Transformation is one of TPR’s topics of focus during the 2014 Big Question, “How Are We Remembered?” As with all of the programs at TPR, this topic will be looked at through the lens of creativity. Questions will be asked such as, “How does a new idea go from its seed into a finished work?” “What’s it like to make something that’s pretty good into something that’s outstanding?” and “Why might someone successful in a particular creative area change directions and make something entirely different?” Throughout the Transformation topic, we will explore and learn from a diverse group of presenters and online contributors whose work speaks to sudden change, different directions, and the mystery of how an artistic thing comes to be.
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About the image: A detail of Origami Butterfly instructions by Darren Abbey. My five year-old daughter received a “Geogami” kit for Christmas, which, if anyone has tried anything in the origami family before before, is NOT for young children. It is also not for impatient adults. She asked me to make one of the forms for her (not sure if that’s the right term for these tiny pieces of finger torture), and I ended up cursing out the lovely squares of paper and the ridiculous instructions they are meant to correspond with. I felt like I was in a reverse Ikea vortex, in which something which should not be hard is made heard by the instructions- except, with Ikea furniture everything is drawn and I want them to TYPE the words for me, and here, everything is in words that make no sense when you are dealing with making your hands do something special that I will never be able to do. After having my little fit in front of my mother who was the giver of this cruel gift she replied, “I thought it would be relaxing.” This made me feel greatly misunderstood, for if anyone knows me (especially if they have raised me) they should know how making origami plays into all my worst qualities, like sitting quietly and exercising patience. However, parenthood trumps everything, so I continue to try geogami in the hopes of making myself a better person for my daughter. In the meantime, she has happily used most of the remaining paper to draw pictures of princesses.