inspiration:

with artist Kevin Box

By Laura McPhail

A new take on an ancient art

Box first started making paper airplanes and little frogs in elementary school, but he had no idea at the time that folding paper into shapes was a Japanese art form called ‘origami.’ He credits his mother’s work as an archivist as a source for this love of paper and preservation.

After graduating from art school, he looked for a way to marry his old fondness for paper to his new love of and skill with bronze sculpting. Several years of experimentation led to some successful castings of paper into bronze, which he then painted white—an anathema concept for most sculptors working with bronze.

“It was not well received by my colleagues, but I wanted to capture the delicate nature of paper with museum-quality metal,” said Box.

Undaunted, he kept at it and refined his technique. A few years later, he showed a piece at his first outdoor sculpture show in Austin, Texas.

“All weekend, all I heard the whole time was, ‘Oh, that's so cool. Is that origami?’” said Box. “And honestly, maybe I'd heard the word in passing, but I never truly had encountered it before.”

Capturing light

In fact, the idea that people considered his sculptures origami didn’t sit well with him at first. He didn’t feel like it aligned with his concept as an artist.

“I wanted to describe the architecture of the soul,” Box explained. “What does the invisible nature of our being look like in a visual way? And to me, a star of white light sort of resonates with many cultural interpretations of spirit.”

The more he pondered it, the more things started to click into place, and he came to embrace the idea, with his own unique interpretation.

“That white piece of [origami] paper to me was light,” Box continued. “By folding and creasing, it was creating a star, which we all have within. And it sort of described the architecture beneath the surface of who we are.” unfolded the fruits of his labor. What he saw in the creases further affirmed the connection between the craft and his concept. The creases in the unfolded crane looked like a star. He later discovered that no matter what design he chose to create through series of folds, when unfolded, a star was revealed.

Interestingly, Box’s work reflects the meaning of ‘light’ not only in visual and spiritual contexts, but also in terms of weight. When viewing his origami sculptures, one can’t help but note how weightless the subjects appear. They look like actual large pieces of paper folded and refolded rather than hundreds of pounds of bronze that defy gravity.

“That ability for origami to describe what we see with our eyes in nature and in life—a flower, a bird, a boat, an airplane— but to be able to unfold that thing and see all the choices and decisions that created that thing, to me, is the expression of the invisible,” Box said. “That’s the most important and most valuable component of what makes us who we are and what makes up life around us, this great mystery that we are all participating in.” contemporary, and beautiful,” said Box. “Michael really stood out to me because he makes the paper that he folds, and paper wouldn't exist without plants.”

Bringing origami to the Garden

When Box graduated from art school, he intended to do public art. However, as he got deeper into origami, he started to realize that his work didn’t quite fit in with public art world. As he and his wife, Jennifer, refined the concept of ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN, they agreed that origami’s ties to nature made viewing the sculptures in a garden setting made more sense than seeing them in a museum. They have been pleasantly surprised by the result.

included in the price of regular daytime admission, and includes an audio tour with comments from the artist about each piece. To learn more, visit hsvbg.org/origami.