I met my new friend, MaryAnn, there. We met last week on the Early Bellevue Walking Tour, and had an immediate connection. We set a date to go to the art museum today. MaryAnn has lived in Bellevue 50 years, and is full of interesting stories. She also has a history of being very involved in the arts community in the area. I look forward to another outing with her soon!
We met at the museum at 1:00, and were lucky with our timing: we were offered to join in on a docent-led tour of the origami exhibit "Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami". Now, I admit, my knowledge of origami only goes as far as paper cranes. I was full-on blown away by this exhibit. We learned about the history of origami, and saw some very impressive, almost impossible-seeming displays.
Traditionally, origami consists of only a single sheet of paper (of various sizes) with no cuts, and no glue. Most of the pieces in this exhibit were just that, with a few that were specifically marked as more than one piece of paper, or having had cuts.
Here are some some of the examples that I saw today that were just stunning. Frankly, it's nearly impossible to believe that they are made of one piece of folded paper.
the skeleton on the right is made of multiple sheets of paper
believe it or not, this paper is not woven. Each piece is one sheet of paper
also one sheet of paper, no cuts
I LOVED this installation: sheets of US Dollar Bills, uncut, folded into dozens of locusts. You can see the flat sheets, then the steps in which the locusts are made. The flying locusts are suspended from the ceiling, and were swaying in the breeze just slightly. Very powerful
flying locusts
The sphere and cube are each made of one sheet of paper, with cuts, but no glue
here I am with my new 80 year old friend, MaryAnn!
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