Origami Forever!
George's Origami Supplies Continue Giving Joy
In October, Jane donated more than 30 volumes of George's origami reference books -- as well as his handwritten notebooks -- to the Hyde Park Art Centre. She also donated a substantial amount of origami paper for instructor Debbie Lekousis to use in her children's classes. Ms Lekousis sent the following letter in response.
An artist's supplies
My students recently completed several projects with
the wonderful origami paper you gave me recently. The
children were delighted to make origami Noah's Arks,
Thanksgiving Turkeys, and piggy puppets, with which
they performed their own original stories for their
classmates. I told them about the generous gift you
had made to us, and told them about your late husband,
George.
I explained his dedication to the art of origami and
the marvelous notebook he kept to organize some of his
favorite diagrams and other useful information. The
children asked a lot of questions about George, and
some I could answer quite easily from what you had
told me about him and from the way he organized his
papers; meticulously in color order in each package,
for ease of finding the color or pattern that was
wanted; usually in rainbow order, more or less; red
first, then orange, then yellow, then light green,
dark green, teal, light blue, then dark blue, pink,
white, then purple, gray, brown, then black.--Much as
I usually do! Many of my students live in Hyde Park,
so I told them of your donation of many fine books to
the Hyde Park Art Center's library. My students who
take lessons at the Hyde Park Art Center were
particularly thrilled.
Origami goes on!
On November 19th, I will be teaching an origami
workshop at the "Fun for All" family day at the Hyde
Park Art Center. I am hoping to generate some
enthusiasm for the art of origami in the Hyde Park
community. Hopefully, when I offer an origami class
at HPAC for the Winter session, there will be enough
students signed up to have a successful class this
time.
I felt a cheerful, creative energy as I used your
husband's paper to teach my students. You said you
were sorry for George because he was enjoying his
talents in a vacuum, isolated from kindred spirits in
the art. I feel equally certain that the loss was
ours! Wonderfully, though, your generous donation to
myself and my students helped in some sense to
"connect the dots." Thank you!
Children play with origami puppets made from George's paper.
A cheerful creative energy
Please enjoy the pictures I have attached to this
message, of my students using George's paper to create
beautiful things. They said they hoped the pictures I
was taking of them enjoying your gift, would make you
very happy. I hope so, too.
A sense of connection
I felt such a connection with George as a
fellow-origamian as I looked through the materials
your daughter brought over. His notebooks contained
some of my own favorite diagrams and some that I had
not yet tried, but soon will. I moved just a month
ago and can't find my own diagrams yet, but thanks to
your husband's notebooks, I can enjoy my favorites and
learn some splendid new folds right now
