EBOC 2011

East Bay Origami Convention 2011

EBOC 2011 Group Photo

On a beautiful Saturday in Novemeber, origami enthusiasts from the bay area flocked to Berkeley for the EBOC hosted by Cal Origami. The convention was a huge success! It attracted approximately 100 people of all ages and folding levels from beginner to master. Workshops filled quickly and were full of fun, featuring local origami masters from the bay area (see below). For those of you who couldn’t make it or are feeling nostalgic here’s a rundown of the day:

The day started bright and early: CAL origami volunteers gathered in Eshelman Library and quickly assembled the room as people started trickling in. Inspiring models appeared on gallery tables and the atmosphere filled with excitement and sounds of folding paper.

Ray watches over the gallery with a keen eye

Some volunteers folding along at Shafer's workshop

Tiffany and Paula runs registration

The first workshops began, featuring Robert Lang and his Fedora and Deb Pun Discoe teaching Makoto Yamaguchi's spinning top.

After a quick lunch, workshops continued into the late afternoon:

Margo Wecksler teaching Sok Song's Autumn Leaves

Andrew Hudson's workshop on his Turkey. Gobble, gobble, gobble, makes me think of the holidays.

Bernie Peyton's workshop on his adorable bluebird chicks

Glenn Spaden teaches his dollar bill fox and tells a few stories behind his design.

Folders perfecting their folds at Tammy Dong's monkey class

kids folding in between workshops

Jeremy Shafer attracts an audience with his origami "Surprise!" teaching a series of fun models

Meenakshi Mukerji showing the intricacies of her elegant Butterfly Cube.

A finished model folded from Glenn's workshop perches on a table

And of course the Eshelman Library was a constant gathering of leisure folding.

The day started to wind down with check in with OrigaMIT's convention via video chat uniting the congregations of origamists from opposite ends of the country. This was followed by a fun game of jeopardy hosted by Scott and Q. The winners was team Frog consisting of Ray, Tomomi, Holly. And the day came to a close with a delicious dinner at Mandarin Garden, but in the end we never really stopped folding.

Jeopardy! with Q and Scott

Folding while waiting for food, during dinner and after

The Gallery:

The gallery featured general and themed challenge displays from CAL Origami members and local designers. All of which were amazing.

This year's themed challenge was "'Fold a story." Check out the submissions below: