Between the Sheets: Paper-Focused Events in NYC

By Troy Segal

Maybe we will truly be a paperless society—someday. Until then, we can celebrate those “thin, flat pieces manufactured from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances” (to quote good old Webster’s) via these workshops, talks and activities.

Confetti makes us think of parades and parties—but to the Cubists in turn-of-the-20th-century Paris, it was a provocative medium to use in their provocative art. See what Picasso, Braque et al. accomplished with those little strips, triangles and squares in this lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dec. 2.

A panel parses Alberto Giacometti’s works, with their characteristic elongated forms—simultaneously distorted and beautiful—in conjunction with an exhibit of his drawings. New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, Dec. 9.

A rare set of Chinese paintings, in the form of a 54-page album, is on exhibit at the Rubin Museum of Art (through April 13). On Dec. 13, after admiring the detailed leaves displayed in All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide, you and the little ones can learn how to create a pop-up art book, too (not as intricate, perhaps, but we all have to start somewhere).

Once upon a time, books were works of art. The glowing illustrations of medieval illuminated manuscripts—and their influence on 20th-century artists—is analyzed by scholar Barbara Rose. Morgan Library & Museum, Dec. 18.

Photo: Chelsea Nesvig — Flickr

It takes American Museum of Natural History volunteers six months to start folding the 800-odd paper ornaments that decorate the museum’s Origami Holiday Tree in the lobby. If you’d like to give it a go, experts are standing by to help you master the art of origami folding. Through Jan. 11.