PROVIDENCE - WaterFire - part urban festival, part public art installation - is one of the most popular summer happenings in southern New England.
The free event takes in place downtown Providence on numerous evenings between late spring and early fall, when more than 80 bonfires are lit on braziers just above the surface of the three rivers that pass through city's Waterplace Park.
Created by artist Barnaby Evans in 1994, it has become a seasonal ritual. All sorts of things happen while the fires burn. Musicians fill the air with everything from avant garde jazz to Tibetan chanting. Mimes, living statues, fire dancers and other performers entertain in the park or from boats moving across the water.
This season's first WaterFire event takes place Saturday, May 25, starting at 8:08 p.m. We spoke with one of the entertainers who'll be there, Andrew Anselmo, aka the Origami Guy, who silently transforms sheets of paper into the small, elegant Japanese art form. Anselmo is a street performer who also presents his art in parks and plazas in the Boston area.
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GO: Explain to us what origami is.
ANSELMO: Origami is the art and science - and yes, it is more than just art - of folding paper. The art and science lends itself to everything from folding paper to folding structures and molecules. It can help you understand all kinds of things - how airbags deploy, how to build solar panels.
The main rules are that you don't cut the paper and you don't use anything like tape or glue. Traditionally origami has been done using square paper, but people have used dollar bills and euros and tickets of any sort.
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GO: What got you started with origami?
ANSELMO: When I was probably around 8 or 9 years old, I found a book on the subject in our family library. I picked it up and I was fascinated. Later, I found another book, Scientific American's "Paper Airplane Competition." Scientific American had asked people to send in their paper airplane designs. It had started as a joke, but they got a huge response and they turned it into a book.
Then I started folding for other people. I was at a grad school conference in Turkey and I started folding things and giving them to people. But I really didn't start performing publicly until 2001.
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GO: How did you start doing WaterFire?
ANSELMO: A friend of mine was street performing in Harvard Square as a living statue. She suggested that I go to WaterFire and fold there. She introduced me to Barnaby Evans and I've been there ever since. It was right after 9/11 and Barnaby told me, dress appropriate and fold white cranes. White cranes are an international symbol of peace.
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GO: What makes WaterFire special, or different from other places where you've performed?
ANSELMO: It's probably the best venue for what I do. There's nowhere I've been that's quite the same. The entire city is out on the street and it's like everyone is off duty. They're not out shopping or rushing to get from point A to point B. WaterFire makes you stop and think about the world. It's about the entire city coming together as a community. You have to be invited to perform at WaterFire, so you bring your A game.
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GO: What sort of performance do you do there?
ANSELMO: Before I begin, in a few idle moments I fold a lot of flapping birds. They're great for kids because they move. I'll have hundreds in my side holster. I'll show up a little before sunset to make sure I've got the spotlight right and everything is ready. I'm dressed in black so it will be easier for people to see the paper. Mostly I fold silently. I'll be giving away the flapping birds and whatever I'm folding. Kids like being able to take something home from WaterFire.
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GO: You've studied engineering?
ANSELMO: I studied mechanical engineering at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. Later I went to Columbia for a doctorate. I've done a lot of interesting work for a lot of firms. Now I run a small consulting firm, something I've been doing for the past four years. I've had an interesting career.
Origami shares a lot with engineering. One thing engineering teaches us is that sometimes you have to do your best with the materials at hand. There's a lot of mathematics involved. It's very elegant. There are people who write computer programs on origami. There's a professor at MIT, Eric Demaine, who has looked into the mathematics of origami.
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GO: Do you have any original origami designs?
ANSELMO: I've designed a pinwheel, and I've designed a few pieces using a dollar bill. One of them, the dollar bill sign made with a dollar, was part of the Windows Art Project 2001. It has become a classic piece. You can see it on a YouTube video. At WaterFire, someone will often give me a dollar bill to fold. It usually happens about once a night.
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GO: Do you worry about other artists copying your designs?
ANSELMO: No. With most origami it's hard to hide your tracks anyway. You're not doing it in a box. Maybe that's why there's a lot of sharing going on. If someone can improve on my design, that's great.
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GO: You do a lot of street performing, or busking, in places like Harvard Square. What are some of the challenges to that kind of performing?
ANSELMO: There are not many who do origami, so that's good. I'm usually standing up for about four hours. You have to deal with things like the weather and you have to learn to communicate with a crowd. You have to put the effort into doing the show because people will walk away if they're not enthralled.
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GO: How do you deal with hecklers?
ANSELMO: If you're running silent like I do, a stern look will usually shut them up. Give them a look you might give an unruly 5-year-old and, with a crowd around you, that's usually enough to get them on the straight and narrow. I really don't get hecklers often. A bigger problem is the person using a cellphone. I might pretend I'm using a phone. That usually straightens them out.
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WaterFire Providence kicks off its 2013 season Saturday night, May 25, with a full lighting that starts just after 8 p.m. and runs until midnight. For more details on what's in store, the schedule for the season and weather updates, visit waterfire.org.