Origami Show at Cooper Union

Brian's mom, Kris, is an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal. Occasionally she finds interesting tidbits about NYC shows, sights, events, etc. and will pass those on to us. This exhibit was one of her finds. We both really like origami, and I've had some recent exposure to it through activities with my cub scouts (they love origami and are really good at it) so we thought we would check it out. 

Brian had Thursday and Friday off for the 4th of July, and Thursday just happened to be the last day of the show, so we headed down to the Cooper Union Building, just east of NYU, in lower Manhattan. The neighborhood has an artsy feel to it as illustrated by its tiled traffic signal posts.

The Cooper Union Building is very unique and artistic -- fitting since it is a school of art and science. To us, it's design was reminiscent of the origami that we saw. The day was so hot, in the high 80's, but with humidity it felt at least 10 degrees warmer. We were so happy to walk inside and feel the glorious air-conditioning.

The exhibit, located in a room on the basement level, seemed small at first sight. However, that was only because the pieces were small in size. What the show lacked in first impressions, its pieces more than made up for in detail, color, and design. Over 80 origami artists contributed their work, and there was so much to see.

The first pieces we viewed were actually made of metal, sculpted into origami forms. The creased metal piece hanging on the wall in the left picture illustrates what the sheet used to make the pegasus form would look like when "unfolded." That is one of the things that I though was really neat -- that the pattern of folds made to create the finished form are also a type of art, when the sheet is again unfolded. On a nearby wall, they had squares each containing a printing of an origami pattern on its surface. They looked like pieces of geometric modern art.

I fell in love with these bears (also made from metal). These pictures are extremely enlarged (each bear would have fit in the palm of your hand), and their small size made them even cuter.

There were many origami tessellations (a repeated pattern) displayed as wall hangings. We loved them a lot and exclaimed more than once that, "we would hang that on our wall." Ever since seeing these, our fingers have been itching to get some paper and create a piece for our wall. We'll see if that ever happens; I don't think we are as skilled as the artists who made these.

We had never seen an origami piece like the picture below. This was folded with two layers of paper, and then the upper layer was folded down in places to create a pixel-like image. Brian really like this one.

Another thing that also fascinated us, was that some of the pieces used curved folds. How do you make a curved fold without pleats or puckers, or a series of parallel curved folds that remain the same width? The pieces with these curves were gorgeous, especially the white ones on the far left. I also loved the piece in the center photo below. I have no idea how they made it, but it is beautiful -- it looks like a piece from a wedding dress. So pretty.

A large portion of the show included origami animals. There were pieces made using the traditional geometrical folds, and then others that were made using an origami technique called wet folding. The artists wets the paper in wet folding, and molds it into shapes with curves and folds to make more realistic figures. The birds, tiger, and elephant below were made using traditional folds, while the lions where formed with wet molding.

We both really enjoyed looking at the animals. It was fascinating to see the details in each piece, some that you wouldn't think were possible to create with folded paper.

There were a lot of elderly people and children visiting the exhibit, and not many our age -- probably because we were there in the middle of a work day. It was entertaining to see the serious and analytical way in which some of the visitors were examining a piece. I caught one such display of concentration in the picture below. Haha!

Along with animals and tesselations, there were origami masks, hats, and clothing. Brian really loved the masks and the hats. I loved the dresses and the umbrella. The blue and orange dress and the umbrella were made from heavy paper. The white dress was constructed of fabric.

There was a small section devoted to origami's use in science. It has been used to create models of microscopic crystalline structures, as well as parts of the human anatomy -- hence the skull. Origami is also useful in mathematics, especially geometry, as it's a perfect way to create mathematical models.

The curved piece below was made of a stiff, plastic like substance. Again, how do they make those curves? It was framed, and just so cool. I want it! I also loved the colorful pinwheel piece in the bottom left picture below -- it reminded me of a quilt.

We both had a lot of fun and it was the perfect activity for a hot afternoon.