Yarn just brought a whole new level to street art. If you haven’t heard by now, yarn bombing is the latest addition to the ever-evolving unsanctioned art in public spaces, a.k.a. street art. The craft of knitting is going to the streets and covering them, and with the recent release of a yarn bombing how-to book, hopefully there will be a lot more of it.
Everyday objects like parking meters, downspouts, and even street lampposts are outfitted with vibrant colors of yarn. These yarn installations are made in huge sleeves and then stitched onto a fixed object like an art cosie.
Magda Sayeg is attributed with starting this new movement in 2005 when she knitted a cosie for a door handle of a boutique she co-owned in Texas. Jessie Hemmons or Ishknits is Philadelphia’s yarn bomber and calls herself a Public Fiber artist. She knitted a fuchsia-colored hooded vest for the Rocky statue near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which read, “Go See the Art.” The most ambitious exhibition of yarn to date was a fifteen-by-fourteen-foot studio apartment, wherein every wall, picture frame, television, toilet and even people were wrapped in fiber by Agata Oleksiak, although she considers herself an artist not a yarn bomber.
On Sunday, the Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University hosted its 1st Annual Yarn Bombing event. Word was put out to all area knitters to hone their craft onto the poles outside of Teilhard Hall. Although the day was warm, the knitters were working in the shade, which felt about fifteen degrees cooler. One woman remarked, “my fingers are freezing.” The installation will be up as long as “it looks good” and if you want to participate, barren poles are still available.
artintheblue 