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Joel Cooper went to Kansas University were he majored in Fine Arts with an emphasis in sculpture, bronze-casting. He has been folding origami as a hobby since from the age of eleven, drawn to the more complicated work of John Montroll and Robert J. Lang. His passion for origami really ignited when he discovered "origami tessellation" on the internet in 2000. Tessellation had all the features he enjoyed most about origami: the potential for complexity and rigorous mathematics, and none of the inessential (at least to him) elements: having to look like a bird or a dog or something recognizable. "Tessellation was just the fun part, and when I taught myself the techniques, I was finally able to design my own origami," said Joel Cooper. "About four years ago, I started to apply the techniques to making faces (contrary to the original, non-objective impetus for doing tessellation, but I had always been frustrated by the lack of believable faces in origami), which was a way of increasing the challenge of complexity, and a way of invoking my sculpture background."
In 2006, Joel's work caught the attention of some folks at the British Origami Society, and they published an interview in their monthly magazine. He was awarded the "Florence Temko Award" by OrigamiUSA and invited to the convention in New York. Most importantly, he was invited, along with some other tessellators, to the First International Origami Tessellation Exhibition in Brazil, where he met the woman he would later marry, Jane Araujo, who organized the event. "It was a very good year," said Joel.
Currently, Joel has a mask going to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA for a show starting this summer; and a mask in Israel for a show at the Tikotin Museum in Haifa.
Joel Cooper, along with Linda Mihara, will be one of the featured Master Origami artists present at the 2007 Origami Festival at Tansu. Come view his amazing origami models and meet the artist in person this July at Tansu!
Joel's website: flickr.com/photos/origamijoel |
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Joel Cooper's Image Gallery
View photos of some of Joel's amazing origami |
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