CORONA DEL MAR : A Few Folds Here, There Equal Art

Charles Buckland, a retired robbery-homicide police detective, sat on the edge of his folding chair at the Oasis Senior Center and looked with awe at the flapping wings of the colorful paper bird.

“I’ve been wanting to make one of those for 20 years,” said the towering, silver-haired Huntington Beach resident, whose strong frame seemed in conflict with the delicate work his hands crafted at the center’s senior origami class. “I’ve tried, but I can’t make it.”

But he has been successful in producing similarly delicate works of his own. Pulling out a sack from under a table, he showed off an array of fine works he had made at home since last week’s class--a red-paper schoolhouse, a squiggly green-paper cobra and an ocean-blue paper sailboat.

Barbara Pearl, a former math instructor, teaches origami to Buckland and about two dozen other seniors during a monthlong class at the center. She regards it as a way to learn a new craft, but also to keep minds sharp and alert by exercising the ability to remember, deduct and think through a problem.

“People think it’s just for kids, but it’s something for all ages,” said Pearl, whose program, Math in Motion, is also used in educational settings to offer alternatives to typical teaching methods.

Pearl also uses recycled newspapers and magazines to promote an environmental awareness among the participants, and to show them that beautiful crafts can be made for next to nothing with common materials.

The seniors in Pearl’s class have become adept at swiftly folding, smoothing and tucking the pieces of scrap paper into colorful hats, crowns, boxes and flowers.

“The moment she says what to do, I try to hurry and do it, then I try to remember it and do it by myself,” said Flo Stoddard, 71, a Corona del Mar resident. “This is terribly good for the memory.”

Stoddard whipped through the rectangular sailor’s hat and the pointy crown that were the first projects in Monday’s lesson. But by the time the hourlong class began winding down, she was stumped by the last project, a paper cup.

“I’m lost,” Stoddard said as she put her fingers in the mouth of the cup, only to have them come through the other end.

Pearl, who roamed the room, came over to see what had gone wrong. It turned out to be one simple fold.

“Well, look at that,” Stoddard beamed after Pearl demonstrated the simple technique. “I wasn’t lost at all.”

“Look at me, I can’t believe it,” she added, gathering her completed pieces for the day--a sailor’s hat, two queen’s crowns and her just-finished paper cup. “All the things that this class does--memory, patience, all that--are good for older people like us.”

The class is one of about a dozen that the senior center offers regularly, usually on a monthly basis. Some cost a few dollars for each class day, totaling $20 to $40. Others have no charges other than a one time sign-up fee. Pearl’s class was funded through a city grant, so participation is free.

For more information on the origami classes, contact Pearl at (714) 721-0633.