Origami Unfolded Opening Celebration

Origami Unfolded Opening Celebration marks the launch of the Peabody Essex Museum’s exhibition exploring contemporary origami and the ways folding has influenced science, engineering, mathematics, architecture, medicine, fashion, packaging and spacecraft design. Visitors can watch artists fold in real time, handle examples at a discovery cart, make their own paper creations and attend workshops and a lecture.

The celebration features origami artists Michael G. LaFosse, Richard Alexander, Beth Johnson and Bernie Peyton, whose work and expertise are connected to the exhibition. Activities take place throughout the museum in the Main Atrium, Create Space Studios and Morse Auditorium.

When: Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 10:30 am to 4 pm.

Venue: Peabody Essex Museum.

Locations: Main Atrium, Create Space Studios and Morse Auditorium.

Tickets: Activities are included with museum admission. The page does not list the museum admission price.

Registration: Same-day preregistration is required for the workshops and for Bernie Peyton’s lecture and Q&A.

Workshops: “Origami Hermit Crab: Beginner” runs from 10:30 to 11:30 am in Create Space Studio. Led by Beth Johnson, it teaches participants to fold a detailed geometric shell and the hermit crab that lives inside it.

Workshop: “Whale on Water: Low- to Intermediate-Level” runs from 11:45 am to 12:45 pm in Create Space Studio. Beth Johnson introduces traditional origami alongside wet-folding and curved-folding methods as participants create a stylized whale and wave base.

Workshop: “Hedgehog, Snail, and Peacock: Intermediate” runs from 3 to 4 pm in Create Space Studio. Participants learn a corrugated origami pattern that can be shaped into as many as three different animals.

Artist Demonstrations: Origami artists demonstrate their techniques in the Main Atrium from 11 am to 1 pm and again from 2 to 3 pm. The featured artists’ work appears in Origami Unfolded.

Lecture: Bernie Peyton presents “Why Origami?” from 1 to 1:45 pm in Morse Auditorium, followed by a question-and-answer session. The talk considers how folding principles have inspired designs in fields including spacecraft, fashion, medical devices, packaging and architecture.

Featured Artists: Michael G. LaFosse is a co-founder of Origamido Studio who has spent more than four decades working as an origami artist, papermaker, author and educator. A biologist by training, he draws much of his inspiration from nature. His work has appeared in museums internationally and in the traveling exhibition Origami in the Garden; he advised on Origami Unfolded and has several pieces in the exhibition.

Featured Artist: Richard Alexander co-founded Origamido Studio and studied systems ecology at Cornell University. He is a master papermaker who advises origami artists and papermakers worldwide. For Origami Unfolded, he served as an advisor and produced specialty papers for several works in the exhibition.

Featured Artist: Beth Johnson is an origami artist and designer from Ann Arbor, Michigan, known for minimalist designs that transform geometric patterns into realistic animal forms. She received OrigamiUSA’s 2011 Florence Temko Award and has appeared as a guest of honor at international conventions. She also teaches and volunteers in her community and is preparing a book of instructions for her original designs.

Featured Artist: Bernie Peyton became a full-time origami artist and curator after leaving a career as a wildlife biologist in 1995. He is known for large-scale, curved-surface creations folded from the center of the paper and for teaching origami to children’s hospital patients and their families in Oakland, California. He is also the author of a book about the hats he designs for those patients.

Ages: No age restriction is stated.

Accessibility: No specific accessibility information is provided.