When Art Dies (117)

There is a sad loss in the creative world of origami today.  On April 24, 2013, Russell Sutherland passed away and the art of origami will never be the same.

How should we feel when someone we only know through facebook passes away?  Russell’s death was like a blow to the gut for me.  Yes, I only knew him through his work and through fb but I always thought I might meet him some day.  He was only about 700 miles away, down in Corpus Christi. We spent time occasionally ‘PMing” each other and chatting about people we both knew and talking about his life and his art. He was a gentle, kind, giving, and most of all extremely creative person. I did feel like I knew him because of his art and because of what he was willing to share with me through his words. I know he had a tough childhood and he had current health issues. He seemed to be making his way through both of those problems. But, evidently he could not get past his current health issues and succumbed at a too young age, probably in his 50s. Yes, that is way too young to leave this earth in my opinion.

I found out after the fact that he had almost 2,800 friends on fb. He was so generous sharing his folding techniques and promoting others. I didn’t know he also sold his work. I would have gladly purchased something had I known he was short of funds, especially since I loved most of his folds. He really had something for everyone from flowers to sconces for the home to masks. I loved his home décor pieces but never knew I could purchase them. I feel some guilt over this now that I have found out he would have loved to have sold them. He never asked.

I would like to pay tribute to Russell but don’t really know how. Maybe the best I can do is to remember him and share his name and his website while it is still up and running. http://foldedexpressions.com For any artist, beyond their family and children, the best he/she can hope is for their work to carry on. Russell had no family. His ‘children’ were the origami pieces he created.

He will live on the in art of the many people he inspired through his work.