Greetings! As you know, I have put out the call for guest writers, coincidentally my dear friend & fellow crocheter/blogger sent out emails looking for some help with a few of her projects. So… today’s post is from Kathryn, & she’ll tell you all about her project herself! It should be something you already know about, as I’ve posted about this subject several times myself!
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Help Support a Women’s Crochet Art Project
Crochet is not just a great craft for producing garments to wear or items for the home; crochet can also be an art form. Swaddle is a crochet art project that uses this great craft to explore issues of gender in relationships. It explores the ways in which women communication. And it supports female entrepreneurs through the use of yarns crafted by small indie dyers and spinners. Swaddle is something that you can support and even be a part of by participating through Kickstarter.
What Swaddle is About
Swaddle is a 12+ piece crochet art display that will be on exhibit at a TBD gallery in 2012. Each piece in Swaddle is designed to explore the ways that women communicate in their relationships with men. This happens through the juxtaposition of the female craft of crochet with male subjects as well as through the repetitive nature of crochet, which is similar in many ways to the repetitive nature of communication.
It’s called Swaddle because that image immediately conjures up the nurturing nature of women but it’s something that has gone awry in the past when improper swaddling led to the deaths of some babies. The same is true of communication; it typically benefits relationships but can go wrong and end up destroying them.
Examples of Swaddle Pieces
All of this discussion of crochet art and its intentions can get kind of cerebral but when you look at the crochet projects you see a very physical, real representation of these ideas. Two projects that will give you a better understanding of what Swaddle will be about are:
1. Swaddled. This is a collection of crochet swaddling blankets wrapped around representations of male figures. Some are cozy and comfortable, as we expect crochet blankets to be. Some are strangling and suffocating. Some are too loose and the male is exposed. This represents the core idea behind the title project.
2. 40 Variations on a Granny. This is a repetitive crochet piece showing how the tiniest shift in a stitch can alter the appearance of your work. It represents how small changes in conversations (using “I†statements is a well-known example) can improve relationships. It also references the way that men sometimes feel like the women in their lives are just saying the same thing over and over and so they stop listening. The piece places 40 granny squares side by side, each one a variation on the traditional granny square.
Supporting Swaddle Through Kickstarter
If Swaddle is a crochet art project that interests you then you can actually support it with a donation through Kickstarter. This donation means that you’ll also get to be a part of the project. Donations begin as small as $1. However, with a $20 donation, you’ll be able to select stitch types, amounts and colors that will go into a large-scale crochet piece in this project, fully representing your participation and support of crochet art.
Donating to support Swaddle also means that you are supporting:
o Crochet as an art form.
o The power of women’s communication styles.
o An emerging crochet artist.
o Indie female yarn dyers and spinners.
o Crowdsourced funding for art projects.
See the Kickstarter project at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/89470356/for-5-you-can-be-part-of-a-crochet-art-project.
This is a guest post by Kathryn Vercillo, a crochet author, artist and designer who writes about all things crochet at Crochet Concupiscence. She is @CrochetBlogger on both Twitter and Ravelry.
