knitting

Posts tagged
with knitting

Art Craft

Colorfully Cast Hands in Carol Milne’s Knitted Glass Sculptures Won’t Drop a Stitch

While they might seem like gibberish to the non-knitter, abbreviations like “Sl1P” or “K2tog”— “slip next stitch purlwise” or “knit 2 stitches together”—represent how lengths of spun fiber become a fabric. In Carol Milne’s intricate sculptures (previously), one can practically hear the needles clicking as yarn is cast on, except these interlaced strands aren’t exactly pliable. In the series Hands Knitting Themselves, glass fingers deftly guide needles through delicate loops as if frozen mid-stitch.

Combining a passion for knitting with experience in sculpture, Milne began working with kiln cast lead crystal, experimenting with different methods and developing a lost-wax process to cast individual knitted works into glass. Playing with translucency and the material’s ability to highlight a prismatic range of hues, light is essential to Milne’s body of work, and she has recently been working on pieces that focus on illumination.

Milne will open her studio as part of Refract Seattle on October 15, and she currently has work on view with Culture Object in New York City,  Kittrell Riffkind Gallery in Dallas, and Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville. You can find more of her pieces on Instagram and on her website.

 

Craft Science

Interview: A Conversation with The Tempestry Project Delves Into the Importance of Knitting Tangible Records of Climate Data

Even in the wake of major weather events like the unprecedented flooding that closed Yellowstone National Park for the first time in decades last week, it can be difficult to grasp the magnitude of the climate crisis. The Tempestry Project has been striving to make such large-scale shifts more accessible and relatable through data-rich tapestries, which founders Asy Connelly and Emily McNeil discuss in a new interview supported by Colossal Members.

People don’t have to come at it specifically as “this is activism,” but people can come at it tangentially. Once they see the climate history that’s happening right in their backyards, it dawns on them that this is happening even here…A lot of the IPCC reports focus on what’s going to happen in the future, and people tune that out. I wish they wouldn’t, but it’s what happens. If you connect it to their lived experience in their homes, it’s a lot more impactful for people.

In this conversation with managing editor Grace Ebert, Connelly and McNeil discuss the slow, insightful process of crafting a Tempestry, why it’s important to standardize yarn colors, and the power a single knit has to change someone’s mind.

 

Art Craft

Knit Coral Suits and Vibrant Marine Creatures Spring From Mulyana’s Whimsical Yarn-Based Ecosystems

In Mulyana’s Fragile Ecologies, two figures cloaked in coral and algae tower over beds of fiber-based sea creatures. The Indonesian artist continues his playful and eccentric approach to marine life conservation in his solo show on view through March 4 at Sapar Contemporary, which brings some of his life-sized costumes and an array of woolen specimens to the gallery. Each piece is knit or crocheted with recycled, brightly colored yarn, which the artist fashions into sprawling ecosystems and immersive installations that dangle from the ceiling.

Mulyana puts a fantastic twist on the natural lifeforms, especially when crafting his signature Mogus character: most recently, the reimagined octopus is outfitted with a mustache in leopard print, innumerable eyes all over its body, and polka-dotted horns. Lighthearted in presentation, the works are rooted in more urgent issues like the effects of the climate crisis, isolation, and how we collectively configure identities that are always evolving. A statement about Fragile Ecologies says:

On a macro level, Mulyana’s profound concern for the eroding environment and our collective lack of care for the natural world parallels the importance of self-care on a micro level. His message encourages a holistic path to self-preservation amidst a chaotic and uncertain post-pandemic world. While Mulyana does not overtly reference gender and sexuality in his intricate installations, the diversity of his colorful environments and spectacular costumes allude to the fluidity of human identity.

For more of Mulyana’s underwater knits and costumes, head to his site and Instagram.

 

Design

Temperature Textiles Translate Climate Crisis Data into Colorful, Graphic Knits

Creating tangible records of weather patterns has been a long-running practice for crafters and designers interested in visually documenting the effects of the climate crisis over time. Daniera ter Haar and Christoph Brach, of the Eindhoven, The Netherlands-based studio Raw Color, join this endeavor with their new collection of knitted goods that embed data about temperature changes, the sea’s rising levels, and emissions directly within their products’ patterns.

In each design, the duo translates data from the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, into colorful, line graphics that represent four possible outcomes for the world through the year 2100. The titular Temperature Textiles rely on warm shades, sea level uses cool blues, purples, and greens, and emissions a combination of the two to visualize the changes.

Raw Color shares more specifics about the data behind Temperature Textiles on its site, where you can also shop the collection of flat and double knits. Follow the studio on Instagram to keep up with its latest designs. (via Design Milk)

 

Art Craft

Playful Ocean Life Sprawls Throughout Mulyana’s Immersive, Knit Installations

Complete with spiraled tentacles, textured features, and toothy grins, the yarn-based creatures that Indonesian artist Mulyana knits and crochets take a playful, bizarre approach to ocean life. The artist frequently recreates what he refers to as the mogus, or octopus, as a mainstay in his underwater environments. Dotted with multiple sets of eyes, the creature has various iterations ranging in size, color, facial contortions, and number of tentacles. Each billowing mogus is presented suspended from the ceiling, giving it the appearance of floating through the ocean.

While many of Mulyana’s formations are brightly colored, the pieces in his Bety series (shown below) are crafted entirely in white to draw attention to coral bleaching caused by pollution. To maintain his own commitments to sustainability and community, Mulyana re-purposes the yarn that forms his textured corals and ocean life.

If you’re in New York, Mulyana’s sea creatures can be seen at Sapar Contemporary through August 21. Otherwise, keep up with the artist’s vibrant projects on Instagram, and check out where the mogus heads on its next adventure.

 

Craft

Extra Tongues and Cheeky Grins Knit onto Humorously Grotesque Masks by Ýrúrarí

Although most masks hide emotions, Ýr Jóhannsdóttir’s knits permanently display fervid grins and facial contortions to those she passes on the street or stands next to in the grocery store. The Iceland-based designer, who works as Ýrúrarí, has been crafting grotesque knitwear with the intention of warding off anyone who gets too close through a series of monstrous features. Unruly mouths evoke Medusa, oversized lips grin too eagerly, and a lengthy tongue proves an impossible feat as it licks the designer’s eyeball.

Despite their effective scare tactics, Jóhannsdóttir won’t be wearing these in public because she says they’re not designed to guard against COVID-19. Even so, follow her unorthodox facial coverings and check out her similarly outlandish apparel on Instagram. (via designboom)