help us reach our goal of 1000!
I’ll be folding a star for the top sometime in the next few days.
I will teach one or two of these at during my class tonight at The Hive tonight. (Apparently the class fee is $10, not $15 as I previously mentioned – and folding will start at 6PM. Fish first, then other ornaments).
Hope to see you today for fish folding at The Hive! (Buoy painting is going on at Art Haven, so we’re keeping the paper and the paint separate.) The origami tree is practically ready! David, Mary Ann, and I added more layers last night to get it to a good height. We’d go further but we ran out of the right kind of paper…
So, now it’s fish time! Although we’re recommending the “twist fish” by Gay Merrill Gross because it’s quick and easy, any origami fish folded from one uncut piece of paper will be accepted.
I am working little by little through my photos from vacation in France… This one is appropriate for today, Dec. 8, on which Catholics celebrate a Marian feast day, the Immaculate Conception.
A beautiful church!
Help us decorate Gloucester’s first (annual?) origami Christmas (or “Fishmas”) tree with 1000 origami fish!
For years, people have been decorating Christmas trees with origami for public display in cities around the world. For example, New York City has two famous origami-decorated trees every year: one in the American Museum of Natural History, and another in the Japan Airlines offices on 5th Avenue. I met with David Brooks of Art Haven and The Hive, and he loved the idea of doing one here in Gloucester! The current plan is to display it in the front window of The Hive on Pleasant Street.
Our project has two special characteristics. First, we are making the whole thing – tree included – out of origami. It’s not the first time it’s been done, but it’s not so common! Secondly, we want it to be Gloucester-themed, so it will be decorated with origami fish. This honors both Gloucester’s spirit and history as a fishing port, and the ancient Christian tradition in which the fish is a symbol of Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
We want to get as many people involved as possible. In the spirit of the Japanese tradition of folding 1000 origami cranes, we are aiming for 1000 fish, so, we need a lot of help! Come to The Hive on Saturday, starting at 10AM, to help us fold origami
fish! We are folding a specific origami fish model – the “Twist Fish” by Gay Merrill Gross (from her book Minigami). It’s very easy to fold. I will be there teaching for a few hours, and I will teach a few other people so they can teach others when I’m not there. We will have plain paper at The Hive that you can use, but you can bring your own paper too if you want to use fancier origami paper. (You can get paper at Island Art and Hobby on Main Street, or at other art and craft stores.) Also, you can decorate the fish after you fold it – draw a face or scales, paint it bright colors, or whatever!
The tree itself is already in production. I spent several hours yesterday folding with David Brooks and Mary Ann DeLouise to get our origami conifer off the ground:
Plus, next week I will be teaching two classes on origami holiday decorations! We will fold Christmas and Hanukkah themed models and geometric decorations (the variety of models depends on how we do for time). Folding materials will be supplied.
I will try to post a more detailed menu of models I hope we can fold.
Another decoration for my Christmas tree! It’s a fairly traditional model, made from six 3.25″ squares of paper, locked together without adhesive.
It is resting on my iPad, running Mandala HD, which makes a pretty cool background.
I folded this on Thanksgiving from a foil paper hexagon, for my parents’ Christmas tree (which we put up on Thanksgiving!). I made it up as I went along, but someone may have done it first, because it isn’t very complicated.
Two perspectives on an origami turkey, which I folded following the instructions in “Genuine Origami” by Jun Maekawa. The background is a painting by local artist Kathleen Miller.
One uncut sheet of paper each. The reindeer is folded from a design by Peter Engel, and the Santa is designed by Steven Casey. I folded them to be among the items raffled and sold at the Holy Family Parish Christmas Fair, to be held this Saturday, Nov. 17, 9am-2pm.
Here’s a closeup of some of the reindeer:
They took me about an hour each to fold.
Hopefully, this series of posts has stirred up some interest in origami in at least a few people. So, where can one find origami here on Cape Ann?
For books and paper, the only place I have found on this side of the bridge is Island Art and Hobby on Main Street in Gloucester. They have a selection of basic kits as well as separate books and paper. They told me that they will be expanding the selection slightly in the coming days, and I bet they could order more if you need something they don’t have in stock.
Of course, A.C. Moore and Michael’s at the Liberty Tree Mall also have paper, but it’s nice to buy locally and support our Main Street economy.
You can also buy completed origami art without crossing the Annisquam River. Staying on Main Street, at the The Dress Code consignment shop you can find a selection of origami jewelry:
It is not on display, so if you are interested you have to ask at the counter. Some of it was made by Mark Kennedy, whom I know from the annual origami conventions in New York. He lacquers his work so that it has long-term durability despite the fragility of paper, and he glues pins or clips on the back to turn the origami models into jewelry.
There is also the Four Winds gallery on Tuna Wharf on Bearskin Neck in Rockport. It is a family gallery, including photography, pottery, origami, and more, mostly (or all) by members of the Carbone family. The origami there includes stand-along models of varied topics (including fish, of course) and colorful mobiles.
Lastly, I hope to be selling some origami Christmas ornaments in this year’s Christmas Bazaar at St. Ann’s Church (a fundraiser for St. Ann’s Parish) later this month (I think it’s Nov. 17th; I’ll post full info later).
If you are interested in classes, I don’t think there is anything available on a regular basis, but as I have mentioned, I hope to give a Christmas origami class and maybe offer more workshops from time to time.
Did I miss anything? Do you know of any stores on Cape Ann that sell origami books or paper, or finished origami art? Please share by posting a comment!
For my second-to-last origami post during World Origami Days, I am going to address a popular misconception (and at the end put in another plug for a Christmas origami class here in Gloucester).
Often when I mention that I do and teach origami, people say something like, “Oh, that must be great for working with kids!” While it is certainly true that children often like origami, and that many origami books and kits are aimed at children, it is a mistake to reduce origami to a children’s activity. That would be sort of like saying that drawing or painting is for kids because there are a lot of crayons, magic markers, and watercolor kits are marketed to children.
One’s enjoyment and ability at origami have little to do with age. For example, at the annual origami convention in New York City, participants range in age from small children to senior citizens. There are active origami clubs at prestigious universities – some of the most impressive origami I’ve ever seen has come out of the MIT’s origami club, OrigaMIT. Check out OrigaMIT member Brian Chan’s “Attack of the Kraken” (the photo is from his website):
Yes, folks, that’s ONE SQUARE SHEET OF PAPER with NO CUTTING!
Over the past couple of decades, origami designers have brought complex math skills to bear upon the difficulties of creating complex models, with stunning results. Some of the greatest origami masters are trained mathematicians and scientists. One of the most well-known is Robert Lang (PhD in applied physics from Caltech). Here is one of his models:
Again, that’s one square sheet of uncut paper. Lang has written an in-depth work on designing origami models using mathematical methods.
It’s not just the case that origami benefits from math and science; the same goes the other way around. Origami ideas and principles have been used in fields as diverse as biology (“protein origami”) and space technology (foldable satellite solar panels, etc.).
Origami really can be a refined art. Take the works of the recently deceased French sculptor Eric Joisel:
Or this Asian water buffalo, folded by Eric Madrigal and designed by Nguyen Hung Quong:
Or this alligator by Michael Lafosse, who, with his partner Richard Alexander, has his Origamido studio in Haverhill, MA:
Michael Lafosse has come to Cape Ann a few times to give classes.
These are examples of some truly outstanding origami artists who are using special materials. They are not alone: there are many more than I have mentioned here. However, most people are happy with much simpler work. My point is that, the next time you see an origami class offered, don’t just think, “that would be fun for my (grand)children.” Anyone who enjoys artistic activity, and maybe math, logic, etc., can find joy in the creativity and the challenges of origami.
That said, please leave a comment or contact me in some other way if you would be interested in the Christmas origami class that I mentioned in an earlier post. I’d like to get a feeling for what whether or not there would be enough participants to make it worthwhile. I would probably offer the class on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 2, or thereabouts.
Tomorrow, my last “World Origami Days” post: Origami on Cape Ann.
I promised to post on origami each day of the remaining World Origami Days (until Nov. 11). I’ll try to include a variety of themes and styles, to keep it interesting and informative. There is a lot more to origami than just birds and paper airplanes! Here’s a small sample of what happens when you mix origami with Star Wars fandom. It’s an origami landspeeder!
I folded this from diagrams in the book by Chris Alexander, which I got as a birthday present from the people who work in our parish offices – my thanks to them all!
There’s actually quite a lot of Star Wars origami out there, ranging from the fairly simple (like many models in this book) to the highly complex, as you can see on the Starwarigami website.
Next up: abstract origami tessellations!
Here’s an origami lemur reminding me that we are already half-way through this year’s World Origami Days!
I saw a photo of this cute little lemur model on the internet, and the folder was kind enough to send me the diagrams. I aim to post an origami photo every day of the remaining “World Origami Days”. Let’s see if I can keep that resolution…
By the way, all the decorations on my own Christmas tree (with one or two exceptions) are made of origami. Would anyone be interested in an origami Christmas tree ornament workshop? I’m thinking about organizing one. I could teach a variety of designs, like an angel, a Santa, a non-representational geometric ornament, and maybe some ideas for origami garlands for the tree too. For dates, I’m thinking either late November or early December.
Or, here’s an idea for you. Every year, OrigamiUSA decorates a tree in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City with origami, following some theme. What would be really cool would be a (modestly sized) Christmas tree decorated with nautically-themed origami in some public (indoor) location in Gloucester. Whales, fish, lobsters, boats, lighthouses,… That would be a fun project, if enough people were interested in helping. Am I crazy?
I folded this last year, so I don’t remember if this is the one I designed, or if it is one that I folded from instructions I found somewhere… There are a good number of origami Jack-o-Lantern models with instructions available on-line, although most of them are not great IMHO. I am still trying to find the directions I used to have for a relatively simple version made from two pieces of paper, which I used to fold a lot a couple of decades ago. The problem is, I have more than a hundred origami books and magazines, and it could be in any of them… or in some other publication I no longer own…
This origami squirrel is stashing away tree nuts for the winter. Designed and folded by me, from one square sheet of paper (no cutting, of course).
About a week ago I posted from the annual Origami USA convention in New York City. At the end of this post, I’ll include some photos of the amazing work that was on display there. To help bring some of that origami goodness to Gloucester, I’ll be teaching a class at The Annie as part of the “Beyond Imagine” series of art workshops, on July 17 at 7PM ($5 donation The Annie per participant). The date was originally going to be on July 3, and that date was informally announced, but then we realized it would be overlapping with The Horribles Parade, and that would be a bad idea…
I’ll start off with some simple models, and will work up to more complex designs as time and the ability of the participants allows. The Annie is located on Washington Street, just north of the intersection with Main Street, in the Blackburn Tavern building (on the floor above Giuseppe’s).
To inspire you to learn origami, here are some photos of truly impressive origami from the exhibit at year’s convention, folded by artists from around the world:
The first model I learned today at the origami convention: a Ryukin goldfish!
I am refining this design to teach it at an origami convention in a little over a week. This is a more complex version of the origami church I first invented two years ago:
The simple version is folded from a square. The more complex one is folded from a 2×1 rectangle.
I will be teaching an origami class at The Annie on July 3, at 7PM, as part of the “Beyond Imagine” series of art evenings. Exactly what I will teach depends on who shows up; we’ll start with something very quick and simple and work our way from there.
-Fr. Matthew Green
The other day I stopped in to the Lone Gull Coffeehouse for the first time, and to my surprise and delight, saw origami! Not stand-alone origami, but origami cranes used very creatively as part of a type of collage, by artist Kate Dagle. Here is a sampling:
She has a a variety of different works on display – beautifully combining the cranes in different colors, patterns, and compositions.
While you admire the artwork, I highly recommend trying out one of the Lone Gull’s incredible variety of soda or lemonade. They have quite a list of different flavors they can mix into your beverage. I had a “white peach lemonade”, which was delicious.
Brendan Pike’s art is on the wall in the background. It looks very nice, but I must admit, all my attention was focused on the origami…
The Lone Gull Coffee House is located at 146 Main Street.
-Fr. Matthew Green
Good Morning Gloucester 