Step into the Roxbury Park Community Center in Beverly Hills on the fourth Sunday of every month between 1:00 and 4:00 PM, and you will find yourself immersed in the welcoming world of POP—Pacific Ocean Paperfolders.
We embrace folders of every level of experience, from novice to advanced. Attendees quickly find themselves matched up with others who fold at their same level, and either learn models from an experienced teacher, or work independently from diagrams. Occasionally visiting origami artists come and share their work, much to the delight of attendees.
Some folders who are now in high school have been coming since they were 6 or 7, and they fold at a very advanced level. Kids are encouraged to teach, and are given feedback so that they can improve their teaching and communication skills. We have seniors in the 80s and 90s who have never done origami before, whose delight at accomplishing the simplest of folds reminds us that, even at its most basic, origami has an inherent magic. Some parents and grandparents, who came simply to drop off their kids for a few hours, ended up participating just as eagerly as their children.
Group member Theo Harpaz collapsing Chris Palmer's 'Flower Tower' during a recent meeting.
As coordinator, I send out an email reminder the Thursday before our monthly meetings, and I often try to choose a theme for each meeting. For instance, if the meeting is late January, then the theme might be related to the upcoming Valentine’s Day—hearts or flowers. And I also invite people to bring models to share.
We’re excited to host PCOC in 2017, but if you’re in Los Angeles any time before that event—on the fourth Sunday of any month—we’d love for you to join us!
For more information, please contact me at joeldavidstern [at] hotmail.com.
-Joel Stern