Saturday 2 February 2013

Local Yarnbombing for The Fringe

The Adelaide Fringe Festival is coming and with it will be a number of yarnbombing, stitching and textile art events. 

'The Fringe' is on from 15 February to 17 March 2013 and is the "warm-up" to the Adelaide Festival (1–17 March). The fabulous and fun part of The Fringe is that anyone can participate. As a result, all sorts of events, activities and performances are popping up all over town, not just in the city centre but in surrounding areas too.

I am excited to find out about some yarnbombing events close to home.

In the City of Holdfast Bay, the "Stitch for Summer" event will be yarnbombing the Greg Johns Rhythm sculpture on the foreshore of Glenelg beach.

In the Adelaide Hills Council area, the Stirling Library will have a yarnbombing event on the front lawns with plans to "bomb" benches, trees, poles, rotunda and Symposium sculpture.

(Here I have to admit that I am not a fan of yarnbombing trees–mainly for the sake of the wildlife that lives in the trees but also because trees have so much natural beauty, why vandalise them with yarns, especially synthetic fibres like acrylic or nylon but I digress)

I have included a link to the library's home page but could not find any information about its yarnbombing project there. Instead I have posted a link to an article published on 24 January 2013 on the local newspaper Weekender Herald "Library Lawns to be Bombed".

For those of you who are interested in sewing, there is an exhibition in Adelaide Arcade in the heart of the city called "Stitched Out" –a mixed media art installation by local fibre artists hosted by A Rare Notion haberdashery shop and Seams Nostalgic sewing lounge.

Fabric of Life is a North Adelaide business which specialises in handmade and Fair Trade contemporary and antique textiles from around the world. "Fabric of LifeTurns 10" presents a collection of handmade textiles including vintage Burmese silk weavings. If you enjoy weaving or creating fabric, I'm sure you would enjoy this event.

The bonus is that all of these events are wheelchair accessible and Companion Cards are accepted.

Do you know of any other fibre art events or festivals near you? Have you ever participated?

I'm looking forward to the festival season and maybe I will see you there!

Links
  • Adelaide Festival of Arts (1–17 March): http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2013/
  • Adelaide Fringe Festival (15 February–17 March): http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/about
  • Adelaide Hills Council: http://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/page.aspx
  • Adelaide Hills Council Stirling Library: http://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=1368
  • Companion Card
  • Fabric of Life: http://www.fabricoflife.com.au/
  • "Fabric of Life Turns 10": http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/fabric-of-life-turns-10/9ef332d0-40be-4364-ae94-3ebab66c8bcb
  • City of Holdfast Bay: http://www.holdfast.sa.gov.au/page.aspx
  • Holdfast Bay "Stitch for Summer": http://www.holdfast.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?c=16801  
  • A Rare Notion and Seams Nostalgic "Stitched Out": http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/venues/a-rare-notion-and-seams-nostalgic/72ea1034-5810-47dc-a376-c2005a181d84
  • Weekender Herald Newspaper article, "Library Lawns to be Bombed": http://www.adelaidehillsweekender.com.au/article.php?ID_Article=481

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know about the Glenelg one but meant to mention the Stirling one to you. I might try to go and check out one or both of them.

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  2. I've made contact with the Glenelg one and came away with a big bag of donated pieces to join together. Ms E came with me and had a great time. I've never participated in a yarnbomb before because either the timing wasn't right, the location was too far away or it didn't fit into the schedule.

    It has been an interesting experience so far, but my conscience feels that all this yarn could be put to better use to help others who are struggling due to natural disasters or living in poverty. A cold winter will be upon us soon.

    Mind you, if I was going to make a blanket to keep someone warm, I would not be making it out of acrylic, so I guess all of the donated acrylic scraps were not destined to become blankets anyway.

    I am pretty sure that once the exhibit is over, the yarn is going to be re-purposed or donated for a useful cause.

    I do like the idea of re-interpreting the sculpture (as opposed to 'vandalising' trees) and bringing some cheerfulness and whimsy to the neighbourhood. I wonder how many people walk past the Rhythm sculpture every day without so much as a sideways glance. For those people for whom the sculpture is 'invisible', once it is covered in colour, it will not be taken for granted so easily! If this project brightens one person's day then it's been a success in my mind.

    I must write a diary of my experience to share it on Lupey Loops.
    I look forward to catching up with you at one or both of these events, Rachel.

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  3. I am hoping to get to this Sunday's yarnbombing session at Glenelg. Might see you there Jodie :-)

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  4. AS the workshop stage of the event is drawing to a close, the link for "Stitch For Summer" at Holdfast Bay's website is no longer working because the page has been deleted. The way to find information is to go to Holdfast Bay's main website and either do a search or send an email to the Project Officer Jenni Reynolds at jreynolds@holdfast.sa.gov.au

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