Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami
Summary | Specifications | Tour Schedule | Images | Installations | Press | Checklist (PDF)
Folding Paper is a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the evolution of origami from craft to fine art, and its stunning modern-day applications in the fields of mathematics, engineering, design, and the global peace movement. Works by 45 master folders from around the world—from countries as diverse as Japan, the United States, Uruguay, and Russia
—showcase the power and potential of contemporary origami. In these artists' hands, paper is a medium for infinite creativity.
The exhibition's 4 sections illustrate the transformation of origami into its current vehicle for artistic, scientific, and spiritual expression: 1) The History of Origami; 2) Animals and Angels: Representations of Real and Imagined Realms; 3) Angles and Abstractions: Geometric Forms and Conceptual Constructions; and 4) Inspirational Origami: Impact on Science, Industry, Fashion, and Beyond. The works range from lifelike and representational to mathematical and computer-generated to lyrical and abstract to social and political. The award-winning documentary film, Between the Folds, features 18 of the artists in the exhibition and would correlate wonderfully with exhibition programming.
Folding Paper was developed by independent curator, author, and educator Meher McArthur, former curator of East Asian Art at Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California. Dr. Robert J. Lang, Folding Paper artist and physicist, serves as exhibition advisor, and he and McArthur co-authored the exhibition catalogue. Lang is recognized as one of the world's leading masters of paper folding, and a pioneer of the marriage of origami with mathematics and science.
IA&A developed Folding Paper for tour through a partnership with the Japanese American National Museum. The exhibition has been generously supported by the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Watch a video of the exhibition opening at the Japanese American National Museum:
Specifications:
| Number of Works: | 142 works, including origami-related photograph murals, videos, books, wall projections, and woodblock prints |
| Curator: | Meher McArthur, independent curator |
| Organized by: | Meher McArthur and IA&A |
| Approximate size: | 2,500 square feet |
| Security: | Moderate security |
| Fee: | $25,000 plus outgoing shipping |
| Shipping: | IA&A makes all arrangements; exhibitors pay outgoing shipping within contiguous US |
| Booking Time: | 12 weeks |
| Tour: | March 2012 - December 2014 |
| Publication: | Exhibition Catalogue |
| Availability: | May 2014 - December 2014, with the possibility for extension |
| Contact: | Margalit Monroe |
Tour Schedule:
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
March 10, 2012 - August 26, 2012
Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene, NH
October 14, 2012 - January 6, 2013
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
January 26, 2013 - April 7, 2013
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
June 22, 2013 - September 29, 2013
Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR
October 19, 2013 - January 11, 2014
Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, IL
January 31, 2014 - April 27, 2014
Summary |Specifications | Tour Schedule | Images | Installations | Press
