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Imaginations Soar With
Christine Petrell Kallevig

Storytelling and Origami
Together as one,
Two arts combined,
Doubles the fun!

Author, Novelist, and Professional Storyteller Christine Petrell Kallevig has been captivating audiences since 1991 with the special storytelling technique she calls STORIGAMI.

Storytelling + Origami = Storigami

• WHAT? Christine folds giant-sized paper as she tells stories. Each fold illustrates an action or character from the story, so by the time the story is over, a surprise origami figure is magically created. Audiences are delighted and amazed as they experience the seamless blending of these dynamic folk arts.

• HOW? Christine relies heavily on her background as a former classroom teacher and music therapist when she selects material that's appropriate for various ages and settings. Teaching simple origami techniques is a part of every Storigami session, but she also likes to donate more elaborate origami models to the schools she visits.

The Origami Dog Sled Team pictured here is a sculpture she designed specially for a school in Alaska during a visit in April 2004. She's also folded lions, falcons, eagles, tigers, and bisons as special gifts to schools with those mascots.

The most unusual origami sculpture she made in 2007 was a Ceramic for Crooksville K-8 School (Crooksville, Ohio). Their mascot is a man at a potter's wheel. An interesting origami challenge in 2008 was designing an origami Railroader for a school in Garrett, Indiana. Now both schools have original origami mascots in their display cases!

• WHY? Storigami is good for our brains! When a story is illustrated by progressive origami folds, recalling the events of the story is the same as recalling the steps necessary to create the origami figure. Short-term memory is greatly enhanced, the whole brain is activated, and everyone has fun while learning exciting, new paper folding skills.

• WHO? She presents programs and workshops at schools, libraries, museums, churches, festivals, and conferences. Although her audiences are usually young authors themselves, she loves to speak to "young at heart" adults as well, especially at banquets or association meetings. Creative writing techniques, such as how to research, edit, and develop characters are included in every school program.

• WHERE? Save travel fees by booking Christine when she's in your area. She appeared in several regions throughout the country during the last few years and is currently accepting bookings for visits nationwide for the 2008-2009 school year. Book early to reserve your preferred date!

There are almost always openings for schools within driving distance from Cleveland, Ohio, especially in Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Southern Michigan, and anywhere in Ohio. Contact her ASAP and she'll try hard to fit an author visit into her travel calendar.

• CONTACT: Click HERE for complete descriptions
of Christine's school visits, conference presentations, and other storytelling programs, including fees, recommended ages, group size limits, and references - or keep reading and then follow the PRESENTATION DETAILS link near the bottom of the page.

Call (440) 838-4881 or send an E-Mail to foldalong@att.net for references and availability.

Christine's Amazing Fabric Origami Hat Band:
See close-up photos of the eight fabric origami models on her hat band.

Christine's Awesome Origami Crane Necklace:
She usually wears a silver crane necklace along with her fabric origami frog necklace when she tells Storigami tales during school author visits in Ohio and nationwide. It's become almost as popular as the origami stories! She's always asked where it can be purchased. Well - all you have to do is click on the Amazon.com link above to buy a similar crane charm to wear with your own silver chain.