No lie: within five minutes of joining the community I already had people marking my work as "Favorites". Allow me to return that favor by saying "Thank you". It doesn't even matter if I make it big with this stuff, or if I can even manage to keep up with the big boy folders of the origami community. Just challenging myself and knowing that I'm capable of bringing a smile to a face is a satisfying experience.

I may as well introduce myself a bit, then:
My name is Ryan Hall. I am a college freshman with honors and majors in religion and philosophy. My art is origami. I am an "experimental purist" who's been folding for at least six or seven years (I forget exactly when I started). I fold all manner of models, from simple to complex, from tessellations to modular, from Wu to Lang to Fuse. I'm very knowledgeable, I think, of the art, but not quite up to par with the masters. Sometimes I leave models in the library with inspirational messages written on them. Outside of origami, I'm very artistically challenged, in both practice and theory. I know nothing of painting styles, really. I taught leatherworking before, though. Thankfully, I know someone very special who makes up for my lacking. I had always envied my friends with artistic ability, and didn't realize until this year that my origami is my art. I had just accepted it as a part of me, no different from eating or sleeping. Now I think I understand a part of why we do art. I'm thrilled to have such a positive reaction from my work, and thankful to have been accepted into such a kind and caring community, both here and amongst my folding brethren.

Thanks again.
~Ryan