Crochet pools coming in! Not too late to join in!

My hope for people to join in MMMM remotely is beginning to bloom!

My mom, in Virginia, has been hard at work.  Thanks Mom!

And Maggie Dean put together a Community Crochet event at The Blend of Art and Coffee, in Prosperity South Carolina! Maggie is a former assistant of mine, and I am so excited she decided to bring MMMM with her as she traveled.  I’m looking forward to hearing more about the event.

 

 

 

I also have word that crocheting is happening in Tacoma and Soap Lake, Washington, Atlanta, Portland and Alaska!  If you still want to join in, contact me, and check out these directions.  I’d like to get the crocheted pieces around July 1st!

Mater Matrix Mother and Medium will be installed this summer, and will flow down the streets of Bellevue, Washington, and create a striking gateway to The Bellevue Arts Museum’s 67^th anniversary of the BAM ARTSfair this July 26th, 27th and 28^th, 2013. The installation will remain up until mid-September.

 

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Directions for those wanting to join in MMMM this summer!

I’m sending out my first round of directions for those people requesting to join in MMMM project this summer, so I just thought i would post them to the blog as well!

I’m so thrilled at the response so far! email me at matermmm@gmail.com if you need more information!

Thank you so much for wanting to join in the MMMM community-based installation.  This on-going project will be a part of the 6oth anniversary of the Bellevue Arts Museum ARTSfair, in Bellevue, Wa. cascading down the streets above the fair and the entrance, celebrating both the way that art can form community and actively trying to create it!

Crocheting at Delridge Library

Because this is the most ambitious version of the project, spanning city blocks, I wanted to get anyone involved who would like to participate, not just those able to attend the workshops that will be at the museum before and during the fair.

I would so value your contribution!

What I have loved about this project since I have been working on it since 2009, is it creates individual connections between people, even though it represents the gathering together of our larger communities around water.  I began crocheting for this summer’s iteration and a poet who was teaching a class my son was in, says to me, ‘oh that reminds me of an artwork I saw a few summers ago, and I was inspired to write a poem about it’, not realizing that I was the artist who had created the piece that spurred her on to write.  I love that this artwork seems to have a life of its own, because so many people are still a part of it, their energy, hopes and desires still move it along.

So welcome!  The first thing I need you to know is, there are really no mistakes involved in this process.  You can contribute in anyway you want to, however little or large you life allows.

You can crochet alone, or ask a few friends to a coffee shop.  Or you and a few friends could invite a few friends, or even make a public Facebook invite that invites anyone who wants to learn to crochet to join you. 

Do you have to know how to crochet to participate?  Well, you need to learn, and I wish I was there to teach you, but there are so many great sources to learn the basic stitches on Youtube (chain and single or double crochet).   But I think an exciting thing to do would be to put the word out among your friends and acquaintances that you want to learn and meet for coffee, talk, share something new about yourselves.  And anything you make is perfect for the installation, within just a few parameters.

If you know how to crochet already, in the spirit of the project, see how many new people you can teach to crochet.  It never fails, when I have done community crocheting in a casual environment (i.e. coffee shop), if there are more than two people crocheting blue stuff, people gravitate over. “What are you making?” and some even stay to help or learn.  Try it!

I never try to force a didactic message about water and our relationship to it at the communal gatherings; I want the community space to flow naturally, but I do ask a few questions sometimes once people get going.  Doing handwork allows people to feel relaxed and free- associate, and that makes for some amazing thoughts to emerge.  I would love it, if it feels right, for you to do the same.  And document some of the responses and impressions, have people write it down.  Take pictures of people with their crocheting, sharing some moments together.  I would like to share these on the MMMM blog, so make sure everyone is cool with it.  If it gets too busy, or you aren’t interested in this part of the project, that is fine too.

It can be as simple as :

-What are your earliest memories, impressions, experiences of water?

-What emotions do you connect to bodies of water you have lived near by? 

-How do you engage with water on a daily basis?  Is it mundane, sacred or some point in between?

-What do you want to change in the human relationship to water?

These things alone will get the conversation going.

 

Now about the crocheting.  Basically your only guidelines are to make flat rounded panels about 6-8 inches in diameter, or you can also just make chains.  They could be square – I include those too, but the rounded ones seems to reference flowing water more.  But flat or mostly flat works best when I am incorporating all the pieces together.  Ruffled pieces are just too hard to add in. And the yarn and fabric can be any color or shade of blue.  I know rivers have other colors in them…sometimes people have wanted to add green or grey or brown, but the stunning blue of this massive installation is one thing that makes it compelling to experience.  Any kind of yarn and any size hook will work.  Experiment!  Have fun!  Ask people to clean out their closets, stashes and craft bins, search the thriftstore…no need to buy anything new!

I will begin to reshape and add in panels to the installation beginning July 1^st, so would like to receive the panels around that time.  I have a small amount of funding to send to about 10 groups to use a USPS Medium Flat rate box, as long as it is STUFFED full.  If you need assistance with the shipping, please let me know.

 

Thank you so so much for wanting to join it!  I am so excited to see what surprises will come from this open call!

And if you do belong to a knitting/crocheting/crafting group, I would love it if you would share this project among your member, or even organize an event together.  And please let me post about your group!

 

If you still have any questions, let me know!

Thanks so much!

Last days of Seattle summer recap: NEPO 5k walkers/crocheters, making support for MMMM in NYC

I’ve finally had a moment to digest and remember what great fun I had at the NEPO 5k on September 10th before we had to fly out to NYC to begin the newest installation of MMMM.  Paul, Hazel and I set up a Community Crochet station at the stunning turquoise and red Korean Pagoda in Daejon Park, with piles of shredded fabrics and yarn, tons of sun surrounding the pagoda, a strong breeze and just enough tree buffer to make I-90 sound like the ocean.  Like most of the art stops on the route –  a 5K-long stretch of art events, installations, performance, happenings and galleries — we spent about 2 hours alone, then a deluge of people as they all made their way to us, all seemed happy to take a rest out of the sun and have some water and crochet a bit.

All seemed enthused and engaged by the long walk and comradery of the blend of art makers, art viewers, neighbors, friends, bands of performers and the ever-shifting site and cityscape.

Map of NEPO 5K through the city

My lovely first guest and I talked about her visceral reaction to the female crusifix hung at Cathedral St. John the Divine she has seen in the 80’s. And then with the crush of people arriving, it was non-stop teaching and crocheting!

Unlike most of MMMM crochet events over the past few years — where production is relaxed and process-oriented — this time I really needed to crank out the crocheted ropes to accommodate the scale of the Cathedral, with some of the columns 40 feet in diameter.  At the end of the day, I thought we had enough crocheted ropes but Paul and I still had to crank out more our first two days in New York, using up every last bit of fabric I had.

But there were still a few skeins of yarn left in my suitcase to spend an afternoon crocheting on the grounds of the Cathedral with some New Yorkers…….more pictures of that to come.

The connection between making the actual supports for the installation and the way Seattle has continued to support this evolving project is not lost on me.  So thank you for the send-off Seattle and  NEPO 5K-ers!

You can also still support this project traveling to NYC through my Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to cover some of the shortfalls from time off from work, materials, shipping and travel expenses.  I have 9 days left to raise 40% of my fund-raising goal …it’s getting very close but not there yet.  If you don’t know how Kickstarter works, you must meet your financial goal or receive none of the money…yikes.  Deep thanks to the 34 backers who have already pledged, you don’t know how heartening your support is in this uneasy time for my family.  Seriously, thank you!

And thank you Klara Glosova for a triumphant event to celebrate the community-driven art activity blossoming in our time.

Two of my favorite people in the world , Vis-a-Vis Society!

Check out the slideshow for more images of the day and the James Harris after-party Bavarian Beer Garden.  There should be Polka at every art event!

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‘MMMM’ installation in NYC needs your help!

If you are at all interested in my process-based installation ‘Mater Matrix Mother and Medium’, I hope you’ll consider supporting it as it travels to NYC, even if just through a very small donation, on Kickstarter.  I sincerely appreciate the support!

ALSO:  I’ll be at The Cathedral St. John the Divine this Sunday September 18th, 2011, crocheting on the grounds just behind the Peace Fountain.  If you just happen to be in NYC, I would love it if you could join me to crochet little pools for the next incarnation of MMMM.  I’ll be there from 12-3pm, and will have all materials and hooks, and can teach anyone to crochet.  If you have extra scrap blue yarn, I would gladly accept that too!  Or just drop by and say hello, and take a peak at the installation in the Cathedral.  Here’s the Facebook invite!

Thank you!

A little film from the “Knitting and Networking” event at the AFTA conference on June 19th

 

YouTube – hooked in seattle 7 1 09.

A perfect example of the flow of conversation  when people have something to do with their hands.  (but it looks like I’m talking about washing dishes….)

We all make art

I found this environmental fiber/community fiber-based art practice by Iranian artist Atefeh Khas on another friend’s website (another amazing environmental/fiber/community-based writer artist, Abigail Doan).  I came across these images just as I was beginning to work my river into the trees, and just as all the storm of the Iranian election was beginning.  I, of course, feel a great deal of kinship to the work I am seeing on Atefeh’s website, and am reminded of the freedoms I have to do and share what I love.  I am also reminded by her work of how patterns, materials, impulses and desires for beauty, kinship and meaning span all cultures, and art can shorten the distances between us.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancing at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival a few weeks ago

 

Patti's hands

I’m continuing to try to catch up with posting about all the great places and events I’m visiting, in no particular order.  A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of bringing my project to a booth at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival.

getting sunburned

  I just happened to share my booth with West Seattle’s “Dance for Joy” studio, who spent their time teaching people to dance in the street!

Dance for joy, ya'll

 I also chatted it up with members of West Seattle’s Senior Line dance troupe, all decked out in fringe.  I want to kick my own shin for not taking their picture, drat!  For a good part of the day, I felt like I was in the middle of a musical, which is a pretty good way to feel.  Met many West Seattlites excited about this project sited in their neighborhood!  (Still hoping to catch up with some of them for crocheting this weekend when I’ll be at Delridge Day at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 11am-4pm)!  I also began having the trippy experience (it’s now happened at least 5 times!) of having someone say to me “There’s this show down in Portland that you would love….”  or  “I saw this show at BAM last year, did you see it?, you would have liked it…”  That’s me, those are my shows…  It’s a funny experience, takes me off guard, I get tickled…I’ll say it.  But it also got me thinking about another benefit I’m gaining from this project.  Often, when I set up a huge installation, it’s like a gigantic marathon, all I can think about.  It goes up, there is an opening for a few hours, then I leave.  People see it, and I never really get to hear their thoughts about it.  A review may happen, and a friend or two may email.  But in general, there is not a lot of discussion with people I do not know about what I made, what they saw in it, how they felt about it, etc.  Being so out in public, so all over the city with MMMM, I’m getting these conversations that I have never had before.  Critics are one thing, friends, other artists are another.  But getting to hear what the general public thinks about your work is eye-opening.  Valuable.

Robert, chain maker

not so precious

Valuing Process over Product: West Seattle Library

very special yarn

It was a quiet day at the West Seattle Library a few weeks ago, which gave me some insight into what it means to really value process over product.

Robin with her yarn

Robin stopped by with several balls of wool she had spun and dyed just for the project!  How incredibly lucky I feel to get to work with this stuff, and I’m giving a ball to my husband Paul Margolis for a new ‘crocheted second skin’ project he’s working on.  Robin and I worked and talked for four hours about the pleasure of figuring things out and making things ourselves (and the many uses of Youtube for the autodidact), from roasting coffee in her backyard, to butter making, tatting and making cheese.  It was a conversation I probably wouldn’t have had if 15 people had showed up, and I really don’t know if I would have ever met Robin if it weren’t for this aspect of this project,  to create a space for people to come together, work with our hands and allow the slow and meandering flow of conversation to happen.  It’s not about some preconceived notion of what dialogue or discourse about art should be, or even community.  I have to begin with why on earth I’m there, how this piece came to be, what it is about for me the artist, and then something just begins to happen, sometimes slow, sometimes hard.  And then, like making butter (really), it turns to something harmonious.   The process has opened me up more to taking people as they are, and allowing this work about creating conversation to mean a little something different each time.   Meeting Robin also  gave me the opportunity to get a bit more earnest about this project being about ‘process’  rather than ‘product’.  Admittedly, I am a person with a drive and a particular amount of ambition — it’s just how I have been able to get things done  — and there is a certain part to ambition that views things in numbers, and ‘how many’.  Is the project a success if I don’t have hundreds of hundreds of people participating?  The last three weeks of meeting many, many people, and the huge spectrum of interactions from 2 minutes of describing the project in a coffee shop, to sitting and talking with a stranger for four hours — this stranger giving up four hours of their time to contribute to something I deeply care about — has made me come to understand that I also have to accept the process of making this River as it unfolds, rather than what ambition might have wanted.  One person showing up at an event allows for a different sort of interaction, just as important as feeling like a lot of people have made space in their lives to join this project.  Community is a word used to describe a group, but that group forms around the tiny moments of connection that happen between 2 people at a time.  I feel much more energized, moving around the city, more appreciative of the small moments of this project.

Robin's yarn in a system of pools

At Delridge Library….all about the Mother

It’s been almost three weeks of really traveling the cardinal directions of Seattle.  Today I’m spending some time crocheting up huge strips of hand-dyed silk, alpaca and pearls for the wearable element of MMMM, and I also need to reflect upon and share some of the places I have been to.  Thank you Delridge neighborhood for joining in with MMMM!  

brother and sister crocheting duo

 

A diverse group of all ages

Now that Camp Long has been confirmed as the site for this installation integrated into the natural environment, interpreting and celebrating our urban creeks and watersheds, it felt good to be working just around the corner from the Longfellow Creek watershed at The Delridge Library , and sharing my project with members of the community the creek runs through.  

It was one of my best attended events that wasn’t a street fair, several children playing hookie from homework made long beautiful chains, including 2 four years olds.  Towards the end of the day, yarn was everywhere with kids running around the room eating animal crackers, and still crocheting.  I loved it!  For me, art and learning are both messy chaotic and wayfaring processes, full of sensory overload.  So I was quite pleased with the rumpus!  And glad I could create a space where children can mess around and babies can screech while mother messes around with yarn!   Even my doula stopped by, Betsy Hoffmeister who is an activist in her community supporting mothers and children with birth and breastfeeding support.  

Betsy and Becca

We have hardly seen each other since she was with me during the birth of my son, so I am really thrilled to have a tiny fuzzy whirlpool made by her hands join this long river.   She sat and taught her daughter to crochet, as well as two other mother and child pairs.  

Brenda teaches her son

Crocheting has been a way for me to generate my giant installations in tiny bits of time, because it’s a very simple looping process I can keep in a little bag and carry with me throughout my daily life.  My ordinary experiences of watching my kid at the playground or waiting for a few minutes in the car get imbedded in the larger mythical narrative of my work.

I'm just waiting...not driving

 

 

  I always feel like this correlates with how myths or archetypes would have been created, the repetition of the ordinary story until it transcends the individual.  So to have these moments of mothers and  children, passing hands through hands, recorded in knots in this work, to me, gives it some powerful magic.

See the entire set of images here

Mariko and little one

Robert and Tenny hold back nothing

 

babies don't crochet, but they sing for us

 

 

already a crocheting ace, taught by her grandmother

 

a tiny pool

A HUGE thank you to Karin Skacel Haack at Skacel Yarn! Crochet hooks for kids!

This piece is bringing me in contact with so many generous people, freely giving their support (a hem, Sharon Arnold at dimensions variable), encouragement, their time, old clothes, old yarn, etc. etc.  But I have to just also give a gigantic thank you to Karin Skacel Haack , the president of Skacel Collection, Inc. , a Seattle-based family business importing yarns and beautiful German crochet hooks.  Karin contacted me during the making of my last project, The Silvering Path, and wanted to donate some yarn.  I believe she had seen Small but Mighty Wandering Pearl, and also one of her newest designers had helped me with some beading on that project.  She generously gave us a mountain of yellow yarn and other supplies.  She also came for a day and crocheted.  Karin and I recently got in touch again, and she again wanted to donate more yarn and asked me what else I might need for this new massive project.  I told her how I have been giving away my crochet hooks to kids who come to the events, and yarn where I could, to the point it was outside of my budget.  She said she’d find me some hooks too.

Well, her awesome web designer Candice, came to the Southwest Library crochet event with a giant bag of the most beautiful blue yarns, and a box of an unbelievable amount of glittery crochet hooks (yes, they have gold glitter in them, they are truly the glam rockstars of crochet hooks).  Not only has she insured that I can take this piece to the scale that I would like it to be without busting my budget, but also I can make sure to pass on a crochet hook to every kid I come across.  

Skacel yarn and hooks!

Crochet hooks are like special wands of transformation, simple and elemental, archetypal tools that can create infinite variety through the single gesture of knotting loops inside of loops.  I don’t even know how old they are…..It feels good and full-circle to hopefully keep a kid working with their hands.  Handwork and reading were really the saving grace of my childhood.  Someone somewhere taught me the simple gestures that have shaped my life and set my hands and mind into the motions that will probably be with me for as long as I know.  Thank you Karin for such generosity.

 

 

crocheting at Delridge Library

 

four hands together

Come see me at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival this Sunday, 5/3, 10am-3pm

Join me at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival this Sunday from 10 am – 3 pm. I’ll have my own booth for people the hang out in for a bit and crochet.  There are a whole host of other exhibitors, Community Resiliency demos, music/performances (including the Duwamish Drummers and Dancers, and the Senior Center Line Dancers!)   And the West Seattle Farmers market is going on at the same time, so venture out rain or shine!

And Thank You West Seattle for all the interest in my project!  The West Seattle Blog has sent a ton of hits my way, and I’m just so energized by all the support for this work.

 

Crocheting at Delridge Library

small hands learning the chain stitch

Thank you SAM for a great “Climate Day for Kids” at the Sculpture Park!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of participating in SAM’s “Climate Day for Kids” in celebration on Earth Day.  Jackie White, Environmental Steward at SAM, and her crew put together an incredible event for kids and families at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

an invigorating studio for a day

 I brought my own family, and now seem to hear daily from my son how to “reduce my carbon footprint”, the catch phrase of the day.  

recycled art sponsored by SAM's Teen Advisory Group

Worm bins, scavenger hunts, Tesla coils, recycled art projects, eco-gaming, walking school buses, and free organic trail mix all made for a big crowd and many, many engaged crocheters. Several of the people I worked with were just in the park that day, and were just drawn to all the crazy fun ( the hair-raising Tesla coil!) It also continues to be my great pleasure to teach really young children to crochet, as well as work with families making together!  

learning how to add on to other's patches

 

brought her own glittery crochet hook

There were moments were I was teaching the basics over and over breathlessly, which feels good and grounded for this project where I am trying to connect with and connect together as many people as I can.  The little repeating loop stitches are visual reminders of a few minutes of conversation or a few minutes of quiet with oneself.

Thanks, my friend, for your patience and appreciation

 I’ll also be heading back to SAM for their “Celebrate Wildflowers” Day on June 6th.  I  continue to fall more in love with the park every time I go, and plan to go back with my picnic blanket for more crocheting on my own, and with whoever would like to stop for a few minutes.  

See more images here.

 

for a few moments

my first volunteer

 

mom and daughter hung out for the whole day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

circle of hands working

 

TAG volunteer helps out for a bit

Crocheting at Libraries! (Douglass-Truth, Columbia City…)

 

The River taking on a little bit of shape

 

This patch made from small bits from a workshop at Cornish

Many of my crocheting events are hosted at Seattle libraries around the city, utilizing a fantastic public resource, the community meeting room.  They are free to use, as long as the meeting is free, open to the public, not selling anything (and a few other common sense rules).  And because of “Libraries for All”, most of the meeting rooms, and libraries are gorgeous wonderful places to work.  Anyhow, I love Seattle libraries. Here are some images from some recent meet-ups with people around the city.  I’ll also, today, be at the West Seattle Library from 4-7:30, and on Sat, at the Delridge Library from 12-4:30.  Hope to see you!

 

Robert Shavin is an artist who helped me on a earlier project, and Cindy came again after the Greenwood street party

Georgene's hands: George was trying to find a way out of the library and happened in. She ran some errands and came back for several hours. Thanks George!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor, a junior at Garfield H.S. stops by the Columbia Branch and learns REALLY fast (she also knits)

Some new events added, and Wallingford Earth Day Happening “Free” celebration

 

 

 

join in!

I’m always adding new events to the list, so please keep checking back to see where you can join it.  Or better yet, give me suggestions!  Want me to come to your neighborhood?  I will do it, at the library, or park, coffee shop or local community event.

 

 

For instance, I just 10 seconds ago found out about Sustainable Wallingford holding an Earth Day Happening this Wednesday, 3-6  in the parking lot of QFC, all about neighbors giving away free gifts to neighbors.  I’m going and bringing my handy portable studio!  Free treats, free massages, free advice and some free art.  Free!!  Come join the freeness, come share something!  Everything cost SO darn much and none of us have any money, so I just adore this idea.  Like Stone Soup.

Otherwise, here are the other new events, and you can always see the whole list of events over on the right under “Crocheting  Events”

-30th of April, Thur, 4 – 7:30pm, Broadview Library meeting room, 12755 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-684-7519

-3rd of May, Sun, 10 am – 3 pm, “Sustainable West Seattle Festival- Building Resilience”, Wells Fargo SW Alaska St. & 44th Avenue SW

 -9th of May, Sat, 11 am – 3:30pm, Greenwood Library meeting room, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N.,  206-684-4086

 -15th of May, Fri, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Ballard “Seattle Summer Streets” Party,  22nd Avenue connecting to Bergen Place Park 

-16th of May, Sat, 12 – 4pm, Broadview Library meeting room, 12755 Greenwood Ave.

 -31st of May, Sun.,  11 am – 4 pm , Alki “Seattle Summer Streets” Party,  Alki Avenue SW from California Way SW to 63rd Avenue SW (Not sure of my location yet)

 

Last Friday, Greenwood/Phinney “Seattle Summer Streets” !

 

Last Friday, at the Greenwood/Phinney “Seattle Summer Streets” giant block party, I rolled out my traveling studio-on-a-cart down the middle of the street, sat down and got to work!  

 

settling in on the yellow lines

 

At first the empty street felt pretty eerie, but once things started going I had more people than I could handle wanting to crochet or find out about what was going on.  It was  a real blast, with kids wizzing by on bikes and stopping to talk, giant bubbles and squealing toddlers.

 

proud of the ring she's done

Special thanks to Wyly Astley for all her help!

 

 I felt like I handed out a hundred or so cards, so I hope to see those faces further on this spring.  It was a great kick-off to this project, and the conversation veered mostly to people talking about who they learned to crochet from, who crocheting reminded them of — mostly grandmothers, aunts, 70’s crocheted vests one was forced to wear as a child, and the way our hands seem to remember things we thought we had forgotten.  A lot of kids stayed to keep crocheting even after it got dark and cold.  Thanks for hosting me Greenwood/Phinney people, I had a blast!

See the whole set of images on my flickr

 

The family that crochets together

 

 

still going

 

 

a very special contribution!

 

At dusk, things got kind of messy and exciting

 

Very focused