Athena Zhang Baker Reflects on Ocarina Covers and Origami Crafts
- Alana McCarthy Light
- Dec 23, 2025
- 2 min read
Origami projects and ocarina playing excite Athena Zhang Baker most stylistically. The Montgomery County crafter, educator and performance artist embraces both tradition and experimentation in her Asian paper craft as she makes and teaches workshops on classic paper cranes and star boxes with a twist, sometimes using leftover materials such as gum wrappers.
Additionally, Athena plays video game soundtrack covers on the ocarina, also known as a “potato flute,” anywhere she goes, mostly proudly at the stage at Downtown Silver Spring’s annual Pride in the Plaza festival.
Athena has taught art classes at Sandy Spring Museum and Rockville’s Visarts, tailoring lessons for her many students according to their individual skill levels. She stumbled upon the latter opportunity after attending a Diwali workshop at Visarts, where the artist felt inspired to write Chinese characters on a traditional Indian Diya lamp. Upon viewing this unique cultural fusion, Karen, a Visarts employee, pulled Athena aside and invited her to host a workshop.
Athena, despite being from Rockville, lived in Memphis, Tennessee for a chunk of time, where she felt misunderstood for being on the autism spectrum. “When it comes to neurodivergence and ableism, you're oftentimes not going to hear those words right in Memphis, Tennessee. Just that one interview at Visarts sparked for me to continue on and develop into who I am.”
She also shouted out another Montgomery County arts space where she teaches, Sandy Spring Museum. Embracing diversity and taking initiative in promoting fair pay and exposure for local artists, Athena mused, contribute to the cultural center's community-focused action.
She advises budding creatives to keep learning and consistently practice their hobbies. Noting that despite criticism in artists’ ears deeming their projects a time-waster, crafts “will translate some way or another into practical adult skills when you get older.”
Emphasizing how artists should “not just go to school, go to work, and that's the rest of your life because in the arts, you have to go out of your comfort zone,” Athena certainly likes to keep life creative. She hopes to branch out into making corn husk dolls and playing the theremin.
“There's a Japanese word not to be confused with the horseradish: wabi sabi. It basically means everything that we regard in life as perfect is made up by the imperfections of it,” Athena stated.
As students of the world, we can all relate to constantly learning. Athena Zhang Baker urges creatives to press on and believe in their path.
Follow Athena's creative journey on Instagram:
Thanks again Alana for the interview! I really love how you challenged yourself to combine a person’s passion for art and music into one short article. That’s not an easy feat.
Also, kudos to you for giving me a try. I know that interviewing people like me isn’t always easy. Now if you want a challenge, try Ang Lee. From what I heard, everytime someone tries to interview him, the man could barely give a good answer because of his shy nature. After all, he was broke and unemployed for 15 years before he became a world renowned film director. Good job for having good ears, especially before we signed off.
In the meantime, keep up the good work! I…