Opening Receptions for Erik and Martin Demaine: Puzzling with Paper and Lorraine Bubar: Papercut Perspectives
Please join in to celebrate the opening of this exhibition featuring different applications of paper as craft. Erik and Martin Demaine create folded paper sculptures as dictated by mathematical theorems, as well as formulas for folding paper into text-based pieces. Los Angeles artist Lorraine Bubar creates lush imagery reflecting the hierarchy and patterns of nature through the cutting and layering of fine Asian colored papers.
Erik & Martin Demaine
Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine are a father-son math-art team. Erik is at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Professor in Computer Science. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003. Martin started the first private hot glass studio in Canada and has been called the father of Canadian glass. Since 2005, Martin Demaine has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In these capacities, Erik and Martin work together in paper, glass, and other material. They use their exploration in sculpture to help visualize and understand unsolved problems in science and their scientific abilities to inspire new art forms. Their artistic work includes over 300 curved origami sculptures, including pieces in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian. Their scientific work includes over 100 published joint papers, including several about combining mathematics and art, and spanning over 500 co-authors. They are excited to bring this collaborative research approach to art as well.
Papier mâché
Artist Roberto Benavidez uses papier mâché to start his bird piñata sculptures, making work inspired by Hieronymus Bosch and medieval illuminated manuscripts. Bonus video from the PLAY episode
Erik and Martin Demaine: Puzzling with Paper
In cahoots with his father Martin, the Demaines—who are featured in the upcoming Craft in America episode, SCIENCE—use artwork on their trajectory towards truth. They fold pieces of paper by hand along geometrically-derived lines and magically transform flat sheets into intricately curved constructions—while at the same time proving math theorems! The exploration doesn’t stop there. They plot out the pattern of a sunflower’s face, improvise pathways of hot glass on paper, extract Shakespeare’s words, as well as write programs that generate three-dimensional and animated fonts. The duo has a stimulating generative practice that blends disciplines from math to zoology.
Lorraine Bubar: Papercut Perspectives
The art of paper cutting transcends time and cultures; this universality is what drew local artist Lorraine Bubar to it as a form of expression. The former animation pro turned her attention to cutting and composing with fine colored Asian papers to depict the exquisite beauty of the natural world. Bubar’s papercuts reveal the hierarchy of nature and the intricate layers within it. The symmetry and lacey patterns she incorporates allude to the complex fractals to be found in nature itself. The scale and extent to which the artist pushes the medium, emphasize both the strength and fragility that humble paper possesses.
Leandro Gómez Quintero segment
In Baracoa, Cuba, we learn about the model vehicles of artist Leandro Gómez Quintero. Leandro crafts his faithful recreations of vehicles like the iconic Willys Jeep with intricate detail and accuracy, using found materials to tell the story of Cuba and her people through his art. Segment from the MINIATURES episode, now streaming on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).
Roberto Benavidez segment
Artist Roberto Benavidez takes a sculptural approach to the piñata, making work inspired by Hieronymus Bosch and medieval illuminated manuscripts. Segment from the PLAY episode, now streaming on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).
Lorena Robletto segment
Lorena Robletto creates festive and creative piñatas with fair labor practices at her business, Amazing Pinatas in this segment from the PLAY episode, now streaming on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).
Cotsen Children’s Library segment
Lloyd Cotsen founded the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton University, which houses Cotsen’s vast collection of children’s books from around the world. We learn how children’s books enrich the lives and minds of the community and all of us through play and imagination. Segment from the PLAY episode, now streaming on the PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).
Roberto Benavidez on creating piñatas & “piñathkos”
Artist Roberto Benavidez speaks with curator and art historian Catherine Hess on creating pinatas and “piñathkos”, paper paintings. Bonus video from PLAY, now streaming on PBS App, pbs.org/craftinamerica, and craftinamerica.org. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).