This week’s Wow at the Woodson

Little ones, 18 months-4 years, and accompanying adults sample art-making stations inspired by beetles, butterflies, and other creatures in Robert J. Lang’s “FaunaFold.” This free, monthly, drop-in program includes a snack and story time.

Learn about the varied materials used to make handmade papers and try papermaking with help from curator of exhibitions Shannon Pueschner and educator Catie Anderson.

Master origami artist Robert J. Lang merges mathematics with aesthetics to create mesmerizing forms – both of realistic creatures and modular, geometric forms. Lang, who set aside his day job as a laser physicist to focus on both the art and science of origami, became a pioneer of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami with mathematics, developing some of the most complex origami designs ever created.

Lang’s origami artwork, featured in “FaunaFold” and included in “Above the Fold,” exemplifies how applying math and computer programming to origami revolutionized this ancient art form.

Origami principles are solving engineering design problems, too, through compactly folded airbags and space telescopes that can launch and deploy.

During his residency, Lang leads a gallery walk, public presentation, hands-on workshops, and works with area educators, exploring the principles of STEAM education – integrating science, technology, engineering, art, and math – expressed in the origami artwork on view.

Artist Robert J. Lang describes his experiences, both technological and artistic, producing origami forms in diverse materials and scales – both on his own and in collaboration with sculptor Kevin Box – from the world’s smallest flapping bird to a 21-foot-tall steel Pegasus.

Join origami master Robert J. Lang for a visit to the “Above the Fold” and “FaunaFold” galleries for his impressions and insights into artwork on view.

Robert J. Lang guides participating teens and adults through “wet-folding” techniques used to add dimension and definition to origami subjects. Previous origami experience is helpful, but not required. Fee: $35 for members; $50 for non-members; includes all materials. Call 715-845-7010 to register.

Explore the genre of modular origami with guest artist Robert J. Lang. Participants will fold and interlock multiple pieces of paper to create a three-dimensional polyhedra, a solid geometric figure consisting of multiple flat planes. Previous origami experience is helpful, but not required. Participants younger than age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Fee: $35 for members and adult/child pairs; $50 for non-members and adult/child pairs; includes all materials. Call 715-845-7010 to register.

Mining the Museum’s holdings yields an array of significant and masterful works. Spanning the 18th through 21st centuries and encompassing a range of mediums from watercolor to oil and metal to wood, “Collection Classics” comprises work by John James Audubon, Martin Johnson Heade, Andrew Wyeth, and others along with work by contemporary artists, including Robert Bateman, Tony Angell, James Morgan, and more.

Carved and painted with a keen eye for ornithological details that convey the behavior, personality, and coloration of birds, these decorative wood sculptures often fool the eye, appearing real. From John Scheeler’s pale-colored mourning doves to Ma Hai Feng’s brilliant yellow and green budgerigar, these realistic sculptures seem poised for flight.

The Woodson Art Museum’s inaugural tactile art exhibition debuts with five avian sculptures, available on a “touch table” in the Decorative Arts Gallery. This touchable artwork installation – the first in an ongoing series – provides ready access to original artwork for visitors with low vision or blindness, also encouraging sighted visitors to experience a new way to “see” via the mind’s eye – visualizing artwork though touch.

While an avian theme unites artworks created between 1875 and 2018, the mediums and points of view will surprise and delight.

The Woodson is at 700 N. 12th St., Wausau. Visit lywam.org.