Oh I just love the BBC News website for introducing me to the weird and wonderful world of weird and wonderful people. Today’s excitement came to me during a moment of idle browsing when I came across an article about a giant crochet doily which appeared under a bridge in Bristol last week.
Yarn bombing, which is also known as guerrilla knitting, is a category of street art where artists place items, whether knitted, crocheted, or pom-pommed, into the public domain for reason of decoration.
The first example of yarn bombing dates back to 2004, and the first yarn bomb appeared in that famous nation of knitters, the Netherlands. The idea spread to the US and then went global shortly after. Technically, it is illegal but arrests are few and far between, if any.
I wish I could claim responsibility for the Bristol yarn bombing, but I can’t.
Last term at college we had one session I will call ‘crochet for dummies’. This is what I made that day.
This is what I made that evening.
This is what appeared in Bristol last week.
The motives of the yarn bombers aren’t necessarily social or political. They aren’t trying to make a statement. They just want to warm the world up a bit and make it pretty. Who wouldn’t want to make this big ugly tank look a bit more pink?
This next image appeals to me. It is making something ordinary, beautiful. I approve. If I practice a bit more, I could do that.
I think there might be a tiny political statement here.
A more recent example happened in Stafford outside of the Shire Hall Gallery. I think this idea is lovely. There doesn’t need to be a motive beyond decorating a public space for no other reason than for fun. Artists don’t need to be trying to change the world, or make it think. They can just decorate for decorations sake if that is what they want to do.
I think I need to have a few more sessions of ‘crochet for dummies’ before I can partake in this not-really-very-edgy form of street art. I would love to. I do know how to make pom-poms. I could add a couple to Charles Darwin’s statue outside our local library. Watch this space.
References
Wikipedia on Yarn Bombing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing [last accessed 18 June 2013]
Time Photos, The Fine Art of Yarn Bombing http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2077071,00.html [last accessed 18 June 2013]
‘Giant crocheted doily appears under Bristol Bridge’ BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-22884537 [last accessed 18 June 2013]
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