CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY Work (Online Portfolio)

View a gallery of images for each mobile including a description of its theme, size (most are approximately 8" in diameter and 24"-31" high), the materials it's comprised of, and photo build journals that show my step by step process. 

Things I’m mentioning at ArtPrize:

Origami Conventions: Origami USA (NY, IL, West Coast - Centerfold (OH)

Folding Club: West Michigan Origami Sign Up for First Notification

Mustang Sanctuaries: Skydog (Instagram, Patreon, Website) and Third Coast Sanctuary (Instagram, Patreon, Website)

Vintage Kimono Shops: Lulu Marie Kimono on Etsy and sou_japan on Ebay.

Methylcellulose: Dry powder I use

INFO REGARDING THE MASSACRE OF WILD HORSES IN ARIZONA

CLICK HERE for the GoFund.me: Reward & Justice for slain Alpine Wild Horses

To help create more legal protections for the horses: Proposed Legislation and WHO to call

LEGISLATION TO SAVE HORSES FROM SLAUGHTER

This video produced by Skydog Sanctuary shows exactly how The SAFE (Save America’s Forgotten Equine) Act (House Bill 3355 and Senate Bill 2732) will help horses, burros, and even surprise baby mules, live the wild and free lives they deserve to live. I hope you will join in me speaking out to protect and save our mustangs. To learn who your legislators are and how to contact them simply visit www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member and enter your home address. Ask them to pass The SAFE Act. Express your concern about our mustangs and in general how our public lands are being used to benefit private individuals rather than the public. My belief is if the public knows about the slaughter pipeline, long term storage, and the Adoption Incentive Program most people wouldn’t support any of them. Equally for moral and fiscal reasons. I hope you’ll join me in speaking out.

To view co-sponsors of House Bill 3355 CLICK HERE. For Senate Bill 2732 co-sponsors CLICK HERE.

View this piece at ArtPrize 2022

Artist’s Entry Profile - CLICK HERE
DeVos Place Convention Center
303 Monroe AVE NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Updates throughout ArtPrize on Instagram at Instagram.com/Tinygami

This piece literally broke my heart. But I was compelled to bring it to fruition because the time is now. Most Americans are unaware that tens of thousands of our mustangs, retired work horses, stolen pet horses, and more are sold each year from “kill pens” at auctions held in the U.S. and are transported to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. There are currently bipartisan bills in the House and Senate (H.B. 3355 and S.B. 2732) to ban the slaughter of horses in America and their exportation to Canada and Mexico for human consumption. It also cuts off the supply chain of American horse meat to Asia and Europe from Canada.

For decades our tax dollars have been used to remove mustangs from the wild. Some are adopted into loving homes. But thousands end up in the slaughter pipeline or (currently as many as 60,000) are held in feedlots known as "long term storage" for the rest of their lives. It’s worth noting there are people who adopt them from the Bureau of Land Management just to sell them to kill buyers because the sale prices are higher than their purchase prices. Each year thousands more are removed from the wild to be replaced by privately owned livestock (cattle and sheep) that graze our public lands for nominal fees. I would like to see the horses remain wild and coexist with the livestock. I question why the horses are routinely rounded up with helicopters resulting in injury and death for some and why taxpayer dollars are used to fund this inhumane and unsustainable management plan.

All this to lessen the competition with cattle and sheep the BLM sells grazing rights to for a nominal fee. I am not anti-rancher or anti-beef consumption. To me the solution is allow the horses to remain with the livestock rather than spend tens of millions of dollars each year feeding and caring for them for the rest of their lives in captivity. There are also volunteer funded and executed birth control programs to keep mares from having foals each year. There are many arguments made from all sides but I simply can’t accept that removal of the horses is necessary to protect the environment when for each horse captured multiple livestock animals replace them.

After being “owned” by people who adopted the horses from the BLM the condition of the horses sold to slaughter are too often the worst cases of neglect I’ve ever seen. The “kill pens” where horses and burros are held at auctions often transmit diseases that some horses and many donkeys don’t survive even when they’re rescued from an auction. At the end of the day the removal of mustangs from public lands is funded by taxpayer’s dollars. So we all have a stake in this. To learn more about the removal of horses to make room for cattle and sheep, the slaughter pipeline, long term holding, and the disastrous Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) I follow @skydogsanctuary @wilsonaxpe @wild_hoofbeats @onaqui.catalogue on Instagram. The AIP is particularly egregious. The public is allowed to purchase a wild horse for a small amount of money and at the end of a year if they still own the horse, even if they never gave it any vet care at all, or food other than perhaps water, they are given the title and in total a $1000 incentive from taxpayer’s dollars. Some people adopt as many as they’re allowed then wait to collect their money before selling the horses at auction to make more money. They don’t care if they are adopted as companion animals or to slaughter. It’s a waste of taxpayer’s dollars that both Tucker Carlson (link is to a video on Facebook or read about his guest Carol Walker’s experience being featured on his program) and The New York Times covered in the spring of 2021. How often do you see them on the same side of any issue?

You may have heard me talk about the heartwarming reunions Skydog Sanctuary has been able to accomplish reuniting mustang families after they were captured and separated by the Bureau of Land Management for months or years. Most never see their families again but Skydog has successfully reunited multiple families since I began following them on Instagram.

After the video was produced Goliath (below) was also reunited with his daughter Ember.

NOW AVAILABLE!
I’m so excited that after many months of development my Paper Nook Book kit is now available! Click the PNB Kit link to view the growing list of online retailers currently offering the Paper Nook Book kit. There is also a form there if you have any questions about the kit as well as a contact link to AITOH if you’re interested in selling the kit in your online or brick and mortar shop.

The most recent updates about my work, studio, and more are always on Instagram. Follow or view at instagram.com/tinygami

Thank you WOUB, ADVANCE YOUR ART, 60 Second docs, CraftSanity, and 97.9 WGRD

WOUB's Emily Votaw spoke to Tinygami(c) artist Stacie Tamaki about her work and her upcoming appearance at Paper Circle on March 14.

Advance Your Art Podcast Interview
Recently I was interviewed by Yuri Cataldo, host of the Advance Your Art podcast. We chatted about when I learned origami, how it progressed from a hidden hobby to my full time profession, how my health situation has impacted my art, what advice would I share with fledging artists, why do I create, and what is my art's purpose in my own life and the lives of those who view it.

FAQ's

What kind of paper do I use? Where do I get my paper? Do I cut my paper into tiny pieces or buy it that small? These are the questions I've now been asked thousands of times. Since they are pretty consistent I thought I’d compile them together into an FAQ blog post.

Contact

Please contact me regarding commissions (for a single crane or 1000) or any questions about my work and to sign up for email updates regarding:  West MI Origami Folding Club - Coming Spring 2017, Show/Exhibition Updates, and the Tinygami Annual Newsletter