The stunning photos and brilliant essays in this book demonstrate why origami is now an international art movement—largely through the efforts and artistic genius of a few contemporary masters. The trailblazing efforts of Japanese artist Akira Yoshizawa elevated paper folding by showing how subtle shapes and figures could be created from a single sheet of paper through a variety of non-traditional folding techniques.

Artists in other parts of the world—including the United States, France, England, China and Scandinavia—took Yoshizawa's cue and pushed these techniques further and further. The result has been the emergence of many new and surprising sculptural forms created through techniques such as wet folding, curved creasing, tessellating and the application of alternative materials besides paper.

This book features the work of 25 contemporary master folders who are among the most innovative origami artists working today. They are pushing the boundaries of origami style, scale, materials, subject and scope in new directions.

This elite group includes:

• Joel Cooper
• Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine
• Paul Jackson
• Beth Johnson
• Michael G. LaFosse and Richard L. Alexander
• Robert J. Lang
• Linda Mihara
• Bernie Peyton
• Richard Sweeney
• And many more!

"The Japanese have long enjoyed creating within limited boundaries of size and materials, from bonsai to netsuke, allowing narrowly defined restrictions to fuel their creativity. Meher McArthur provides a new survey of how artists and scientists worldwide have amplified spectacularly the one tiny world of origami." -- Hollis Goodall, Curator of Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
"…what if we told you the Asian technique associated with mundane paper cranes and childish cootie catchers can also transform a single sheet of paper into a lifelike relief portrait or an M.C. Escher-esque form? Or twist pages of religious texts into an artful political statement? These are just some of the implausible projects featured in Meher McArthur's New Expressions in Origami Art." -- The Wall Street Journal
"This beautiful book truly shows that origami is more than just folding paper and will surely serve as inspiration to all paperfolders." -- OrigamiUSA

Meher McArthur is a freelance Asian art curator, author and educator. She has curated many Asian art exhibitions, and her publications include Reading Buddhist Art: An Illustrated Guide to Buddhist Signs and Symbols; The Arts of Asia: Materials, Techniques, Styles; An ABC of What Art Can Be; Confucius: A Throneless King and Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami, which she co-authored with Robert J. Lang. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

Foreword by:
Dr. Robert J. Lang, a student of origami for over 40 years, is recognized as one of the world's leading masters of the art and one of the pioneers of the marriage of origami with mathematics and science. He has authored or co-authored 13 books and lectures widely on origami and its applications.