Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Subversive Knitting
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A new generation of artist-knitters has transformed needlecraft, obscuring the previously well-defined space between arts and crafts.
Author Sabrina Gschwandtner describes this innovative group of knitting rebels as “Knitting’s New Wave.” Hand knitters are using atypical materials in new combinations, designers are blending digital technologies with knitting and artists are exploring the possibilities of collaborative performance art and activism through needlecraft.
High-end knitwear tends to be a progressive area of fashion, and designers such as Risto Bimboloski, men’s knitwear designer at Louis Vuitton; Isabel Berglund; Yoshiki Hishinumma and Liz Collins use traditional methods and incorporate machine knitting into their collections. Bimboloski employs all hand knitters from his home in Macedonia to produce his creations, and Collins builds upon machine work, sculpting and fusing fiber and cloth in a process she calls knit grafting. Lauded by critics and always in high demand through boutiques and trunk show sales, high end fashion’s embrace of knitting has elevated what was once considered a hobby to a much loftier sphere.
Contemporary artists such as Niels Van Eijk, Piper Shepard and Dave Cole began to explore knitting and knotting with diverse materials such as leather and fiber optic cable, and unknitting – deconstructing fabric and creating new patterns. Cole, perhaps known to Bay State art aficionados for his knitting machine piece on display at Mass MOCA, uses knotting, weaving and linking non-traditional materials to create conceptual objects. He created works such as “The Money Dress,” which used 879 shredded dollar bills to copy a Vera Wang design, and the “Fiberglass Teddy Bear,” a giant teddy bear made of pink fiberglass, at once endearing and poisonous.
Knitting and needlecraft have always been about community. Generations of women traditionally completed projects side by side. Several knitters of the new wave, including Gschwandtner, Collins, Lisa Anne Auerbach and Cat Mazza have energized the communal aspects of knitting, fostering kinship and encouraging activism through the power of the needle. Gschwandtner’s exquisite KnitKnit, an artists’ publication with individually hand worked covers, encourages connections between knitters – a place to feature the work of others, share ideas and bring about collaborations. In one instance a reader provided hand-dyed yarn for the covers of a future issue. Collins championed “Knitting Nation” an ongoing collaborative and installation project and protest against the Iraq war.
Mazza married technology and knitting with her knitPro computer program which will take any image and translate it into a needlework pattern. The use of knitPro is free, counter to the proprietary and copyrighted nature of most patterns, which are created and sold by yarn companies. Her microRevolt website includes an anti-sweatshop petition, which may be signed in the form of sending in a knitted square or simply signing it, in this case directed at swoosh giant Nike.
“Stop making scarves and start making trouble” knitting activist Lisa Anne Auerbach, blends radical design with revolutionary politics. Auerbach photographs herself in creations such as the “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” protest sweater about the end of the assault rifle ban, and her “Body Count” mittens, which record the date and number of soldiers killed in Iraq.
The knitting wave is undeniably ascendant. Prominent celebrity knitters like Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and the oft-mentioned Russell Crowe confer a certain ne plus ultra to handmade projects that Grandma’s sweaters never had. Perhaps the rise in popularity is a reflection of the DIY –Do It Yourself - ethos. An alternative to modern consumer culture, DIY encourages independence in design, materials and, most importantly, execution. A hand knitted scarf – a project anyone is capable of bringing to completion – is the antithesis of mass-produced clothing.
Feel inspired? Many local knitting stores offer groups to get started. If you purchase yarn and/or a pattern from a shop, it is common practice that the store will help you with any problems you might encounter on that project:
Black Sheep Knitting
Graceful Stitches
In Stitches
Mind’s Eye Yarns
Spark Craft
Books with very cutting edge projects abound. Three that we like are Punk Knits, by Share Ross, Downtown DIY Knitting by Alice Chadwick and Knitted Icons by Carol Meldrum. Now get out there and knit your way into a new adventure. It just may be that the only way to find something truly original to wear, is to make it yourself.
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