1,000 cranes: Exhibit features paper creations

 

 

By Iryna Dzyubynska

To create origami, you don’t need to speak Japanese. The only thing needed is paper and a willingness to learn.

“When you fold origami, you don’t need language,” said Keiko Fukuzaki, Japan outreach coordinator for UK. “Japanese people can tell how to fold it without language. So Japanese middle and high school students who came from  the sister city also told how to make cranes to Kentuckians.”

Fukuzaki helped organize an exhibit currently running at UK of the origami of Duk Lee, an associate professor of mathematics at Asbury College. Lee’s origami creations are the focus of “Origami: The Art of Science and Mathematics,” displayed in three UK libraries: the W.T. Young Library, the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library and the Science Library in the M.I. King Library.

The exhibit will also display 1,000 paper cranes created by students at Jessie Clark Middle School, Maxwell Elementary School’s Spring Break camp, Georgetown College, the Japanese Culture in Kentucky Society and the “Cranes for Peace” program at two Lexington Public Library locations.

In Japanese culture, it is believed that folding 1,000 paper cranes can make a wish come true.

The idea to exhibit the 1,000 cranes along with the Lee’s exhibit was suggested to Fukuzaki by Lee and fellow organizer Kazuko Hioki, conservation librarian at the W. T. Young Library. Fukuzaki also got inspiration from her work going to schools to talk about Japanese culture.

“I meet many students, so I also wanted to do a project with many students, like collecting 1,000 cranes,” Fukuzaki said. “Then I also thought that if more people make cranes, more people would come to origami exhibition.”

The 1,000 cranes will be at the W.T. Young Library from March 30 to May 1 along with Lee’s work exhibited at the three campus libraries.

Lee will give his final lecture and origami workshop at UK on Thursday at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. To register for the workshop and for more information on the exhibit, visit www.uky.edu/Libraries/Origami.