Origami has been a lifetime love for Yasue Sakaoka

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Origami is an art form most commonly associated with Japan, but Yasue Sakaoka, one of central Ohio’s most prominent origami artists, didn’t start working in it professionally until well after she moved to the U.S.

Sakaoka learned the art from her mother when she was growing up in Japan.

“In my early childhood is when I first got into origami,” she says. “My mother was at home, and we did many different things with her.”

Sakaoka came to the U.S. to attend Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where she initially studied sociology. But, with the help of a few friends, she decided to devote more attention to her artwork.

“Origami was something I didn’t pick up until I started to work very creatively with paper,” she says. “I did not want to spend more time working on a thesis, and I was running around with many creative people at Reed College. They really stimulated my thinking, and they deserve credit.”

Sakaoka usually starts with white paper – it’s easier to obtain, and makes the finished product more accessible – and gets her inspiration by looking at the other materials she has on hand, figuring out what will tell the best story.

Her work can be found all over central Ohio at clinics, churches and libraries.

“There is some work over at Schumacher Gallery at Capital University, and Epiphany Lutheran Church has one of my major works,” Sakaoka says.

It is engaging, it can be very creative, you don’t have to stick with traditional ideas; there are many different ways you can work with a square piece of paper. It can be a nice, enjoyable hobby, and you can go beyond that.

Sakaoka teaches individual classes for those who are interested in learning the art of origami. She also visits schools to help spread her knowledge of art with children and teachers. She spent three weeks visiting Village Academy in Powell, spending an hour a day teaching the kids different art approaches.

“What they wanted me to do was to start working with basic traditional origami folds, and then gradually develop them into actual artwork,” she says. “It takes it beyond craft. They are working well with that scale. In the last week, they built their own shape, so I am happy with the way it went.”

While Sakaoka gets her inspiration from looking at the paper itself, she also gets inspiration from places in her past. She took a trip to Venice in the late 1970s and fell in love with the beautiful designs of the churches. And even though that was decades ago, she has continued to save images and thoughts from her time there. She is now working on a project that includes memories from nearly 40 years ago.

“I am working on a set of silk screen prints,” she says. “In Venice, I was astounded by the floor mosaic rubbings in churches … and right now, I am developing images from those.”

There is much to like about origami, Sakaoka says, and though she deeply appreciates it as an art form, she also encourages it as a hobby

“It is engaging, it can be very creative, you don’t have to stick with traditional ideas; there are many different ways you can work with a square piece of paper,” she says. “It can be a nice, enjoyable hobby, and you can go beyond that.”

Jake Nerone is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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