I added a few more pieces the other day, and I took my daughter along to take some photos:
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| On your mark, get set...... |
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| Go! |
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| Sewing my way around the tree |
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| Ta da! |
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| Looks Amazing! |
Here's another link to the gallery: gallery
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Whatever you want to call it - yarn bombing, crochet graffiti, street art, yarn storming or guerrilla crocheting - it's the best thing in the world!!!! Creating knitted or crocheted yarn installations is such a great way to move art out of galleries and studios and into the real world. Arts exists in the most unexpected places, and it is pure joy to stumble upon something like a bench or a fire hydrant draped in knitted or crocheted yarn.
Of course, yarn bombing has a long history as a type of graffiti or street art. Many times, public yarn displays carry some sort of message to the viewer; they are installed secretly and can turn up in the most unusual places. In my version, I rescue discarded knit and crochet pieces and give them a second life by modifying them and moving them back out into the world to be seen and enjoyed.
Last week, with permission of the gallery owner at Spectrum Gallery in Essex, Connecticut, I yarn bombed a tree a few feet away from the gallery's front door. I used granny square pieces that I deconstructed and subsequently reconstructed so they would fit snugly around the tree. I crocheted strips and squares together, matched them to the tree, and then sewed them all the way around the trunk, going up as far as I could.
As people re-emerge from their COVID cocoons, it's a great time to be installing outdoor art. As I worked on the tree, it was so gratifying to get spontaneous feedback from motorists and pedestrians passing by - waves, thumbs-up, smiles, comments - "Looks great!" "That's awesome!" and "I love your yarn bombing!" And, an entire class of children, teachers and chaperones walked by and sung the praises of this funky wrapped tree. So it was a win all the way around!
You can see a photo of the installation on Spectrum Gallery's website here: Abstracting Nature Exhibit at Spectrum Gallery.
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I loved everything about Yayoi Kusama's current exhibit, Cosmic Nature, now through the end of October 2021 at New York Botanical Gardens. My very favorite exhibit was Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees (see last post) but a very close second was this one, Narcissus Garden. Kusama first staged this in 1966, and it was her very first outdoor art installation. The reflective orbs form new patterns and shapes with natural shifts of wind and water, and they offer new, ephemeral reflections with the passage of time.
In Kusama's own words,
"The ceaseless movement of the water pushed the globes together and pulled them apart with gentle clicks and squeaks, constantly transforming the shape of the work. It was a startling but dazzling sight; a mysterious sort of entity reproducing endlessly at the water's edge."
Indeed! I loved it.
