The Greater Philadelphia Paper Pholders (GP^3) is a community origami group located in southeastern Pennsylvania. Our motto is: we love learning and sharing origami. We meet at a local church on the Main Line of Philadelphia on the first Monday of each month. We also meet on Saturday once a quarter in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
Our group dates back to the early 1990’s when we met in the Philadelphia suburb of Roxborough. When our former leader left in 1999, we needed to find another meeting location. After several false starts, we found a home at the St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Ardmore. Our meetings are pretty informal. I try to have something prepared to teach, but one of my goals is to encourage all folders to improve their teaching skills. With this in mind, I often don’t do any teaching. When I send out the reminder notice, I choose a topic for the month and ask people to think about any models that they know on the topic. These topics tend to repeat year-to-year: February is hearts, March is Shamrocks, May is Flowers, etc.
GP^3 gathering.
GP^3 gathering: models folded.
We have a ‘core’ group of about six to eight regular members, but we’ve had as many as 25 people at a meeting. When the group is that large, we separate across different tables and will teach different models at the same time. The ages of our members range from six to 88. As with other groups, we are not a baby-sitting service, and new children must be accompanied by a parent.
Participants in the Menger Sponge Challenge.
Our meetings begin at 6:30pm. We often have children who leave about 9:00pm. The adults then stay until 10:30pm or so. We have been participants in the “Kimmel’s Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia” Mummer’s day festivities.
Kathy Stevick teaches Evan Zodl's Maria's Star.