Folded paper on wood panel.  This piece is composed of origami salmon, a design of my own. Head Waters is about the epic migration of the salmon returning to their spawning grounds after years in the big lake or ocean. I was searching for 4 years for an origami salmon model I could use because of the beautiful metaphor. In the end, I had to learn how to design a model starting with the crease pattern itself. The vibrant Chiyogami paper is hand silk-screened in Japan, and is pH neutralized by myself sheet by sheet. I use pH neutral glue and adhere to artist grade wood panels painted with a durable, acrylic paint. This piece is part of my migration series of origami assemblage. My artist statement: Andrew unearths great journeys through origami assemblage, influenced by his experience as a second generation Canadian. “We are keenly aware of our ‘otherness’, wondering if we truly belong. I fold hundreds of origami birds to honour hardships and sacrifices made by my parents’ generation. As I lay each bird in its place, I realize that the journey continues – I am still finding my way, to be accepted, by others, by myself.” The process is a cathartic, meditative practice. Always striving for perfection, taking joy in the completion of each small task, the culmination of thousands of motions to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Andrew Wang

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Andrew left an engineering and business career in 2017 to care for his school age children and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an artist. He is strongly influenced by the Renaissance period where artists were engineers and vice versa. As he was an engineer for a materials company for over a decade, Andrew takes great care in the choice of materials he uses, considering both technical and symbolic factors. While Andrew’s artistic practice is mainly in Origami, he enjoys the process of creation every single day with each medium before him.