Crafting for the ages, corals, and pixels – Fiber arts news
We’ve reported before on the Institute for Figuring‘s beautiful, amazing, collaborative, traveling educational fiber-arts exhibit, the Crochet Coral Reef project. But like the reefs it highlights, the exhibit is changing. In it’s current iteration at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC, the crocheted works incorporate whites and grays, representative of reef bleaching events; it also incorporates discarded plastic items from the artists day-to-day, acknowledge the role we each play, interacting with our environment. Very cool that this fiber-arts-phenomenon has such lasting appeal – here’s to hoping that the appeal helps preserve the reefs it seeks to protect!
Can you spot a “photoshopped” image? A corrupted image file? Alternately: can you communicate through woven tapestries? Are traditions set-in-stone? Finally: can you believe that the actually-handwoven rug above is not photoshopped? (hint: yes) In another exhibit in NYC, Faig Ahmed has some fascinating pieces that will help you to, if not answer, at least ponder those questions. And the rugs look simply amazing!
Have you ever wanted to teach a friend to knit (or weave, crochet, felt…) but thought “nah, they’re too old or too set in their ways”? If so, time to re-assess! The Today show has a great story up about Ed Moseley: He wasn’t hindered by never-having-knit-before! At 86, he joined a group that just donated 300 hats for premies for World Prematurity Day – 50 of which he knit himself!
Seriously though, in some respects he’s still a teen-ager. Perhaps if he keeps at it, he’ll join the ranks of elite charity knitters – such as Moorie Boogaart. We really couldn’t believe it when we read about this 91 yr old, who still knits daily, and has done for 15+ years. Hold on to your hat – he has knit an estimated 8,000+ hats for homeless shelters! There is a wonderful, thoughtful article in First Coast News on the role of knitting in Moorie’s life, helping others, and growing old. Well worth a gander!
