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You can call/text at 864-580-6506 or email me at vagabondoboist@gmail.com.
1000 Cranes
ARTIST STATEMENT: Submission to ArtFields
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I just do things.
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Since I was a child and read the story of Sadako at my library during a summer program, origami has been a presence in my life. I folded cranes that were sent to the monument for her in Japan and I haven’t stopped folding.
In 2017 I folded 1,000 cranes out of cigarette foil, but I’ve never smoked one. One day I had the urge to start and ten months later I folded the 1,000th crane (it was blue). Three months later they were all strung together and hanging in a birdcage. A mirror on the bottom allowed you to see yourself in the cranes.


1000 Cranes: uncaged

In the fall of 2018 I realized it was time to free the cranes from their cage. Below is an excerpt of my submission to ArtFields 2019.
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Over the last few years I have caged myself in
by doing too much; by giving myself away.
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Freedom isn't free. It requires effort. Sacrifice.
Break it down; redefine yourself.
Free yourself of the assumptions people have.
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I AM. I EXIST. I create myself.
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Exist for yourself. You have that right.
You are here for a reason: make it count.
"The art you make matters."
To free yourself you must first accept yourself. My obligations have caged me in, and I now realize they were never my responsibility.
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Find the full backstory on my blog.
1000 tea tag cranes
In February 2020 I began my third senbazuru (1000 cranes project), this time using the extra bits from tea. I was lucky to receive a bag full of enough material for about 600 cranes from The Cordial Eye Gallery during my AmeriCorps year of service on Cape Cod. Another artist I met at the gallery gave me her collection of tea tags, which had enough material for a few hundred more cranes.
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The Friday before Labor Day 2020 I folded my 1000th tea tag crane while watching the sunset in the woods with dear friends. After folding it I made a solemn vow:
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I will not fold another origami crane for one full year, unless it is to teach someone else. I have now folded roughly 5000 cranes in my life since the age of 9, and it is time to take a break. I have folded them to focus my energy and to create instead of destroy, but other times I have simply folded them compulsively.
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Now is the time to use my hands for other creative endeavors. There are other origami patterns to fold, there are reeds to be made and music to be played.
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The cranes now live in a 750 mL apple juice jar nestled in Lynn Taylor's first ever macrame and secured with a space panda pin.
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View more photos and order prints here.
