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Okay, so it's way past the holiday season and most Christmas trees are probably mulched or in the dumps right now, but shortly before New Year's, Gothamist spotted one of the coolest Christmas trees we've ever seen at the American Museum of Natural History. Instead of traditional ornaments or even plastic animals (we're looking at you, Joe), they had origami ornaments!
The only way the folks at the AMNH could top this is by having an origami tree. That would be one huge sheet of paper. And this picture of an iguana from the museum's Darwin show is cool - has anyone been yet?
Photo by Tien Mao
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I work at the museum, and not only was the tree beautiful but the thousands ornaments were all hand folded (by little old ladies, I hear). From the AMNH site:
'The theme of this year's tree is "flight," and is represented by a bountiful array of winged creatures. Birds, such as owls, jays, and doves; insects such as dragonflies and butterflies; and even the only flying mammal, the bat, hang from and surround the base of the tree.'
The vultures were the best.
The Darwin exhibit is as exhaustively researched and well presented as it is fascinating. Take a day and go!
Haven't they had this tree for like the last 20 christmases?
One note on the Darwin Exhibit - I went to the museum about 2 weeks ago specifically for Darwin. Bought tickets, as well as tickets to the Galapagos IMAX presentation (which was great), and when I got to the Darwin exhibit I was told that a separate ticket was needed and they were sold out for the day (at 1 oclock in the afternoon). So if you go and want to see the exhibit, make sure you get there early.
I have a problem with the title of this article. If you observe the Jake Dobkin Gothamist Style Guidelines, the proper format of the title should be Coolest! Christmas! Tree! Ever!
Please avoid making this mistake in the future, lest we have to slap you with a fish.
it's at least 30 christmases, actually. it was one of the highlights of my holidays every year to go and see it.
neil, you can shoot me if i ever do those without actually mocking jake.
and just because the museum has done the same tree for 30+ years, does it make it less cool? i think not.
"Darwin show is cool - has only been yet?"
Cryptogram?
Jake totally swiped his Gothamist Style Title guidelines from me. I feel so discredited. What's wrong with loving! exclamations?!
The level of detail that goes into making the tree is fantastic. Here are my photographs from a few weeks ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathryn/sets/1633821/
Special exhibits at the Natural History Museum are usually in addition to the admission fee...I'm a AMNH museum member so I got in for free, and even though it's very cool, I'm not sure it's worth the fee they are charging to play "spot the frogs," look at replicas of Darwin's tools and writings, and go through a thorough biography of his life.
So is this the final holiday post of 2005, or the first holiday post of 2006?
Yes, they have done this tree for as long as I can remember, but it wasn't a big deal back in the early and mid 90s when the most spectacular origami tree of all was in the lobby of the offices (now moved or bankrupt, either way, no longer on 5th ave) of Japan Airline (JAL). It was at least 20 feet tall and absolutely breathtaking. Nonetheless, AMNH is a great fixture in New York City that never really gets enough praise.
Someone fire this writer! You're writing an NYC blog and didn't even know that the origami Xmas tree @ the AMNH has been there for 20+ years? =P He he he.
wendy, a little from column a, a little from column b.