On 10/6/2014 3:49 PM, David Mitchell wrote: //It's an interesting question that goes to the heart of what origami is. (snip) and //I personally don't like the term origami artist. (snip) I really dislike it! It smacks to me of not being satisfied with what origami actually is and the uniqueness of what it can do and of trying to make origami into something it isn't.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary interpretes 'artist' as, among others: "one who makes his craft a fine art". In this respect, 'origami artist'
would be a perfectly acceptable term to me. The question to you, David is, exactly what do you consider to be the 'heart of what origami is', and 'what origami actually is'? You went on to say: //To me, much of modern origami (starting with Yoshizawa as most things do) is born from a dissatisfaction with what paperfolding is and can do. We want more realistic realisations. We want what we do to have artistic status. We want to find ways to give paperfolds permanency.
Is that what you DO NOT want?! Akira Yoshizawa was dissatisfied with the state of origami as it was then, and took steps to make, in his view, steps to improve on the
state of origami. Since then, many others have contributed to the continuous improvement and advancement of origami to what it is today. This is progress. I doubt if Yoshizawa or any of the early practitioners of origami had ever mandated that origami should be kept at some point of its history and not be developed or changed in any way further. Or envisaged the influence of origami in space exploration, medical devices, archtitecture, other sciences, education, fine art, etc. today. I am more disturbed by your opinions. You are of course entitled to your opinions of what the 'heart of what origami is', 'what origami actually is', or 'is not'. Stating your opinions as though your opinions are established facts, as vague as the grounds for your opinions seem to be, is not doing origami or yourself any favours. Keeping what is or isn't origami to very narrow definitions smacks of being self-serving and prejudiced by personal agendas or limitations. Ron
