The Finger Crochet Group Project or Teacher-Sanctioned Yarn Bombing

When I last blogged about the Mixed Media Class adventures, I'd just discovered my crochet-without-a-hook skills were, to say the least, disappointing. ;-)

Our next assignment was to create a large-scale Finger Crochet project - as part of a four-person group.
We were charged with creating an Art Installation suspended from one of the palm trees out in the common area of our end of the campus. The Art pieces would stay there for a week. 

We were given leave to use a Crochet hook if we so desired {yay!!} and our project required a theme/plan that would need to be approved by the instructor.

Our initial ideas were not approved. ;-)
More discussion ensued, more ideas were presented to the instructor.
The chosen theme was...: Light Pollution.
My suggestion for a title was adopted: "Obstructed by Light".
The instructor gave us some good ideas on how to represent the effects of Light Pollution on the skies of Tucson and we were off!

So here was our plan: We would crochet two large panels and attach random stars and three sets of constellations to each side. One side would represent the un-polluted night sky where excessive city lights would not dull down or hide the stars. The side that represented the light-polluted night sky would have fewer and less-bright stars.

The majority of the two large crochet panels were accomplished by two others in my group. The un-polluted side of the sky was crocheted by my spiffy already-adept-at-crochet table-mate {and between-classes lunch buddy}.

The light-polluted sky was primarily crocheted by the clever young lady who had suggested the "Light Pollution" theme.

The 4th team-mate and myself worked on choosing constellations, crocheting a lot "stars" {bright or dull as the "pollution" allowed}, and applying the constellations to the light/dark sky panels. I went through my stash, donated some mondo skeins of black yarn to be used in addition to the yarn from the classroom stash and the impressive amount of bailing twine provided by the unpolluted/"dark" side crocheter.
I also pursued creating light/dark moons and I had a minor knit-fit and created a "Milky Way" to attach to the un-polluted side of our installation. {I really wanted to have some knitting included in the crochet installation and it turned out the "Milky Way" was specifically appreciated by several folks!}

 

During the planning stages, we had been concerned that our installation might end up at the bottom of the palm tree like a loose sock. Soooooo not an issue.
We discovered that palm tree "bark" and yarn-y panels work much like Velcro and the panels stayed exactly where we put them.

When installation-day arrived, we crocheted-together and then augmented the panels to have mountains around the base.
OK, I didn't do a lot-a lot - there were already 3 pairs of hands doing the deed and the palm tree was only so wide.

So, I wrote  the description for our art installation - pulling in comments from our previous discussions,  tweaking it after a group review and altering it per the instructor's changes. I believe when it was finally typed/printed some minor changes were made but the teacher also recanted some of her modifications, allowing more of my original phrasing. {Thanks!}

We were generally pleased with our efforts and particularly pleased later when one of the other art instructors {a gentleman that had previously been a curator} shared some very pleasing comments regarding our "ART".

Obstructed by Light: "This work is intended to increase awareness of the impact of light pollution on our desert sky. Tucson has been considered the capitol of astronomy. Although some measures have been taken to reduce light pollution, our city lights hinder our ability to see the stars, constellations, and the Milky Way in our night sky. They are obstructed by light."

These are the installations crafted by the other two groups*: 
{As always, please click on the pictures to enlarge}

Desert Spirit: "The wild desert is a place of continual growth and beauty, as well as death and transition. This work represents the flow of life from the splintering trunk of the old palm to the boughs of the olive tree. We used many colors and textures to embody the subtle spirit of our Sonoran home."

 

Grow Your Nest - Find Your Home: "This work comments on the nature of living things, and our need for shelter, no matter what kind of animal, big or small. Birds nests in particular are a wondrous feat. With only beaks and claws they are able to weave masterpieces. Our piece is a tribute to these hard workers and the beautifully simple yet infinitely complex homes they make.
This work also symbolizes a person's need to build their nest and create an original life for them selves. We are all looking for a place in this world and everyone has a need to grow their nest and find their home."

 

 

By the way - yes I did tell folks we were "Yarn Bombing".
{Deadly Knitshade can explain Yarn Bombing/Storming / Urban/Guerrilla Knitting better than I.}  When I realized June 11th is International Yarn Bombing day, I knew on which day I would publish this post!
Do you feel like running out to decorate something with yarn now?

*Please note: I included the title/description of each installation exactly as written but without the names that appeared at the bottom of the description. I did not include the names of the artists/students that created the above installations because I did not specifically ask if I could publish their names on this blog. Thanks!