Lafayette Hosts Yarn Bombing

About 60 attended the opening of “Sticks, Hooks and the Mobius: Knit and Crochet Go Cerebral,” a science-themed textile art exhibit that began on Sunday, Jan. 8 in the gallery at the Williams Center for the Arts.

Curated by local knitter and textile artist Susan Huxley, the show kicked off with a on the staircase that joins N. Third Street with the campus. Lending a bit of color to the January landscape are about 50 afghans collected over a six-month period.

Easton artist D. Polly Kendrick dressed as Madame Defarge, the character in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, who knitted the names of doomed aristocrats into a shroud during the French Revolution.

Gallery guests were invited to write the emotions, habits and lifestyles that they wanted to rid themselves of and have them knit into the growing shroud.

"Spring Comes Early," a knitted vine based on an endangered Pennsylvania plant, is a collaborative project that will literally grow over the course of the show. Starting in a pot at the reception desk, the vine will crawl over and around the desk, up the window and wall and into the lobby of the Williams Center.

Visitors are invited to knit or crochet fanciful or anatomically/botanically correct flowers, leaves, bugs and birds that Huxley will affix to the vine during the exhibition. Yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks are available for visitors who are inspired.

Other works on display include an optical illusion of Einstein, hyperbolic knitted works, knitted mobius strips, crocheted chemical molecules and more.

Several additional events are planned during the duration of the show, which runs during normal gallery hours through Feb. 5.

Upcoming:

• Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. - “Spring Comes Early” Knit and Crochet Flowers workshop for adults. (The event is free but adults must register in advance.)

• Saturday, Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. to noon - “Spring Comes Early” Build-A-Bug workshop for children. Children of any age/skill level are welcome but they must be accompanied by an adult. Participants must register in advance.

• Saturday, Jan. 21 from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. - Stitch-A-Thon (snow date is Feb. 4), organized by , Nazareth.

• Saturday, Jan. 28, noon - Kathleen Greco will talk about the one-of-a-kind, innovative "jelly yarn" she created.

• Feb. 5, 2 to 4 p.m. - Closing reception. See how the "Spring Comes Early" vine has grown and how long Madame Defarge’s completed shroud is, with closing lecture at 3 p.m. by award-winning author and mathematician Daina Taimina.

For more information, contact Director of Lafayette Art Galleries and Collections Curator Michiko Okaya, (610) 330-5361 or artgallery@lafayette.edu