There is something about creating a cosy onto objects that makes them feel so special and loved. I love when I walk around my neighborhood and see a tree or pole wearing a sweater. Pretty much any inanimate with a sweater on it makes me happy. How can it not? There is a scientific term for this "cosying up" (another scientific term) of objects. It is Yarn Bombing or Yarn Storming (I kind of like that one). There are a half a million pictures that come up when you Google yarn bombing, from a bus in Philadelphia to a parking meter in Vancouver. There are some pretty amazing yarn bombed objects out there.
I am headed to Philadelphia next week to catch the tail end of FiberPhiladelphia. One of the exhibits I am going to check out is Yarn Bombing 101.
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| Rocky Statue in Philadelphia |
One artist that crochets the world is Agata Olek. Her work blows my mind. I missed her show in New York last year and would have loved to see this in person.
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| photo: agataolek.com |
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| photo: agataolek.com |
However, for the record I am not calling her artwork yarn bombing. Olek was quoted in the New York Times in 2011 saying:
"I don't yarn bomb, I make art. If someone calls my bull a yarn bomb, I get really upset. Lots of people have aunts or grandmas who paint. Do you want to see that work in the galleries? No. The street is an extension of the gallery. Not everyone’s work deserves to be in public."
Got it. However, since this is a post about covering inanimate objects with yarn, a mention of Agata Olek needs to be made. There are some pretty spectacular yarn bombs out there and I am sure the same arguments can be made about graffiti as art and yarn bombing as art but maybe we will save that debate for another day.
Either way, I like it. Yarn bombing, urban knitting, art. I love the softness it creates and how an everyday object covered in yarn can make an everyday moment feel whimsical. The feeling that someone has given so much attention to an object that we would otherwise not think too much about, except for the particular function it serves. It just makes everything seem... cared for.
Did anyone read the article that Etsy put out on April Fools? (spoiler alert: it's not true). The article ends with:
"Subsequent phases of the plan call for outfitting Portland’s homes with knitted “sweaters” to reduce heating costs, designing a rotating seasonal wardrobe for the city’s signature 34-foot-tall Portlandia statue, and reverse-engineering brick-and-mortar restaurants into hemp-powered food trucks."
We won't talk about the fact that I actually believed this article to be true from start to finish and was so blown away by the idea of actually making sweaters for houses, that my heart completely sank when I read the editors note. It took me a good while to really think it was a cute and funny article because I was so sad and disappointed that it wasn't true. Why can't we have knitted house sweaters? Now I can't stop hoping I will wake up one day and my apartment building will be wearing a sweater.
Although, Agata Olek does live nearby...... so maybe one day.
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| photo: phantomgalleries |
1 comment:
Those bowls are fabulous, I love to see pics of yarn bombing! The petrol station is fabulous :-)
Oh and I believed it too..........shhhhh!
Lori xx
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