Bay Area art collective creates large-scale origami art for the world to enjoy

Bay Area Arts Collective, FoldHaus, will have their large scale origami paper folding artwork “Shrumen Lumen” on display during Labor Day.

FoldHaus Artist Jesse Silver said: “Our work is inspired by nature. “We always take that signal and blow it out of proportion a little bit.”

Shrumen Lumen is an artistic display of kinetic mushrooms filled with LEDs and extends up to 14 feet.

“We’re a collective, we’re all building these crazy pieces of art together and coming from all different communities and building towards a central purpose,” Silver said. “It takes a lot of different skills to create these. We have electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, (and) we have people who write custom software to do the display controls. for movement and light.”

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Most of FoldHaus’ artworks are made of corrugated plastic, aluminum, steel, LED lights, etc.

FoldHaus originally created their artwork for Burning Man, an annual event held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

“It has to be able to survive fairly strong winds. We design this (Shrumen Lumen) to survive a desert environment where the wind might be blowing 60-70 miles an hour,” said Silver. “We also chose this material because light shines through it in a very beautiful way. It diffuses light. So when it gets darker, the whole material glows and all the folds create. these beautiful gradations.”

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Everyone who works on FoldHaus artwork, please volunteer their time and skills.

Up to fifty people worked on a single piece of art to bring the vision together.

“I think the biggest lesson from all of our members is that if you have a community that cares about making a vision a reality and you just take it one step at a time. You really can turn anything you imagine,” said Silver. “If all of you just committed to the vision and had a passion for it. You can make it happen.”

Over the past seven years, FoldHaus’ artwork has been exhibited in museums and music festivals around the world.

“We could never have imagined that our work would be put in museums and go around the world,” says Silver. “It really gives a sense of joy to all of us watching people rejoice with our art. There’s a great sense of joy to be able to accomplish these things together and truly them. I do this because it brings us joy.”

Shrumen Lumen is temporarily on display in Downtown Danville through Labor Day. Explore the illuminated mushrooms in front of the Village Theater and Danville Library.

For more information, visit FoldHaus website.