For most of us, crochet is a hobby. Something we do to relax, or as a past-time activity. To some of us it might be a form of income, or maybe even what we do for a living. But there are some people out there, who have taken crochet a step (or perhaps even a few steps) forward and transformed it into a form of art. And when I say "Art" I mean museums and galleries. I mean installations on display for the world to come, see and be in awe. I mean out of the box thinking, out of this world crochet pieces that convey a statement, deeper meaning, provoke thinking and challenge the minds.
Who are these people? Join me as we explore the magnificent world of crochet art.
Joana Vasconcelos
Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese artist known for her large-scale installations. Her forte is utilizing non-traditional materials to create monumental works that intrigue, inspire and entertain the viewer.
Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in Europe regularly since the mid-1990s. After her participation in the 51st International Art Exhibition in Venice in 2005, it became known internationally. In 2012, Vasconcelos showed her work at the major annual contemporary art exhibition in Versailles, making her the first woman and the youngest contemporary artist to exhibit in this prestige location.
Living in Portugal, her work is inspired and influenced by daily life and local culture. As crochet is very popular in Portugal, it is incorporated in a large number of her works. The combination of her unique and extravagant style with the art of crochet result in enormous sculptures and installations which are nothing like what you would normally think of when you hear the word "crochet".
Animals sculptures wrapped in crochet lacework - Joana Vasconcelos
One of her series is composed out of various animal sculptures, which have been wrapped in crochet lacework. Each of the pieces in the series is both imprisoned and protected by a second-skin made of crochet-work, making them both beautiful and strange at the same time. The use of crochet to "mummify" the ceramic animals opens up a vast and rich field of interpretation.
On another series - the Valkyrie series - she presents enormous and strange textile bodies made of a mixture of crochet, felt appliqués, fabrics, embroidery and bead ornaments. This series is dedicated to the idea of female beauty and strength. It features monumental installations, designed to fit, or rather dominate a specific space. Each installation is created with the location in which it will be presented in mind, so that once it is in place, it appears as if it has always "lived" there.
Joana Vasconcelos - Valkyrie Marina Rinaldi
Amongst other locations, her Valkyries took over the Guggenheim Museum, Palazzo Grassi in Venice, ARoS Museum of Art in Denmark, the MassArt museum in Boston and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam
Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam is a Japanese textile artist based in Canada. She is best known for creating large-scale "textile playgrounds" for children, using bright colored crochet work. Her work is commonly described as being an interactive textile environment.
Her inspiration to create these so called "knitted playgrounds" came to her when she observed the lack of parks and playground in Tokyo, where she was living at the time, and the negative effect that it was having on children. She then began designing these crocheted structures, which she makes herself by hand. The installations, made of nylon, are then assembled in sections by a team in their designated location. Her structures are designed for children to have a space to take risks and explore in a safe environment and to let their imagination run free.
Let children take risks in a safe environment - Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam
This unconventional use of crochet work challenges our understanding of what a playground can look like. Children can physically move, swing, climb, roll and dangle their way through the web. The yarn itself – being a stretchy nylon fabric – creates unique opportunities for children’s learning through tactile play. Due to its unique design and the materials and methods used to construct it, a crocheted playground provides a special experience for both children and adults. The visual aspect plays a key ingredient here, and can be interesting and stimulating to the senses even if you just sit on the bench as an observer. However, when faced with such an interesting construction, I sort of wish adults were allowed to play as well...
Using up to 2,000 pounds of fabric and stretching as long as 60 feet, These play structures can be found in Japan, New Zealand, China, Italy, Spain, and the US – in parks, schools, and museums, at shopping malls and in housing developments. To this day, MacAdam creates everything herself, and sometimes spends as much as eight hours a day crocheting them.
Each installation is crocheted by hand by the artist herself - Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam
Gabriele Meyer
Gabriele Meyer is a senior lecturer of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a crochet artist! She uses the hyperbolic qualities of crochet to create stunning works of fine art, thus implying her knowledge of mathematics to her craft.
When you think about it, all crochet works are based on mathematic concepts. In fact, there are certain types of mathematical concepts that haven’t been able to be modeled in any other form other than crochet. There's even a specific name for this unique craft - Hyperbolic Crochet.
Meyer creates artistic lampshades, algae, flowers and other organic shapes. She is inspired and motivated by curves and surfaces, which are present both in nature as well as the field of her studies. Her work features plays on light and shadows, which contribute to the already intriguing shapes and add another dimension to her unique creations.
Hyperbolic Surfaces - Gabriele Meyer
Olek
Sculptor, performance, and street artist Olek is a Polish crochet genius residing in New York Coty. She was born Agata Oleksiak as in professionally known as Crocheted Olek, or simply Olek. Her work, frequently displayed in public space, explores sexuality, feminist ideals and the evolution of communication through colors, conceptual exploration and meticulous detail. As an active supporter of women's rights, sexual equality, and freedom of expression, she has used the broad appeal of her work to display solidarity with those stifled by oppressive laws worldwide.
Olek describes her work as being a never-ending crocheted journey, embellished with emotions, memories, experiences, thoughts and insights. She is a visual artist with a very unique, one of a kind expression language. "My installations are and have always been expressions of my responses to immediate surroundings, international climate, information, images, events in the news, emotions, words and lovers" she says.
People covered in crochet work - Olek
As part of her art, Olek has been known to cover objects, vehicles, people and even entire buildings with crochet work. In addition to her planned or commissioned exhibitions in museums and galleries, she also engages in guerilla crochet work in public spaces, more commonly known as "Yarn-Bombing". From the New York Stock Exchange's "Charging Bull" to an entire train in Poland, Olek has made a name for herself by crocheting her artistic vision into the public eye and covering well known monuments in her creations. This form of art isn't always well accepted and have put the artist herself in some unpleasant situations in the past. However, her intentions, she claims, are always positive, and that’s the most important thing about her work.
Yarn bombing on Wall Street - Olek
Aze Ong
Aze Ong is a Filipino contemporary artist working with fiber. Ong’s art has an organic and untamed and almost wild feel, a characteristic she attributes to the fact that she follows no set pattern when crocheting. “When I begin, I don’t have any design in mind,” Ong explains. “I just go with the flow. I don’t know what the final artwork would look like.” Her art is largely a product of intuition.
Fiber is an underutilized aspect in contemporary arts in the Philippines despite its traditional role in the country’s culture. Ong learned to crochet left-handed while taking classes at Assumption College where she attained bachelor of Communication major in Media Production. She said she started crocheting obsessively, and before she knew it, her wheel-like creations were stretching to 16-feet long and taking on three-dimensions.
She became more serious with her art, though, when she volunteered after college to teach for one year at a high school, where most of her students were from the Talaandig tribe. The Talaandigs are an indigenous tribe who has successfully preserved their art and culture, and continue to wear their traditional clothes and perform their traditional dances. Inspired by the Talaandigs, Ong put more time and effort in creating bigger, bolder crochet art.
Bold and quirky artwork - Aze Ong
The techniques she uses to create her installations include - among others - Crochet, knitting, knotting, embroidery, macrame, and sewing. Her work is both tactile and interactive. The use of shapes, colors, texture, space and movement encourages open interpretation by the viewer. She has an extensive portfolio that includes exhibitions in important museums, galleries, and artist-run spaces in Manila, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Kenya and the United States.
Ong's rainbow-colored, whimsical crochet sculptures are stimulating and intriguing. You can look at them for hours from different angles and constantly find new things. Her work is often described as being quirky and strange, meaning it is like nothing you may have seen before.
Not like anything you may have seen before - Aze Ong
These are just some of the bold and creative artists who took their crochet craft and turned it into an exhibition-worthy talent. I hope that you too, like me, find it inspiring to see what crochet can become with just the right combination of imagination, initiation and the right materials. The idea of crochet creations being exhibited in top-locations around the globe and included in art events of the highest and most prestige magnitude is something all of us crafters can and should be proud of.