The week before finals generally isn’t marked by a giant art display, but on May 20, Gunn High School students arrived at school to find 1,823 paper cranes hanging above their N-building courtyard.
Arranged as a senior gift by an anonymous group of 15 seniors in 7 months, the display was up until May 31 and designed to resemble a drop of water creating a ripple upon landing.
The idea for the project wasn’t set in stone overnight. Initially, the seniors thought about taping cranes or hanging lines of cranes along the ceilings, but the grainy texture of the walls made it hard for the adhesive to stick.
The seniors also considered folding an additional 1,000 cranes to throw during Gunn’s annual senior paper toss. But they eventually decided that this was too laborious to pursue given the tight deadline.
Just around two weeks prior to installation of the project, the seniors finalized the design: an arrangement of paper cranes in the shape of a radial sine wave, a composition visible from all sides of the building.
In line with the goal of showcasing the project to as many students as possible, the N-building was chosen for the display because every student is required to take an English course, if not also a math course, regardless of their grade. The N-building’s two-story structure and atrium also provided an ideal space for the display.
Seniors who participated sourced paper from past high school and middle school assignments, dedicating time during class, SELF and study hall to maximize crane production.
Of all origami creations, they chose cranes because they “universally hold a lot of meaning” and are “fairly easy to fold, which made it accessible to everyone who wanted to be involved,” the contributors said over email.
Although there was no singular intended meaning behind the choice of cranes, the group welcomes interpretive freedom and has received varied takes on the significance behind the cranes.
The number of cranes, 1,823, doesn’t hold meaning either; it was chosen to fit the N-building space and calculated using models and a spreadsheet.
In the final design, 1,523 cranes made up the support lines while the other 300 formed a sphere to resemble a water droplet. Fishing lines, knots, hot glue and tape held the cranes together.
Once the cranes had been folded, the next, and arguably hardest step was to put up the display.
Over the course of two days from 4:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., the seniors worked tirelessly to showcase their efforts. To create the hanging sphere, three people worked together at three different columns that held suspension wires.
As for the remaining cranes, the seniors measured out string, taped cranes to each string and suspended lines of cranes held by yarn across the second floor railings. A paracord was then used to keep everything in place.
While vandalism was a concern at first, the project, to their surprise, was met positively by teachers, administrators and students alike. Contributors recall that the group’s email, which was initially created to address concerns and complaints, received various heartfelt messages from members of the community.
The goal of the project was to craft an aesthetically enjoyable display to surprise everyone before finals, according to the team. Although the cranes are no longer there, the group hopes to reuse parts of the display as classroom decorations. Teachers can request a line to hang up through a Google form.
The seniors hope to share more of the behind-the-scenes process on their Instagram, @gunncraneproject.
“Beyond that, there aren’t any plans to expand the project; most of us are parting ways after graduation,” the seniors wrote in an email. “This project is a graduation gift, a swan song if you will.”
