OUSA Convention 2014 NYC
ORIGAMI ODYSSEY
From June 27 through June 30 this year, the largest annual origami convention in the United States was held at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Hundreds of origami enthusiasts gathered to share their passion for origami through teaching and taking classes, exhibition, and friendly conversation.
I am a regular attendee, and as usual this year I had a marvelous time. I shared laughs and drinks with old friends, and had the opportunity to meet new ones too. I taught my own designs to enthusiastic young complex folders, and learned some simpler folds to add to my repertoire.
And there is the exhibition. Origami artists from around the world show off their latest and greatest works for the public and convention attendees to admire. The exhibition is one of my favorite parts of the convention, and I always take a lot of photos of all the cool new origami.
Horse Of Illusions
Polar Bear by Paul Frasco
Cupcakes by Sy Chen
Flying Grasshopper by Brian Chan
Various masks and Lobster by Chad Killeen
This year I had the added pleasure of attending Surface To Structure. A one of kind origami exhibition held at The Cooper Union, curated by the amazing Uyen Nguyen, a graduating senior at the school, who raised nearly 30,000 dollars for the exhibit with crowd-sourcing platform Indiegogo. The exhibit featured the works of 88 artists from around the globe (including yours truly). Here is a photo of a bunch of us Origami nerds at the front of Cooper Union, drinking bubble-tea and playfully picking faults with the sign.
Kona Lai, Brian Chan, Thomas Craine, Chad Killeen, Seth Friedman
Monday night is a catered dinner held on the top floor of FIT. Despite the intense Air Conditioning, my body temperature was soon normalized by the warmth of my company. Great fun was had by all. Thanks Mark Kennedy for the jumping frog class!
John Szinger, Margeaux Snyder, Seth Friedman, Makoto Yamaguchi, Nick Robinson, Talo Kawasaki, Jason Ku
-Seth