The word “origami” means “folding paper” in Japanese, and the art focuses on making something out of almost nothing. Simple squares of paper become a soaring bird or galloping horse. An exhibit opening this weekend at Botanica features metal sculptures inspired by origami.
The all-ages event is titled Origami in the Garden. Kevin and Jennifer Box have brought their love of paper folding to over 3 million visitors through their traveling exhibit of large sculptures, which Kevin and other collaborators have constructed.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle of Botanica, a mother asks her child, “Do you want to learn how to make a paper crane?”
Kevin and Jennifer notice the child’s interest and revel in the inspiration they have provided for their audience.
“They’re going to go home and talk about it and get a piece of paper [and] play,” Jennifer said.
‘We believe in inspiration as a revenue stream, actually,” Kevin said. “So it's not all about money, right?”
They host over 12,000 people through their garden each summer. They offer paper folding instruction and give kids an extra nudge to discover the art of folding paper.
“They come out,” Jennifer said, “and we have a folding table set up at all times. And they'll hesitate, and my team will just say, ‘No, come sit down. You're going to fold with us.’ Because if you ask, they'll say ‘no.’ But once they do it, they walk away … so proud. They don't want to bend any of it, and they're like, ‘I made this beautiful thing.’”
“So another thing that's cool about paper folding is that it is something that every culture on earth that has either developed on their own or adapted the technology of paper,” Kevin said. “It's a natural response to begin folding it.”
Folding paper has been a lifelong pursuit for Kevin. On a walk through the garden, he points out one of his earliest pieces.
“I pioneered this technique of casting paper into museum-quality metals,” Kevin said. “…It takes seven decisions to transform a blank page into a functional paper airplane; each page is a symbol. Whether you're an artist or a writer or a musician or a mathematician or an entrepreneur, we all know that feeling of standing and staring at blankness and going, ‘Okay, what am I going to make out of nothing? Right?’”
Jennifer said the program has taken off with children and high school students. She said that all you need to do to solve any problem is to relate it to the process of making paper airplanes.
“When we do tours, we talk about [how] it takes seven decisions to make this piece of paper fly,” Jennifer said. “What goals do you have in life, and how many steps do you need to break it down? And so one of my things was I ran a New York City Marathon, and I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ And when you break it down, and you [put] each step in front of the other, you just keep going. You realize it's not that big of a task if you can break it down a little bit.”
This exhibit is not exclusively for students, but it’s a hard subject to avoid, as passing hordes of kids look up to the sculptures and see possibilities. Jennifer said this is the inspiration they need to keep going.
“On our tours, they'll pick the most awkward-looking piece, and they're like, ‘I think that's me right now.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, it's okay. Look, you'll turn into a beautiful plane and go places someday.’”
