ROBERT NEALE

Robert Neale was the first president of the Friends of the Origami Center, which was the predecessor of Origami USA. He began folding paper in 1958 and became acquainted with Lillian Oppenheimer, founder of the Origami Center a year later.

His first creation, Thurber Dog, occurred in 1959. In that same year, some of his models were exhibited in the show at Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration in New York City. In 1964, he delighted many folders and magicians with his "Bunny Bill, " a model folded from paper money in which a rabbit pops up out of a top hat. It combines his interest in origami and magic which is also evidenced by his subsequent creations.

In 1994 St. Martin's Press published his "Origami, Plain and Simple." This volume was long awaited and finally came into being when Thomas Hull prepared diagrams. His book on creating novelties from paper money, with editing by Sam Randlett and diagrams by Earle Oakes, "Folding Money Fooling," was published in 1997. Another work on his great variety of modular models is in process.

Robert Neale is a retired professor of psychology and religion who now writes books on origami and magic in Burlington, Vermont.

Celebrations fo Sides: The Nonsense World of Robert Neale

Folding Money Fooling