KEVIN BOX ARTIST STATEMENTI look at a piece of paper as 'tabula rasa' a clean slate, perfect potential. This potential is activated by light and shadow as each decision creases into the paper. Emerging from an interest in geometry, light, architecture and paper, my themes describe the intelligent design of decisions just below the surface of creation. This is revealed best by unfolding a design to show the papers memory of creases.The work begins this way, with delicate paper. Each piece is then cast into bronze through a process developed over many years of experience in the foundry. It can take from twelve weeks to six months for a piece to be realized. KEVIN BOX BIOGRAPHY Kevin Box grew up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, beneath 'the tree that escaped the crowded forest', Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper. Kevin's creative passion was evident at a very young age and was he determined to realize his 'visions.' Kevin spent three years studying art and art history at the School of Visual Arts in Savannah, Georgia, completing his degree at the school's prestigious main campus in New York City. There, under the direction of Jackie Winsor and Alice Aycock, he confirmed his contemporary artistic vision, inspired within an historical context. In 1999, Box began his career in a foundry. Bronze spoke his artistic language, what he refers to as'deep time conversation.' Over the next four years, he labored under self-imposed apprenticeships to become proficient in bronze casting. Working for sculptors and foundries, he attained an exhaustive knowledge of casting techniques and the fabricating and finishing processes necessary to create monumental works of art.Throughout Kevin’s experiences, he took every opportunity to develop his work. After years of experimentation with bronze, he arrived at the process in which he works today, becoming a fulltime artist in 2003. His knowledge of the foundry process combined with a vision for innovation defines the style and sensibility of his work as it establishes a place within contemporary art history. JENNIFER BOX BIOGRAPHYJennifer Box started dancing at the age of five. She trained under the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater then received her Bachelor and Masters Degree from New York University in Dance Education and Nonprofit Administration. During her years as a Modern and West African dancer in New York City she performed, choreographed and created some of her own costuming. In 2006 Jennifer married Kevin Box in Santa Fe, New Mexico and soon they began working together.Their first collaboration was “Isadora’s Dress” inspired by Jennifer long passion for dance. Kevin was working on creating a “reclining nude” and asked Jennifer’s opinion view on the piece. She saw a dancer! Jennifer took the reclining figure and stood her up and she connected it with the pioneer modern dancer Isadora Duncan (who was a self-styled revolutionary artist and had as one of her characteristic her flare costumes and dresses incorporated to her movements and expressions). They named the piece “Isadora’s Dress” BETH JOHNSON BIOGRAPHYBeth has been folding paper for many years, and she began designing her own origami models in 2010. She has been featured as a guest speaker at conventions around the world, from Peru to Japan. Beth has participated in both solo and joint exhibitions. Her designs have been included in at least two books on origami.In 2011, Beth won the Florence Temko Award, an award that honors a “lone folder” who has contributed to origami in a meaningful way.Beth's designs are complex but whimsical. She is inspired by nature, and includes many animals in her work. Finding enjoyment in the process of folding paper is something that comes very naturally to Beth. For her, there is a joy in finding the fright folds to reflect the ideas she has in her mind.Beth often uses a wet folding technique, one that allows for more freedom than the rigidness of dry paper. She is inspired by patterns that she finds aesthetically pleasing. The start and finish of her art is the same, a single piece of paper, but the transformation is what people respond to, taking something simple and transforming it into something more complex.TE JUI FU BIOGRAPHYTe Jui Fu graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with degrees in marketing, Graphic Design and Fine art. Throughout his career he has been an art gallery curator, director, associate and owner. Te Jui Fu’s origami pieces are part of numerous museum collections around the country. His work has been featured in origami magazines, and he starred in the documentary “Folding Largest Origami Dragon in the World“ which premiered in 2009.MICHAEL G LaFOSSE BIOGRAPHYMichael G. LaFosse is best known as a paper maker and paper-folding artist. He has been practicing the art of Origami for over 40 years, and has been teaching it for over 30 years. Michael is internationally regarded as one of the top origami masters in the world today.Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he was fascinated by seashells and studied to become a biologist. This is evident in his works - many of which have been shown in the Louvre in Paris, and several of which are currently on display at the Art & Nature Center's Idea Studios at the newly re-opened Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.His training in Biology took him to Tampa, and he will return to Florida in the spring of 2004, to study Everglades animals and plants that he intends to re-create in folded handmade paper. His exhibit will travel, and will first be shown at the Morikami Museum in Del Ray Beach, Florida.Michael and his partner, Richard L. Alexander have authored dozens of books on the art of origami. They have tens of thousands of students all over the world learning origami from video and DVD.They produce new origami designs, fine art, and commercial art - from props for magazine and TV ads to retail store windows for Saks Fifth Avenue and Hermes. Richard L. Alexander holds a B.S. from Cornell University, where he studied systems biology (computer modeling of nutrient and energy flow through ecosystems) as well as landscape architecture and visual communications.As a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM), he has been an environmental programs manager, consultant and an instructor since 1975, specializing in chemical handling, aquaculture, wastewater treatment, hazardous waste management, chemical safety, and ISO14001 - the international standard for certifying environmental management systems in government and industry.He opened the Origamido Studio in 1996, with his partner, origami master Michael LaFosse, and together they operate a commercial design studio, handpapermaking facilities, and fine art gallery in Haverhill MA.ROBERT LANG BIOGRAPHYRobert J. Lang has been an avid student of origami for over forty years and is now recognized as one of the world’s leading masters of the art, with over 500 designs catalogued and diagrammed. He is noted for designs of great detail and realism, and includes in his repertoire some of the most complex origami designs ever created. His work combines aspects of the Western school of mathematical origami design with the Eastern emphasis upon line and form to yield models that are at once distinctive, elegant, and challenging to fold.In 1992 Dr. Lang became the first Westerner ever invited to address the Nippon Origami Association’s annual meeting. He has since been an invited guest at international origami conventions around the world.Dr. Lang is one of the pioneers of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami with mathematics; he has been one of the few Western columnists for Origami Tanteidan Magazine, the journal of the Japan Origami Academic Society, and has presented refereed and invited technical papers on origami-math at mathematical and computer science professional meetings. He has consulted on applications of origami to engineering problems ranging from air-bag design to expandable space telescopes. He is the author or co-author of thirteen books and numerous articles on origami art and design and in 2011 was elected an Honorary Member of the British Origami Society.Dr. Lang was born in Ohio and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Along the way to his current career as a full-time origami artist and consultant he worked as a physicist, engineer, and R&D manager, during which time he authored or co-authored over 80 technical publications and 50 patents awarded and pending on semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, a member and past Vice-President of the IEEE Photonics Society, and from 2007–2010 was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. In 2009, he received the highest honor of Caltech, the Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2013, he was chosen as one of the inaugural Fellows of the American Mathematical Society. Dr. Lang resides in Alamo, California. RICHARD ALEXANDER BIOGRAPHYRichard Alexander holds a B.S. from Cornell University, where he studied systems biology and landscape architecture. He held environmental positions in government and industry and is a Past President of the New England regional Certified Hazardous Materials Managers chapter. Richard met Michael LaFosse in 1988, and they have worked together to advance origami as a fine art. In 1996 they co-founded Origamido Studio, a teaching and resource center / art gallery for their handmade papers and folded paper art. Richard's background in industrial training made it easy for him to become a seasoned teacher of origami and hand papermaking. Together, Michael and Richard have authored over 70 books, kits, and video publications about their origami designs and hand papermaking. The Studio has produced dozens of commercial installations and exhibitions, as well as a family attraction in Hawaii, the Origami Do Experience-Waikiki,. During the summer they host hand papermaking workshops in Massachusetts and collaborate with other artists. They continue to make their custom, archival Origamido® papers for each creation and their works have graced museums worldwide. LaFosse and Alexander's bronze sculpture collaborations with Kevin Box Studios of Cerrillos, NM are currently touring as exhibitions called "Origami in the Gardens".