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Linda Stephen's piece 'Big Rapids: Enfolded by Beauty' includes more than 2,000 paper origami pieces folded by 400 residents along with Linda Stephen’s invented origami sculptures. The artwork is on loan from Pat Heeter and will be part of the Made in Japan? exhibit Aug. 22-Sept. 29.  

Linda Stephen, origami artist, illustrator and author. 

Linda Stephen teaches practicing invention and imagination in her origami education and often creates nature scenes with students in her workshops. 

Linda Stephen teaches practicing invention and imagination in her origami education and often creates nature scenes with students in her workshops. 

'Cattails Swaying' is an invented origami and layered Japanese washi papers piece by Linda Stephen and is for sale at the “Made in Japan?” exhibit.

Linda Stephen teaches practicing invention and imagination in her origami education. Here, Stephen taught how to make an origami dog and how changing the ears can turn the face into a fox or a pig or a cat. The children used white paper to “invent” an origami artic fox.

'Holmes Lake Park in Origami' the main origami illustration for Linda Stephen’s picture book The Day We Went to the Park took seven months to invent and assemble, and won the 2021 Nebraska Book Award for Illustration.

'Summertime on the River' by Linda Stephen, is a construction of invented origami and layered Japanese washi papers.

Cover of The Day We Went to the Park by Linda Stephen and Christine Manno, with origami art by Linda Stephen. 

BIG RAPIDS — Paper is the medium of choice for one Big Rapids High School graduate whose work with writing connects to her love of Japanese culture and one of its oldest art forms. 

One of many artists from the area to return to teach classes, Linda Stephen has been a visual artist for the last 19 years and first began collecting beautiful handmade Japanese papers while in Japan 30 years ago.

Stephen has over 25 years of experience with origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. Fluent in Japanese, she studied at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities and worked for six years as a teacher and translator in Shiga, Japan.

In 2014, she worked with Artworks to create a community collaborative artwork with 400 people in the ‘Big Rapids: Enfolded by Beauty’ workshops at Artworks, Ferris State University, elementary and middle schools, and the United Church of Big Rapids. 

Stephen gathered thousands of tiny geometric flower petals and incorporated them along with her own invented origami sculptures into a scene of Mitchell Creek Park. 

“I'm a writer, so I love papers,” Stephen said. “I'm also a math person, and I call origami math you can hold in your hand. So it's kind of a combination of math and art. It's magic what you can do with one sheet of paper.” 

There are over 80 different techniques across several categories of origami including action origami, modular origami, wet-folding, pureland origami, origami tessellations, kirigami, strip folding and teabag folding, among many others according to the Origami Resource Center. 

Stephen primarily utilizes a wide range of handcrafted Japanese washi papers and hundreds of artisanal papers form her palette from tissue-thin, transparent chigiri-e hand-dyed rice papers to wrinkled momigami papers to the vibrant silkscreened yuzen fabric papers.

After choosing key papers, she creates 3D origami paper sculptures that add shadow, give dimension and bring the work to life. 

“To me, origami is a metaphor for the potential that lies within each person and each place in our world,” Stephen said. “I like to show that by making a mistake you can invent something new through origami. Origami is naturally geometric, and it allows you to do so much trial and error, and I enjoy seeing how different minds work when I teach it.” 

Stephen has combined her love of origami art and writing in a picture book cover and art for "The Day We Went to the Park," published in partnership with Christine Manno, which won the 2021 Nebraska Book Award for illustration.

She will be presenting a workshop on origami and Japanese paper arts at 10 a.m. Aug. 30 at Artworks in downtown Big Rapids. Ten of Stephen’s handmade origami landscapes will be on display for Artwork’s ‘Made in Japan’ gallery including the community collaborative artwork “Big Rapids: Enfolded by Beauty,” scenes of Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, the award-winning art “Summertime on the River,” and art illustrations from her picture book. 

Passionate about her work and teaching, Stephen hopes to inspire future artists through her workshops and events. 

“I like to share with people both the possibilities of paper, but also like to share with helping them develop themselves and have confidence in who they are," Stephen said. "It is my hope that my art inspires viewers to live with intention each day and appreciate the beauty, people, and moments of their lives.”

Stephen now resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children. She visits her dad Don Stephen and many friends in Big Rapids every summer.