Museo de Origami

I like origami. I'm not in any way an expert, but I enjoy it. I remember that my college admissions director would host an Origami Club, and while I didn't attend all that often, it stuck with me. Then my nephew received some origami paper and a book for Christmas, I believe it was year before last, and it re-sparked my interest. It's also an activity that I shared with my students during the indoor recess days of the early pandemic.

So from time to time, I'll search YouTube for something in my ability range that I think is interesting (like this), and I'll give it a shot. Half the time, if I'm using the paper that is colored on one side and white on the other, my creations end up inside out. Oh well!

Did you know that Zaragoza has an origami museum? It's officially called the Escuela Museo de Origami Zaragoza (EMOZ), and being who we are, that was our excursion last weekend. (Finally!)

The museum is the third floor of a cultural building with other arts and exhibits. It has a modest gift shop and some exhibits like this pegasus in the lobby.

The first half or so of the museum is a winding walk through the recorded history of origami. And then. . .the kid gloves come off. I won't ruin it for you, but I've included some of my favorites in this here blog post.

(Back when I stumbled upon Pullman's The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) books and was reading the series with my partner in crime, I thought it'd be funny if my daemon was a giraffe, and it had to hang around close to me, but like outside the window or tucked into places because of its size. My imagination enjoyed all the contortions of the giraffe's neck as we would be talking about our everyday everythings. I had a job interview around that time, and they asked me which animal I identified with and why. I don't know if I gave them the answer they expected, but I got the job. Come to think of it, my boss was really into elephants - I found out later - so 'giraffe' probably wasn't too bad an answer.)

Like with any artistic expression, there are movements or categories that origami can be classified into. So while I'm more familiar with the realistic or geometric aspects of origami, the museum (and of course the internet) also has examples of abstract or modular origami. 

Confession: I'm learning to like museums. It's hard for me to get excited about or engage with something I'm looking at while reading some notes. The origami museum was better in that I had experience with folding origami, so I could relate more to what I was seeing. (Whereas my painting experience never amounted to anything resembling anything on display in a museum, for example.)

Even so, my new strategy in touring museums is not to try to grasp EVERYTHING, but to find that piece or two I feel a resonance with, or that stimulate me emotionally somehow. And all that happened there at the EMOZ.

In summary, I enjoyed visiting the origami museum with my family. I think if you're open to it, you - like me - will leave feeling inspired.