Thousands of Cranes
Approximately 8000 pieces of origami crane ceramics
The box breaking ceramics: 48”H x 34” W x 14”D
Porcelain fired in a soda kiln, origami paper, acrylic glass, aluminum, double mirror sheet, and light
2018-
Thousands of Cranes is an installation in which each viewer is invited to break a ceramic origami crane and replace it with a new folded paper crane. In Japan, we have a ritual where we fold a thousand origami cranes for someone we wish well, as a gift of effort and care. Once the recipient is better, they bring the origami to a Shinto shrine and burn it for purification. Thousands of Cranes is my appreciation of this activity, which simultaneously represents hope, and accepts the laws of nature. Just as the paper cranes of the original ritual are burned at a shrine, I emphasize purification through fire by covering origami paper with porcelain slip and firing it. The kiln burns away the paper, leaving a fragile porcelain shell as a metaphor of forgiveness. Participants have a personal experience of this natural dynamism by engaging with a fragile object and with the ephemeral beauty of life from another cultural perspective.
untittled
The folded crane origamis dipped in porcelain slip
and fired in soda kiln so that origamis became ash
but the process reminds in the porcelain's surface.
38inHx 16inWx 3inD
2018 December
Origami cranes
The folded crane origamis were dipped in porcelain slip,
glazed copper sulfate, and fired in oxidation kiln.
2017 December
Origami cranes
The folded crane origamis were dipped in porcelain slip,
glazed copper sulfate, and fired in oxidation kiln.
2019 June
Origami cranes
The folded crane origamis were dipped in Bizen clay slip, fired with rice husk.
2019 June