If you could build an origami-like paper object that can visualize information at your voice command, what would you ask it to tell you? Google’s new ‘Paper Signals’ project is a fun way to play with information, technology and DIY crafts, offering templates for paper sculptures containing simple parts like a micro servo, an Adafruit Feather Huzzah (a thin, light WiFi board with built-in USB and battery charging) and some things you likely have laying around the house or office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iJXYSfnxuQ

Google’s examples are an arrow that points up and down to track Bitcoin, a wheel that counts down to Halloween, an umbrella that tracks the rain in Seattle, a pair of pants that grows shorter or longer according to the temperature in New York City, a box with arms that tells you when it’s time to take a break and a rocket that tracks NASA launches.

You can choose from one of these examples and print the paper template to put it together using your own parts, or buy the Paper Signals bundle from Adafruit for $24.95. Or, if you have some experience, grab the code from GitHub and make something new.

Abstract geometric paper-based sculpture may seem like an unlikely medium for the expression of scientific principles, but when the artist is also an engineer, there’s an underlying layer of meaning lost on the casual observer. It’s okay if you don’t get what these pieces represent: Matthew Shlian’s tessellations are beautiful to look at, impressive for both their intricate forms and their precision.

Shlian has a new show called Telemetry currently up at Florida Gulf Coast University as part of the FGCU Art Galleries’ third year of Crossroads: Art and Science Residency and Exhibition. Founder of the Initiative Artist Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the artist creates large-scale installations as well as drawings, and frequently collaborates with scientists at the University of Michigan.

“As a paper engineer, my work is rooted in print media, book arts and commercial design,” says Shlian. “Beginning with an initial fold, a single action causes a transfer of energy to subsequent folds, which ultimately manifest in drawing and three dimensional forms. I use my engineering skills to create kinetic sculpture which have led to collaborations with scientists at University of Michigan.”

“We work on the nanoscale, translating paper structures to micro folds. Our investigations extend to visualizing cellular division and solar cell development. Researchers see paper engineering as a metaphor for scientific principles; I see their inquiry as a basis for artistic inspiration. In my studio I am a collaborator, explorer and inventor. I begin with a system of folding and at a particular moment the material takes over. Guided by wonder, my work is made because I cannot visualize its final realization; in this way I come to understanding through curiosity.”

Expanding upon a previous body of work that’s more graphic in nature, paper artist Yulia Brodskaya presents a new portrait series capturing the expressive qualities of aging faces in vibrant hues. The Russia-born artist and illustrator is known for rolling strips of paper into ‘quills’ and painstakingly gluing them together into colorful, three-dimensional designs. The new portraits are named Jade, Topaz and Amethyst, and reveal a more painterly method that tightly packs folded pieces of paper into each composition.

The effect mimics the look of brushstrokes, with wrinkles, folds and other sculptural details rendered in lush jewel tones for an expressionistic result. The former graphic design major discovered her love for the tactile qualities of paper art and abandoned computer programs, producing hundreds of projects and commissions over the last 7 years.

“The new expressive way of using the strips of paper that I discovered recently (and first time used as a primary technique in the Wimbledon artwork) is really exciting – it allows me to achieve more ‘sketchy,’ artistic look for the paper art and I’m excited to keep experimenting with it (though it’s a shame that this method is not much faster than the neat and refined way of gluing strips one by one)… Despite the slow process I enjoyed working on this portrait tremendously: the abundance and richness of colors makes me feel good,” says Brodskaya.

“I used to say that I’m ‘drawing with paper’, now I found a way of ‘painting with paper.’ These artworks are all about color and the unique tactile feel that paper strips add to it. The portrait resembles an oil/acrylic painting (especially from the distance,) but with a paper twist…”

Most artists approach paper as a two-dimensional surface upon which to draw or paint. Others see it in an entirely different way, using it as an architectural material for the most unexpected of three-dimensional works. From wispy, dynamic cut-outs hovering in the air to replicas of entire cities, the works of these 14 (more!) paper artists astonish and amaze.

Eerie Flexible Paper Works by Li Hongbo

What appear to be porcelain or ceramic sculptures stretch and bend in ways you’d never expect – because they’re made from thousands of layers of paper, glued together into accordion-like configurations. Their true nature is only revealed when they are manipulated. Artist Li Hongbo got his inspiration from traditional Chinese toys made from folded and glued pieces of thin paper.

Hand-Cut Paper Sculptures by Nahoko Kojima

A single sheet of paper becomes a leopard, a peacock, a forest, a skull or a masterful life-sized swimming polar bear in the hands of Japanese paper artist Nahoko Kojima. A single piece can take up to six months to create. Byaku, the polar bear, is inspired by the forces of nature.

Amazingly Intricate Paper Scenes by Allen and Patty Eckman

Have you ever seen paper look so dynamic, so infused with life? Allen and Patty Eckman met at Art Center College and soon put their talents to work in collaborative efforts focusing primarily on Native American history. The artists make their own paper pulp, casting it in clay molds to capture this level of detail.

City Maps by Matthew Picton

Matthew Picton creates detailed paper street maps of cities, often using the delicacy of the material to remark upon traumatic events in each location’s past. London in 1940 after Waterloo, Dresden, and Hiroshima all bear the destruction of war in the form of burn marks and tears.

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Awe Inspiring Art 14 More Masters Of Paper Sculpture

What starts as a scientific study takes on a life of its own, guided only by the imagination of artist Rogan Brown as he transforms a sheet of paper into a masterful sculpture with thousands of tiny incisions. Rogan takes his inspiration from natural organic forms, mineral and vegetal, ranging from microscopic individual cells to large-scale geological formations.

Each of these sculptures is incredibly time-consuming, with a single work sometimes taking more than five months to complete. Rogan starts with a pattern that catches his eye, carefully observing his chosen inspiration and creating ‘scientific’ preparatory drawings. But then, as he states, “everything has to be refracted through the prism of the imagination, estranged and in some way transformed.”

The artist sees the very long, arduous process of not only allowing his imagination to take over the work in a natural way but actually making those precision cuts in paper as an essential element of the work. “The finished artifact is really only the ghostly fossilized vestige of this slow, long process of realization.”

The complexity of Rogan’s work calls to mind the papercut art of Tomoko Shioyasu, whose own nature-inspired paper tapestries based on the structure of cells can measure as large as twelve feet high and eight feed wide.