After reading this article about French street artist JR doing an installation in Hunt's Point, Bronx, we decided to go take a look. Supposedly there are a lot more of these portraits throughout the area there, but without a car and it having been the stickiest sunniest day yet, we were unable to locate more of the art. I really wish the NYT would have given a map of the locations. Oh well- we did see one large display, though, and that was really great!
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Fly Away Home
So, one thing that is great about living in New York City is...getting away from the city! Although there are many things I do love about where I live, being away, especially on a summer holiday weekend, can be very very refreshing. So, for the past days I've been off the island of Manhattan and living it up in the 'burbs.
The first thing I notice is the smell. It smells nice here. It's the most obvious thing, right away, to realize that, 'Oh- it smells like summer here!' and in the winter it will smell like winter, and in the autumn it will smell like autumn- you get the point. I realize that maybe if people haven't grown up at all near nature then maybe they don't realize the pleasant smells of the seasons. But from the little I have lived in a city I know that there are different scents for each season but believe me, they aren't particularly pleasing.
So, in order to breathe in as much fresh air as I can, I've been spending time outside (duh!). And what I've decided to take on as a little study is learning some bird calls and trying to recognize them. So, how am I going to do that, you wonder? By trying to drain all the information out of my mother regarding the topic. Ok- not all the information since she knows way too much about birds for me to try and absorb in a few days. But we've started with some basics.
These notes are comprised of information my mother gave me and we also consulted this book.
Chickadee: chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee or feee-bee (sing songy).
Wren: chatters or trills- stuttering gurgling song rising in musical burst then falling
Catbird: like a Mockingbird but disjointed unrepeated notes and phrases, grating checkcheckcheck, meowing
Finches: bright but loose disjointed, ends in harsh nasal wheer
Robin: tut-tut, tweet, caroling, short phrases prolonged
Cardinal: wah-cheer-cheer-cheer-cheer, whoit-whoit, birdee-birdee-birdee, chip!
Sparrow: complex- can't determine a definitive song
White Breasted Nuthatch: like a duck, weh-weh
The song of the Baltimore Oriole is also really clear, but I don't know this one. When we were sitting outside, though, my mother heard it, identified it, and then we saw it perched up on a tree! This was really exciting because they are so beautiful.
*Chipmunks: When listening to birds in the yard we often also heard chipmunks, which sometimes can be confused with a bird suchas a Cardinal since it's a sort of squeaky chipping noise.
So far, after a few days, I am best at recognizing chickadees- probably because I already knew this one! But now that I know the difference between what a Catbird and a Mockingbird sound like I am pretty good at hearing this one too. Robins are very hard for me to identify because they do lots of different things. The Cardinals and the White Breasted Nuthatch are unique, so if I can remember what those calls are like I think I can get good at hearing those too.
One of the funny things about birds is that they really do communicate. It's pretty obvious that one of the bird houses have competing couples because I've witnessed loud fights and vocal disputes around the house. But also, for example, one of our dogs ran out to the back of the yard (there was a tasty clump of grass luring her there) and she immediately got accosted by angry noises coming from either sparrows or wrens (I can't tell you which, so clearly I have more work to do with this!).
I will end this post with an example of my favorite bird song, and the first I ever learned to identify- the coo of the Mourning Dove.
The first thing I notice is the smell. It smells nice here. It's the most obvious thing, right away, to realize that, 'Oh- it smells like summer here!' and in the winter it will smell like winter, and in the autumn it will smell like autumn- you get the point. I realize that maybe if people haven't grown up at all near nature then maybe they don't realize the pleasant smells of the seasons. But from the little I have lived in a city I know that there are different scents for each season but believe me, they aren't particularly pleasing.
So, in order to breathe in as much fresh air as I can, I've been spending time outside (duh!). And what I've decided to take on as a little study is learning some bird calls and trying to recognize them. So, how am I going to do that, you wonder? By trying to drain all the information out of my mother regarding the topic. Ok- not all the information since she knows way too much about birds for me to try and absorb in a few days. But we've started with some basics.
These notes are comprised of information my mother gave me and we also consulted this book.
Chickadee: chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee or feee-bee (sing songy).
Wren: chatters or trills- stuttering gurgling song rising in musical burst then falling
Catbird: like a Mockingbird but disjointed unrepeated notes and phrases, grating checkcheckcheck, meowing
Finches: bright but loose disjointed, ends in harsh nasal wheer
Robin: tut-tut, tweet, caroling, short phrases prolonged
Cardinal: wah-cheer-cheer-cheer-cheer, whoit-whoit, birdee-birdee-birdee, chip!
Sparrow: complex- can't determine a definitive song
White Breasted Nuthatch: like a duck, weh-weh
The song of the Baltimore Oriole is also really clear, but I don't know this one. When we were sitting outside, though, my mother heard it, identified it, and then we saw it perched up on a tree! This was really exciting because they are so beautiful.
*Chipmunks: When listening to birds in the yard we often also heard chipmunks, which sometimes can be confused with a bird suchas a Cardinal since it's a sort of squeaky chipping noise.
So far, after a few days, I am best at recognizing chickadees- probably because I already knew this one! But now that I know the difference between what a Catbird and a Mockingbird sound like I am pretty good at hearing this one too. Robins are very hard for me to identify because they do lots of different things. The Cardinals and the White Breasted Nuthatch are unique, so if I can remember what those calls are like I think I can get good at hearing those too.
One of the funny things about birds is that they really do communicate. It's pretty obvious that one of the bird houses have competing couples because I've witnessed loud fights and vocal disputes around the house. But also, for example, one of our dogs ran out to the back of the yard (there was a tasty clump of grass luring her there) and she immediately got accosted by angry noises coming from either sparrows or wrens (I can't tell you which, so clearly I have more work to do with this!).
I will end this post with an example of my favorite bird song, and the first I ever learned to identify- the coo of the Mourning Dove.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
How much is that doggy in the window?
In high school I wrote a really provocative exposé on puppy mills and it was titled 'How much is that doggy in the window?'. It was pretty sweet back then because the internet was still KIND OF new as a legitimate research tool and it was interesting to read about all these busts down South of really horrible puppy mills. But, that's not what I'm planning on talking about here.
What I want to talk is more generally dog culture/dog presence in the city. I miss the two dogs my parents have very much, but they are Boxers and quite frankly I'm not sure they would enjoy the city because it would be a very different lifestyle for them.
Around my neighborhood what I see most is little itty bitty 'my feet are barely touching the ground I'm so wired and lightweight' kinds of dogs. So think dying-for-attention Pomeranian, anorexic Chihuahua, anything that can wear little outfits, etc. They get walked around on little nylon leashes and pretty much every block has some of their droppings. I hate it. This whole defecation issue is city-wide. I actually think the worst was when I had to interview someplace on the Upper East Side- for some reason on E 85th Street (or thereabouts) people do not feel the need to pick up after their dogs. Which is weird because that should be a relatively nice area I thought? Maybe it is because they are small dogs and so small amounts of waste come out of them so people think it is NBD (No Big Deal. Is that an acronym? If not I'm making it one now). But seriously, shit is shit and it is gross to constantly see it everywhere.
Aside from the sidewalks being a giant doggy toilet, I have also been displeased over the random social interactions of dogs. Just imagine: one woman talking on her phone, smoking a cigarette, and walking a small fluffy dog meets another woman out jogging with a large Hound dog. Not being able to tell which is really pursuing the other, the dogs manage to sniff each other intensly, tangling up the leashes, lady with the big dog can't pull it away effectively, woman on the phone is useless. And then they get in my way, and I have to stand and wait and squeeze by them wanting nothing to do with it. Pretty annoying.
Today, however, I had the scariest dog experience since I moved here. I was in Harlem doing an errand. I'm walking along and this young man is walking a very busty Pit Bull (nice colors- the smooth clay/gray/brown color with solid white like in this pic) that has a cage-type muzzle on. Although this metal mouth guard looks like something cool out of a Terry Gilliam movie, it actually made me more calm since I didn't have to worry about it trying to bite me as I walked by...not that I thought it wanted to bite me but it was a very muscular dog and was teeming with energy so who knows. Anyway, I see them approaching me as we are about to walk by this lot that is surrounded by chain-link fence and there are these big boards set up around it so you can't see in. There is writing on the boards but the paint has been faded and washed away so I have no idea what it says. I have walked past this lot before and assumed it was something political and admonishing 'the man' or something. Lining the chain link fence are also milk crates filled with dirt and are growing these little white flowers.
So, I'm walking towards the lot and the man with the Pit Bull is walking past it and ALL OF A SUDDEN there is an explosion of barking. The Pit Bull is barking slowly but is sniffing like crazy at the fence and the guy is just tugging him along while I hear a chorus of dogs elsewhere. As I reach the lot I see an older man sliding out of a pulled back section of the chain link fence and before he moves the board to cover up the hole he has crawled out of I see inside the lot: So, the lot is not only a garden/junk yard like I expected, but it is also the home of at least SIX large, tough looking, big dogs barking and acting rambunctious. There were heaps of wood or old appliances or something, and one dog was King of the Hill and barking at the others who were circled around him. A couple were at the other end of the place still sniffing after the Pit that has since passed. All those dogs in such a disheveled and isolated lot seemed totally apocalyptic and really kinda spooked me.
And I hope the boards used to read 'BEWARE OF DOGS'.
In other news, here is my doggelganger. Pretty cute if you ask me!
What I want to talk is more generally dog culture/dog presence in the city. I miss the two dogs my parents have very much, but they are Boxers and quite frankly I'm not sure they would enjoy the city because it would be a very different lifestyle for them.
Around my neighborhood what I see most is little itty bitty 'my feet are barely touching the ground I'm so wired and lightweight' kinds of dogs. So think dying-for-attention Pomeranian, anorexic Chihuahua, anything that can wear little outfits, etc. They get walked around on little nylon leashes and pretty much every block has some of their droppings. I hate it. This whole defecation issue is city-wide. I actually think the worst was when I had to interview someplace on the Upper East Side- for some reason on E 85th Street (or thereabouts) people do not feel the need to pick up after their dogs. Which is weird because that should be a relatively nice area I thought? Maybe it is because they are small dogs and so small amounts of waste come out of them so people think it is NBD (No Big Deal. Is that an acronym? If not I'm making it one now). But seriously, shit is shit and it is gross to constantly see it everywhere.
Aside from the sidewalks being a giant doggy toilet, I have also been displeased over the random social interactions of dogs. Just imagine: one woman talking on her phone, smoking a cigarette, and walking a small fluffy dog meets another woman out jogging with a large Hound dog. Not being able to tell which is really pursuing the other, the dogs manage to sniff each other intensly, tangling up the leashes, lady with the big dog can't pull it away effectively, woman on the phone is useless. And then they get in my way, and I have to stand and wait and squeeze by them wanting nothing to do with it. Pretty annoying.
Today, however, I had the scariest dog experience since I moved here. I was in Harlem doing an errand. I'm walking along and this young man is walking a very busty Pit Bull (nice colors- the smooth clay/gray/brown color with solid white like in this pic) that has a cage-type muzzle on. Although this metal mouth guard looks like something cool out of a Terry Gilliam movie, it actually made me more calm since I didn't have to worry about it trying to bite me as I walked by...not that I thought it wanted to bite me but it was a very muscular dog and was teeming with energy so who knows. Anyway, I see them approaching me as we are about to walk by this lot that is surrounded by chain-link fence and there are these big boards set up around it so you can't see in. There is writing on the boards but the paint has been faded and washed away so I have no idea what it says. I have walked past this lot before and assumed it was something political and admonishing 'the man' or something. Lining the chain link fence are also milk crates filled with dirt and are growing these little white flowers.
So, I'm walking towards the lot and the man with the Pit Bull is walking past it and ALL OF A SUDDEN there is an explosion of barking. The Pit Bull is barking slowly but is sniffing like crazy at the fence and the guy is just tugging him along while I hear a chorus of dogs elsewhere. As I reach the lot I see an older man sliding out of a pulled back section of the chain link fence and before he moves the board to cover up the hole he has crawled out of I see inside the lot: So, the lot is not only a garden/junk yard like I expected, but it is also the home of at least SIX large, tough looking, big dogs barking and acting rambunctious. There were heaps of wood or old appliances or something, and one dog was King of the Hill and barking at the others who were circled around him. A couple were at the other end of the place still sniffing after the Pit that has since passed. All those dogs in such a disheveled and isolated lot seemed totally apocalyptic and really kinda spooked me.
And I hope the boards used to read 'BEWARE OF DOGS'.
In other news, here is my doggelganger. Pretty cute if you ask me!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Make Itself Felt
One thing about living in the city that I realize everyday is that THE CITY IS DUSTY. Now, certain things I am a neat freak about in my apartment ie: the toilet bowl, the bathroom sink, the kitchen sink, and the bathtub/shower walls. These things I clean with a passion. One chore, however, that I am not so good at is dusting! But seriously, my window sills are the worst- like actual dirt dust from outside. And the floor in here gets SO SO SOSO dusty it is insane. I have hardwood floors that I vacuum sort of regularly but not owning a mop is definitely adding to the problem because I really need to wash the floors to stop my feet from picking up dust tracks everywhere I go.
This being said I was particularly interested in finishing this felted slippers project. I would obviously much prefer a slipper to get covered in floor dust than my feet. And so, even though I had a debacle of an attempt yesterday, I decided to push on with the felting project just to prove I can do it and not feel bad about it anymore (I was feeling really bad about messing up two whole slippers yesterday).
I am happy to report that today was a success!! If you would like to know about the actually crocheting pattern and see photos of the process of what I did check out my Ravelry project. If you just want to see some pictures, they are just below. I would like to note that I only did one of the slippers. Hopefully I can make the other one, especially by autumn.
PS: These pictures are not so great for two reasons.
1) The wool is still wet. Once they are fully dried they will be more uniformly fuzzy and the colors will be brighter.
2) It is REALLY hard to take pictures of your own feet!
This being said I was particularly interested in finishing this felted slippers project. I would obviously much prefer a slipper to get covered in floor dust than my feet. And so, even though I had a debacle of an attempt yesterday, I decided to push on with the felting project just to prove I can do it and not feel bad about it anymore (I was feeling really bad about messing up two whole slippers yesterday).
I am happy to report that today was a success!! If you would like to know about the actually crocheting pattern and see photos of the process of what I did check out my Ravelry project. If you just want to see some pictures, they are just below. I would like to note that I only did one of the slippers. Hopefully I can make the other one, especially by autumn.
PS: These pictures are not so great for two reasons.
1) The wool is still wet. Once they are fully dried they will be more uniformly fuzzy and the colors will be brighter.
2) It is REALLY hard to take pictures of your own feet!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Today I Felt something I never have before!
Internet fame! Some art blogger said my yarn bomb was of the best for the day!
No, but really I'm talking about felting yarn. I did a little swatch in my bathroom sink (and then I also made two whole slippers that totally sucked because they didn't fit right and I got frustrated...and are well, now in the trash because you can't take apart felted yarn! sigh). I'm determined to do a pair of slippers that fit well and look cute, especially because this is a yarn that SHEDS LIKE CRAZY so I think felting it and also wearing it as footwear is a good use for it. The pattern is made out of granny squares so it's not even that difficult. I will keep you all posted on how this project develops (if it does). For now, here's my little felted swatch:
Before:
After:
No, but really I'm talking about felting yarn. I did a little swatch in my bathroom sink (and then I also made two whole slippers that totally sucked because they didn't fit right and I got frustrated...and are well, now in the trash because you can't take apart felted yarn! sigh). I'm determined to do a pair of slippers that fit well and look cute, especially because this is a yarn that SHEDS LIKE CRAZY so I think felting it and also wearing it as footwear is a good use for it. The pattern is made out of granny squares so it's not even that difficult. I will keep you all posted on how this project develops (if it does). For now, here's my little felted swatch:
Before:
After:
Monday, June 13, 2011
Look out below!!!!!!!
On Friday night at around 10pm my boyfriend and I set out to yarn bomb a Subway station in Manhattan that has a non-staffed Station Agent booth. I would like to share my experiences with this at length, because it is one of the more involved projects I've taken on lately. So first, some background:
YARN BOMBING
The concept of yarn bombing is something I have only been thinking of for a few months. Although I have not actually seen this in person, there is a book that introduced the practice and some examples of projects to the public. From what I have looked at and learned this seems to be a 'tradition' that is not particularly popular in the USA yet, and is more prevalent in Australia, parts of Scandinavia, and Canada. That is not to say that there aren't troupes and individuals in the US and other places who do this work, it just seems more established or more documented from these other countries.
Here are links to some of my favorite yarn bombs (I've given these 'names'):
lacey
a certain morality
fiber nature
plugged
abstract
loops
I also was really inspired by the work of Olek, an artist in NYC. However, after reading this article (which also has information about other artists who use yarn) I was a little put off by her position. She is quoted saying, "The street is an extension of the gallery. Not everyone's work deserves to be in public." For me, graffiti and street art is so enchanting because the people who do the work may not even consider themselves artists and many of them are far from "legitimate" or professional artists that are acknowledged by a gallery or institution. The very fact that much street art is simply the articulation of someone's passion or vision, which can then be viewed by and affect any passerby, is exciting to me.
Clearly there are a lot of different ideas spewing around regarding yarn bombing, or fabric arts, or crafting as a legitimate form of art. For me, what I really enjoy about the yarn bombing movement is that it is an art form that is particularly important for Urban spaces because it cheers up and adds some personalized coziness to typically dirty and industrial environments. This is why I chose to do a project in the Subway, because for me the Subway is one of the least appealing places in the city.
PRE-BOMB
I came up with the idea to do the turnstiles in the Subway through basically a process of elimination. I knew I wanted to target something in the Subway, since it is so gross and disgusting down there, so it was just needing to narrow it down that took some thought. I originally thought that I would make clothing for the cute statues that are at 14th Street. I decided against this for two reasons. 1) It was almost summertime so I didn't want to be putting thick knitted clothes on the statues and 2) they are already cute and cheery so this would be redundant to use them as a focus. Other ideas that I thought about were doing a cover for a subway car seat like this one in Philadelphia but this actually seemed kind of gross to me because what if someone spilled something on it and made it dirty- then people wouldn't even want to sit on it and it would just become something nasty. This same reason is why I didn't want to make cozies for any of the poles or banisters because they would probably become soaked in sweat and, ya, that would be GROOOSSS!!
So, after some observation and a little thought I had the EUREKA! moment and knew I wanted to do the turnstiles. This was MOST AWESOME because not only are they a simple shape to cover, but they are also an aspect of the Subway that every single person must interact with in order to enter and/or exit the trains. This was such a fun idea to me, because there would be a forced interaction to the experience and it was also appealing to decorate an object that had movement and represented passing through to a differently demarcated area.
I crocheted the turnstile cozies over a few months, waiting for June 11th as it was International Yarn Bombing Day. I first started with the biggest hook I had at the time (6.50mm, which is really THAT big) but luckily purchased a really large plastic one before the big day. The cozies crocheted with the larger hook are the ones with larger spaces, and those fit much better on the turnstiles because they didn't want to contract into a shorter/tighter knit once they were tied up.
BOMBS AWAY
Being in the city has made me slightly paranoid because there is lots of surveillance and authority and I am not sure how comfortable I am with this. Therefore, I obviously picked a station that didn't have a Station Agent, and luckily one in my neighborhood is like this. There are however cameras, but after doing a little research I'm almost certain that Grand Central, Penn Station, and Times Square are the only hubs with real-time cameras so I wasn't really worried about my station. You might be curious why I am so worried about getting in trouble, part of that is because I am simply a nerd who doesn't like being yelled at, but also it's because yarn bombing isn't exactly on the books and can either be considered littering or vandalism by the Police. Since I was yarn bombing an MTA device, I wasn't sure if they would be more severe with me and I wanted to avoid any problems. Therefore, when we got down to the station only to find two MTA employees working on the Ticket Machines I was not happy!!! We had to wait around for about 25 minutes until they were finished, in which time I was feeling really down and nervous and wondering why I had picked something that was causing me so much concern.
Luckily, the MTA guys left and there had been so much anticipation that I walked down to the turnstiles and just jumped right into it. After I had completed one full entryway (three turnstile posts) a train had just arrived and a flow of people started to come through. Some people just walked right through as if nothing was different (hey- this is New York afterall!) but others stopped to see what was going on.
One particular guy was funny because he walked through the finished turnstile and said to his friend, "Whoa- look at this! This is so cool, I've never seen anything like that. I wonder-" and then he saw that I was still in the process of finishing up the other turnstiles- "Oh! That girl is doing it right now!" He stood around and took a video on his iPhone that he said he would put on YouTube (I have no idea if this will really happen or if I would be able to track it down even if it did!) and said that it was really cool street art. I was happy that he was someone who got to see it in action since he thought it was so great. For me, it was cool to see someone enthusiastic and having people stand around watching and giving feedback made me more confident and relaxed.
Another man, possibly Russian, who was with a young boy said how it was a pity that it couldn't be like that forever and also how it was the most beautiful thing for this neighborhood. After thinking about him saying this and reflecting on the whole experience I realized that choosing a Subway station that was by my home really made a difference. I originally thought of doing it Downtown in an area where it might get the most exposure to large amounts of people. But, after doing Uptown I felt really happy about bringing something playful and colorful to the people who share the area with me, especially because my neighborhood tends to get a bad rap and not many people visit it unless they live here. Also, for practical matters, it was a good choice because I am able to go back and check on it!
As you can see the yellow cozy originally on turnstile 1 is now on turnstile 2. This made me very happy because it means it was taken off (or fell off) and someone participated by putting it back on!
Watching people interact with the cozied turnstiles was really enjoyable. We stayed around afterward for about 20 minutes just watching people and waiting for floods from the trains to pass through. The first time I saw someone walk though and then smile immediately I knew I had done a good job and that it had worked the way I intended. All I wanted was for people to be sort of caught by a surprise in a pleasant way for once.
Some people avoided the first turnstile they saw, but then seeing the others were covered they were forced to go through. I think this is because since it was foreign they weren't sure it would work perhaps. Also, though, the first turnstile was the turnstile that had the bright yellow, and I'm not sure if this color signaled caution or some sort of negative reaction. This did make me think about not using such bright colors if I were to do it again because it might be jarring to people or turn them off to going towards it.
A lot of people touch the turnstile with their hand, not just their body, while they pass through. I wonder how the experience is different now that the turnstile is covered in fiber that is soft and textured rather than a smooth cold metal material. I also thought about this because one man had passed through, walked away, and then came back to take pictures and talk to me about it because he thought it was really unique. As I was talking to him about why I had done it, he stood there with his hands touching a cozy, he kept sort of petting it. Thinking about that, I was really excited, because it made me realize how different the feeling of the cozy is in comparison to the normal turnstile. This is so cool because the yarn bomb was not just for people who can see. Although no blind people passed through while I was there I often seen blind people walking around. If they were to pass through the turnstile and touch it with their hand they would be able to feel a difference and in that way could experience what I had done somewhat (and possibly even if they only touched it with their body). This made me happy because I am always thinking about how to make things more accessible for all people and so much art is only to be experienced by those with vision.
CONCLUSION
All in all the experience was a success and made me smile A LOT.
Sometime soon I will probably do a second iteration that takes into account the 'slouch' that is created after many people have passed through and will hopefully make the cozies more durable and solidly positioned. I am also trying to think of other things to yarn bomb in my community.
More Info
*A Video and more photos can be seen here on my Flickr account
*If you are my friend on Facebook you can check out this album
*This yarn bomb was featured on KnitHacker- check it out and give it a good vote!
*Some of my photos, as well as many many others!, can be seen on the International Yarn Bombing Day Flickr account
*Someone featured my work as the Best of IYBD on their Art blog!!
YARN BOMBING
The concept of yarn bombing is something I have only been thinking of for a few months. Although I have not actually seen this in person, there is a book that introduced the practice and some examples of projects to the public. From what I have looked at and learned this seems to be a 'tradition' that is not particularly popular in the USA yet, and is more prevalent in Australia, parts of Scandinavia, and Canada. That is not to say that there aren't troupes and individuals in the US and other places who do this work, it just seems more established or more documented from these other countries.
Here are links to some of my favorite yarn bombs (I've given these 'names'):
lacey
a certain morality
fiber nature
plugged
abstract
loops
I also was really inspired by the work of Olek, an artist in NYC. However, after reading this article (which also has information about other artists who use yarn) I was a little put off by her position. She is quoted saying, "The street is an extension of the gallery. Not everyone's work deserves to be in public." For me, graffiti and street art is so enchanting because the people who do the work may not even consider themselves artists and many of them are far from "legitimate" or professional artists that are acknowledged by a gallery or institution. The very fact that much street art is simply the articulation of someone's passion or vision, which can then be viewed by and affect any passerby, is exciting to me.
Clearly there are a lot of different ideas spewing around regarding yarn bombing, or fabric arts, or crafting as a legitimate form of art. For me, what I really enjoy about the yarn bombing movement is that it is an art form that is particularly important for Urban spaces because it cheers up and adds some personalized coziness to typically dirty and industrial environments. This is why I chose to do a project in the Subway, because for me the Subway is one of the least appealing places in the city.
PRE-BOMB
I came up with the idea to do the turnstiles in the Subway through basically a process of elimination. I knew I wanted to target something in the Subway, since it is so gross and disgusting down there, so it was just needing to narrow it down that took some thought. I originally thought that I would make clothing for the cute statues that are at 14th Street. I decided against this for two reasons. 1) It was almost summertime so I didn't want to be putting thick knitted clothes on the statues and 2) they are already cute and cheery so this would be redundant to use them as a focus. Other ideas that I thought about were doing a cover for a subway car seat like this one in Philadelphia but this actually seemed kind of gross to me because what if someone spilled something on it and made it dirty- then people wouldn't even want to sit on it and it would just become something nasty. This same reason is why I didn't want to make cozies for any of the poles or banisters because they would probably become soaked in sweat and, ya, that would be GROOOSSS!!
So, after some observation and a little thought I had the EUREKA! moment and knew I wanted to do the turnstiles. This was MOST AWESOME because not only are they a simple shape to cover, but they are also an aspect of the Subway that every single person must interact with in order to enter and/or exit the trains. This was such a fun idea to me, because there would be a forced interaction to the experience and it was also appealing to decorate an object that had movement and represented passing through to a differently demarcated area.
I crocheted the turnstile cozies over a few months, waiting for June 11th as it was International Yarn Bombing Day. I first started with the biggest hook I had at the time (6.50mm, which is really THAT big) but luckily purchased a really large plastic one before the big day. The cozies crocheted with the larger hook are the ones with larger spaces, and those fit much better on the turnstiles because they didn't want to contract into a shorter/tighter knit once they were tied up.
BOMBS AWAY
Being in the city has made me slightly paranoid because there is lots of surveillance and authority and I am not sure how comfortable I am with this. Therefore, I obviously picked a station that didn't have a Station Agent, and luckily one in my neighborhood is like this. There are however cameras, but after doing a little research I'm almost certain that Grand Central, Penn Station, and Times Square are the only hubs with real-time cameras so I wasn't really worried about my station. You might be curious why I am so worried about getting in trouble, part of that is because I am simply a nerd who doesn't like being yelled at, but also it's because yarn bombing isn't exactly on the books and can either be considered littering or vandalism by the Police. Since I was yarn bombing an MTA device, I wasn't sure if they would be more severe with me and I wanted to avoid any problems. Therefore, when we got down to the station only to find two MTA employees working on the Ticket Machines I was not happy!!! We had to wait around for about 25 minutes until they were finished, in which time I was feeling really down and nervous and wondering why I had picked something that was causing me so much concern.
Luckily, the MTA guys left and there had been so much anticipation that I walked down to the turnstiles and just jumped right into it. After I had completed one full entryway (three turnstile posts) a train had just arrived and a flow of people started to come through. Some people just walked right through as if nothing was different (hey- this is New York afterall!) but others stopped to see what was going on.
One particular guy was funny because he walked through the finished turnstile and said to his friend, "Whoa- look at this! This is so cool, I've never seen anything like that. I wonder-" and then he saw that I was still in the process of finishing up the other turnstiles- "Oh! That girl is doing it right now!" He stood around and took a video on his iPhone that he said he would put on YouTube (I have no idea if this will really happen or if I would be able to track it down even if it did!) and said that it was really cool street art. I was happy that he was someone who got to see it in action since he thought it was so great. For me, it was cool to see someone enthusiastic and having people stand around watching and giving feedback made me more confident and relaxed.
Another man, possibly Russian, who was with a young boy said how it was a pity that it couldn't be like that forever and also how it was the most beautiful thing for this neighborhood. After thinking about him saying this and reflecting on the whole experience I realized that choosing a Subway station that was by my home really made a difference. I originally thought of doing it Downtown in an area where it might get the most exposure to large amounts of people. But, after doing Uptown I felt really happy about bringing something playful and colorful to the people who share the area with me, especially because my neighborhood tends to get a bad rap and not many people visit it unless they live here. Also, for practical matters, it was a good choice because I am able to go back and check on it!
As you can see the yellow cozy originally on turnstile 1 is now on turnstile 2. This made me very happy because it means it was taken off (or fell off) and someone participated by putting it back on!
Watching people interact with the cozied turnstiles was really enjoyable. We stayed around afterward for about 20 minutes just watching people and waiting for floods from the trains to pass through. The first time I saw someone walk though and then smile immediately I knew I had done a good job and that it had worked the way I intended. All I wanted was for people to be sort of caught by a surprise in a pleasant way for once.
Some people avoided the first turnstile they saw, but then seeing the others were covered they were forced to go through. I think this is because since it was foreign they weren't sure it would work perhaps. Also, though, the first turnstile was the turnstile that had the bright yellow, and I'm not sure if this color signaled caution or some sort of negative reaction. This did make me think about not using such bright colors if I were to do it again because it might be jarring to people or turn them off to going towards it.
A lot of people touch the turnstile with their hand, not just their body, while they pass through. I wonder how the experience is different now that the turnstile is covered in fiber that is soft and textured rather than a smooth cold metal material. I also thought about this because one man had passed through, walked away, and then came back to take pictures and talk to me about it because he thought it was really unique. As I was talking to him about why I had done it, he stood there with his hands touching a cozy, he kept sort of petting it. Thinking about that, I was really excited, because it made me realize how different the feeling of the cozy is in comparison to the normal turnstile. This is so cool because the yarn bomb was not just for people who can see. Although no blind people passed through while I was there I often seen blind people walking around. If they were to pass through the turnstile and touch it with their hand they would be able to feel a difference and in that way could experience what I had done somewhat (and possibly even if they only touched it with their body). This made me happy because I am always thinking about how to make things more accessible for all people and so much art is only to be experienced by those with vision.
CONCLUSION
All in all the experience was a success and made me smile A LOT.
Sometime soon I will probably do a second iteration that takes into account the 'slouch' that is created after many people have passed through and will hopefully make the cozies more durable and solidly positioned. I am also trying to think of other things to yarn bomb in my community.
More Info
*A Video and more photos can be seen here on my Flickr account
*If you are my friend on Facebook you can check out this album
*This yarn bomb was featured on KnitHacker- check it out and give it a good vote!
*Some of my photos, as well as many many others!, can be seen on the International Yarn Bombing Day Flickr account
*Someone featured my work as the Best of IYBD on their Art blog!!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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