Asian paper folding reigns at this year's Open Art Award.

Out of 191 artists' entries, one only was origami and it's this year's first place winner.

Artist Lou Ziegler's "Good Night Grace," a large, boxy origami mixed media piece, caught the eye of Kutztown University fine arts professor Dan R. Talley, the sole judge for the annual award, now in its 45th year at Lancaster Museum of Art.

" 'Good Night Grace' struck me as the most interesting work in the show," Talley wrote of his blue-ribbon pick. "Ziegler's multi-faceted, diamond-shaped construction, with its repeated patterns broken and folded into a profusion of possible combinations, is a delight to consider."

Museum director Cindi Morrison said Ziegler's may be the first origami piece to take a prize in the Open Art Award. The art form dates to about 6th-century China. Buddhist monks later took the art to Japan.

"It's an up-and-coming art form. We've seen some national and international exhibitions focused on origami," Morrison said.

Look for upcoming museum programs on origami. In the meantime, enjoy the work by Ziegler, who has honed his skills in the ancient art over the past few years.

Matthew Lawrence, a perennial Open Art Award favorite, took second place for a giant, gaudy, sparkly disk he calls "I Went Mad Cutting My Grass."

Morrison said Lawrence has taken ribbons in four of the past five Open Art competitions. The judges love him, but even Lawrence would probably admit his isn't art for every wall.

Still, his over-the-top style is exactly what drew Talley to the jeweled, high-relief mixed media piece that satirizes Americans' quest for the perfect lawn.

"With small objects attached in a cacophony of references, Lawrence's exuberance suggests excess on all levels: a Hindu god, lizards, cows, sheep and teddy bears become frosting on an overblown cake. It's hard to look at this piece without smiling and considering the strange prominence that many place on our landscaping customs," Talley wrote.

After seeing Lawrence's piece, take a visual sedative with "Love 3," the serene third-place winner by Kenneth Hill.

The painting is a heavily-textured cream plane with one red side and a perfect pear floating in a corner. Hill drew in Talley for showing the creation process in the painting's final form.

"I was taken by the surface of the work — especially the large, atmospherically suggestive cream-colored area that proudly displays the history of its making (palette knife marks and drips of paint … " Talley wrote. "The 'let paint be paint' dictum of late modernism competes with and almost overshadows the painted pear in the upper right of the picture."

You might not agree with Talley's picks, but that's OK. The work of 189 other artists rounds out the show, which has a taste of everything for everyone.

Some eye-catchers are Daniel C. Witmer's sculpture "Bubbles," a simple tower of rings in brushed aluminum; Corby M. Shuey's tiny, dark oil painting, "The Miser;" and Heather Heilman Loercher's assemblage piece, "Window," comprised of various culinary tools, including a kitchen shredder strategically placed on a female dress form.

Open Art Award Show, sponsored by Lancaster Summer Arts Festival, reception today 5-8 p.m., through July 29, Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sun. noon-4 p.m., Lancaster Museum of Art, 135 N. Lime St., suggested donation $2, 394-3497.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com