I think most of us who hang out on the web are familiar with yarn bombing by now–a spontaneous community art form in which objects such as fences, trees, and sculptures are enrobed in knitted or crocheted covers. MarieE of colored thread is behind a different take on this trend in her community: stitch bombing! She says,
This is a project I’ve started doing with my artist friend Johanna Marshall. Last week we gathered the bits and pieces of debris from the path between the art museum and the 676 bridge. We shisha stitched all the pieces onto blue fabric to look like Nazar beads, and then met up again today to sew them all onto the fence…The Nazar symbol is supposed to ward off evil or danger, and we’re planning on doing these in spaces that seem like danger zones to transform them.
So what’s the point? MarieE says,
You walk away. And you’re thinking. And the place isn’t as creepy as it used to be because you saw something- dare I say- beautiful? Or that’s what you would do if you were me and think some graffiti is really art and you actually look at stuff in your environment and get transformed by how beautiful this gritty city can be.
[…] but here’s a bomb i can get behind — it’s local, it incorporates found objects, helps clean up litter, and uses actual folklore to transform not just an already tended public area (like a sweater on a statue), but goes into territory that’s in need of a second look — and a watchful eye. marie elcin says it well — she worked on this with her friend johanna marshall, whom i am sure i remember working at rosie’s at one point, but in the blur-of-having-the-kids years of ’08 and ’09. […]