ORIGAMI MASTERWORKS

Companion to the exhibition ORIGAMI MASTERWORKS — Innovative Forms in the Art of Paperfolding 2003. 94 color illustrations by Lynton Gardiner. Commentary by V'Ann Cornelius, Exhibition Guest Curator. Discovering Paper by Michael G. La Fosse, Origamido Studio. Viewpoint on Origami Design by Robert J. Lang. Foreword by Martha W. Longenecker, Founding President / Director of Mingei International Museum. Bibliography.

FOREWORD
Martha W. Longenecker
Founding President and Director, Mingei International Museum

A piece of origami in our hands is a small form of one of mankind's remarkable achievements—paper. It is hard to conceive of a world without paper—a manmade material often taken for granted as a disposable product. Yet, pausing to consider, we realize how remarkable is this material invented in China by the first century B.C.

Prior to the use of paper for writing, early civilizations used materials such as stone, bone, wood and clay, as well as parchment and papyrus.

Paper made from plant fibers could be recycled and was not only pliable but also foldable and creasable without cracking or tearing, unlike papyrus which needed to be kept flat or rolled.

From China, where papermaking had been kept secret, it slowly spread via trade routes to neighboring Korea, Japan and along the silk road to the Middle East, from where the Moors took it to Spain in the 12th century.

Paper's development into multiple sheets of unified size and thickness was key to the invention of the printing press that began Europe's cultural revolution in the 15th century.

Paper is now made world wide in a seemingly endless variety of weights, thickness, colors, textures and translucency and used for numerous purposes including newspapers, wrappers, textiles, writing papers — and origami!

It is not known who was the first person to fold a flat piece of paper into a three-dimensional form. However, I would imagine that it was a creative Chinese person, handling this extraordinary material soon after its invention. What an exhilarating moment that must have been! Even now a paper folder may experience similar joy.

Shortly after its establishment in 1978, Mingei International Museum was blessed with a member who had an infectious enthusiasm for paper — Florence Temko, author of many books on origami. Her donation to our Museum of her international paper collection and library on paper (now housed at the Museum in Balboa Park, San Diego) was the impetus for Mingei International's 1985 traveling exhibition entitled, PAPER INNOVATIONS — Handmade Paper and Handmade Objects of Cut, Folded and Molded Paper.

While serving as a Curatoral Consultant for that exhibition, she proposed to help Mingei International organize an entire origami exhibition to be coordinated with a future OrigamiUSA conference in San Diego.

Now, 18 years later, the time has come! ORIGAMI MASTERWORKS — Innovative Forms in the Art of Paperfolding is the centerpiece for OrlgamiUSA's Pacific Coast Conference, held in San Diego, October 9-13, 2003. Guest Curator for the exhibition is V'Ann Cornelius, Remote Vice President of OrigamiUSA.

This publication is a timeless document of the exhibition which is composed of a broad representation of contemporary origami designs developed during the past 50 years. It features the work of internationally recognized origami artists, authors and leaders.