Wednesday 13 October 2010

Nifty Knits

Knitting is something I always wished that I could do. I remember being at secondary school and trying to knit squares that could then be stitched together to make a quilt to keep old ladies knees warm down at the local old folks home. After about an hour of frustration I completed my first row (with a few dropped stitches) but that was as far as I could get, the second row remained elusive and that signaled the end of my adventures in knitting! I wished that I had persevered and could incorporate it into my design.

I recently came across the work of American artist Robyn Love and that desire was rekindled. Robyn has used her knitting and crochet skills to make simple but striking statements, her recent typographic work called "Unconditional Yes' is bright, passionate and reaffirming and her 2008 project the knitted mile made me wince at the number of man hours needed to complete a project like that, it made me think of Carol Hummel's knitted "Tree Cosy" which when I first saw pictures of it I thought that it was a clever job in photoshop but no it was for real and made the tree look beautiful. The installation lasted for 3 years and she has gone on to create similar works across America and in India and has even made underpants for trees as well!
The Knitted Mile by Robyn Love




"Unconditional Yes" by Robyn Love
"Not Stained Not Pure" by Robyn Love
 Tree Cosy, Cleaveland Heights by Carol Hummel


No comments:

Post a Comment