Origami, meaning “folding paper” in Japanese, reflects the essence of creativity: making something out of (basically) nothing. Start with a simple square piece of paper. Apply the art of origami, folding the paper in a creative way to produce an elegant object—a soaring bird, gliding plane, galloping pony, floating boat, or an emerging butterfly. Artist Kevin Box takes origami to another level, transforming paper into museum quality metal sculpture through processes he has pioneered in teamwork with foundries, fabrication shops, and his studio staff.
ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN, an exhibition created by Santa Fe artists Jennifer and Kevin Box, features Box’s own compositions as well as collaborations with world-renowned origami artists Robert J. Lang, Te Jui Fu, Beth Johnson and Michael G. LaFosse. These remarkable artworks feel at home in the wondrous setting of botanical gardens, since paper originates in plant life and origami is made of paper. Gardens and art are both openings into broader connections around the globe, over time, and between the human and natural worlds. And gardens, like origami, begin with little—the tiniest of seeds—and burgeon through artful attention into glorious displays of flowers, bushes, and trees.
ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN can be experienced in two exhibition sizes; a monumental show and a larger heroic scaled show.
OiG Monumental Show includes 13 large-scale outdoor sculptures & 8 pieces for an interior educational exhibit, ‘Inside Out’. Flying birds, emerging butterflies, floating boats and soaring paper airplanes are just a few of the subjects featured in the show. The crown jewel of the exhibition is Master Peace, a 25 foot tall sculpture of 1,000 stainless steel origami peace cranes. 500 of the cranes gather together in the monument and 500 are scattered into the world as individual collector pieces. A black granite base (or pond) below the monument serves as a mirror that reflects all 1,000 cranes keeping them together forever. Seeing this work of art in person is a powerful experience.