Photo courtesy Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
In the art of origami, the method of creating forms — usually out of paper — there are just two kinds of folds: the mountain and the valley. How these are used is up to the vision of the maker.
Santa Fe-based artist Kevin Box, with his wife Jennifer and a number of assistants, uses these methods but made large and in metal.
Their work is arriving at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in an exhibition of 16 vignettes featuring 21 sculptures that will be in place April 13 through Sept. 30. They're colorful and angular and resemble the shapes of nature. Some are 7 feet tall, others tiny as a mouse. Four unfolded wall hangings are to be displayed in the library alongside the four corresponding folded pieces.
I caught up to Box by phone amid the teardown of this show in Tucson, Arizona. These pieces weigh about 150 pounds, 300 pounds with the pedestal, and are designed for installation in botanical gardens that don’t have room for heavy machinery. The studio has an actual crane for lifting in bigger pieces — a crane crane, that is. The works travel by truck in specially designed stalls with straps to hold them in. Box and company have three upcoming exhibitions. “We’re multitasking in multi states,” he says, reflecting, “It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.”
Box likens himself and his crew to a band, he being the lead singer, with roadies and technical assistants who literally get the show on the road and put it up to be seen.
In the beginning of his professional creative life, he was a print maker and graphic designer, following his four-year scholarship the School of Visual Arts in New York City. A fateful trip to Greece and seeing the enduring works of antiquity brought him an epiphany. He wanted to make art that lasts. He switched his studies to fine art, moved first to Atlanta then Austin, Texas, where he apprenticed himself to learn metal casing and fabricating processes. His work evolved and matured as accolades started coming in from his peers, and he began — again as in a band — touring craft shows and seeking commissions for public art.
What intrigues Box about origami is the simplicity of its origin: just a blank sheet of paper. Art is about making something come out of nothing, “and the best architect for making that happen," he says, "is nature. So through this I see a connection between the gardens and the work. I hope that people ask about what these pieces mean, how they relate to each other, and how does the person relate to the work.”
He wants the sculptures to be accessible and, people can say, "My kid can do that." The paper part, yes. The heavy metal requires some training.
Box says that his exhibitions are composed with narratives: “There are layers underneath.” Prior to 2014, he contributed either to group shows or showed a few large pieces at various sites. When his “Origami in the Garden” opened that April at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, “I really saw how the cohesiveness carries from piece to piece, garden to garden, and tells a story.”
Box and Jennifer will be present for the public opening.
Tickets are available at the garden 9 a.m to 5 p.m daily, and can be bought at the door. You can also purchase tickets online (with a small convenience fee), $13 adults, $11 seniors 55+, $8 children (ages 3-12). Summer hours on Thursday last until 9 p.m. Visit lewisginter.org or call 804-262-9887.
