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December 2017
Review Origami in the Garden 2 and Manabu Saito Tucson Botanical Gardens Reviewed by C.J. Shane |
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The word “origami” typically brings to mind images of delicately-folded paper creatures that you can hold in your hand. Try to make one of those creatures yourself and the words “precision folding” take on a new meaning. The term “origami” is made up of two Japanese words, “ori” (to fold) and “kami” (paper). Origami as an art form began in China and was carried to Japan in the sixth century by Buddhist monks. Over time, origami became closely associated with Japanese culture.
Perhaps the most famous story related to this art of paper folding is that of a little Japanese girl named Sadako who was present as an infant during the Hiroshima nuclear bombing. By the age of 12, the effects of radiation had caught up with Sadako. She was dying of leukemia. Sadako believed in the legend of the thousand cranes. Anyone who could fold 1,000 origami cranes would achieve his/her heart’s desire. Before she died, Sadaku had folded more than the legend’s 1,000 cranes. By then, she had shifted her wishes from a hope for survival to a desire for world peace and an end to suffering. Sadako is remembered with a memorial statue of her at the Hiroshima Peace Park. She is holding a folded crane.
Perhaps the most famous story related to this art of paper folding is that of a little Japanese girl named Sadako who was present as an infant during the Hiroshima nuclear bombing. By the age of 12, the effects of radiation had caught up with Sadako. She was dying of leukemia. Sadako believed in the legend of the thousand cranes. Anyone who could fold 1,000 origami cranes would achieve his/her heart’s desire. Before she died, Sadaku had folded more than the legend’s 1,000 cranes. By then, she had shifted her wishes from a hope for survival to a desire for world peace and an end to suffering. Sadako is remembered with a memorial statue of her at the Hiroshima Peace Park. She is holding a folded crane.
My favorite origami piece is a little leaping frog made from a one dollar bill. It was created and given to me by a Japanese-American classmate in a workshop we took together with book artist Hedi Kyle nearly 25 years ago. My classmate promised that the origami dollar frog would bring me prosperity. That hasn’t happened (yet), but I appreciated the thought then and now, and I still have the frog.
Tucson Botanical Gardens has a wonderful art exhibit now titled Origami in the Garden 2 organized by artists Kevin Box and Jennifer Box. The origami art in this exhibit confounds our typical views of paper origami because Kevin Box works large-scale and in steel and aluminum. Take a walk through the gardens and you’ll see multiple examples of a variety of origami forms that were created with input from origami artists Michael G. LaFosse, Beth Johnson and Robert J. Lang. All are large and metal, not small and paper.
Tucson Botanical Gardens has a wonderful art exhibit now titled Origami in the Garden 2 organized by artists Kevin Box and Jennifer Box. The origami art in this exhibit confounds our typical views of paper origami because Kevin Box works large-scale and in steel and aluminum. Take a walk through the gardens and you’ll see multiple examples of a variety of origami forms that were created with input from origami artists Michael G. LaFosse, Beth Johnson and Robert J. Lang. All are large and metal, not small and paper.
My favorites include Emerging Peace – referring to the life cycle of butterflies – by Kevin Box and Michael La Fosse which is appropriately displayed near the Butterfly Magic exhibit. Also noteworthy is Paper Navigator by Kevin Box displayed in the Japanese section of the Botanical Gardens. Paper Navigator refers to Polynesian explorers who took to the sea without navigation equipment, and somehow found their way home again. Most striking is the sculpture Star Unfolding in cast bronze on steel by Kevin Box which he says reveals “the architecture of the soul.”
Winter. Manabu Saito
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Don’t forget to go into the Porter Hall Gallery to see an exhibit of master botanical artist Manabu Saito. In addition to his botanical artworks, we also see a stunning example of Saito’s art in a four-piece work on the four seasons in the Legacy Gallery across from the entrance to the gardens. Also in the Legacy Gallery is Natalie Levin’s beautiful lost-caste bronze, Baby Buddha.
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Origami in the Garden 2 and Manabu Saito’s work will be on display through April 1. For more information, go to: https://www.tucsonbotanical.org/events/
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Baby Buddha. Natalie Levin
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