The micro fiber artists Issue #35

Knitting and crochet artisans revamp a very old-school concept

By Anna Breshears
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 2:49pm

Interest in knitting and crochet has ignited in the past five years. Members of groups like Micro-Fiber Militia and Knitta display their knit and crochet “graffiti” in unlikely public locales like bike racks and trees, Etsy’s pages teem with needlework in all colors and forms, and the L.A.-based Institute For Figuring’s ongoing, worldwide project to construct a free-form crochet coral reef pulls textile art into the enviro-political realm.

Knit and crochet’s presence in contemporary art, particularly among female artists, is also on the rise. Germany’s Patricia Waller and D.C.-based Raina Hassan employ these techniques within their work to opposite ends: Waller seeks to challenge our perceptions, while Hassan celebrates our commonalities.

Waller has been crocheting wool since the early ’90s. “I was looking forv materials not yet established in the arts,” she says. “I wanted to become independent from machines and electricity supplies. All my colleagues were making fun of me for working with such an old-fashioned material.” Waller’s dark yet whimsical work captures viewers with humor before evoking their discomfort. In her series How to Kill Your First Love, she features cute, intricately crocheted toys in the throes of stabbings, beheadings and other sadistic acts. “The series is about the aggressive potential of children, child abuse, and violence against animals,” Waller explains. By confronting us with disturbing imagery, Waller seeks to alter our ways of thinking about particular objects. She uses crocheted wool, a substance that provides “safety and warmth to human beings,” to create creatures both cuddly and grotesque. The discrepancy between the material and the object revises our perceptions of both. “Through de-familiarization, I question our ways of seeing,” says Waller.

Hassan uses crochet and knitting in her work for a different purpose: to emphasize common bonds between women. Of her mixed-media Knit Painting series, which depicts women either knitting alone or in separate frames held together by a joint knitting project, Hassan, who sells her work at goshdarnknit.blogspot.com, was inspired by her fascination with knitting and love for painting. “I think about how it links me to my mother, and her mother, and all the women that came before them,” she says.

She can’t remember a time when her grandmother didn’t crochet. “I remember her lessons, and then struggling with her tiny hooks and threads, but I mostly spent a lot of time watching her,” Hassan recalls. “She only recently stopped crocheting because it hurts her hands and eyes too much, but ever single person in the family has at least one handmade piece by her. And over phone calls, she asks me about my knitting, and then talks about how she wishes she could still crochet.”

Despite the differences in their artwork, Waller and Hassan share similar attitudes about the value of articles made by hand. “We’re doing the same things that women many generations ago had done, but by choice and with a strong passion for it,” Hassan says. “I feel like we're working toward something positive, maybe even a way to inspire younger generations to also work with their hands.” Waller concurs: “I think that we are getting more interested in individuality and in the ability to create something with our own hands. Knitting and crocheting both allow creating something individual that provoke our imagination and fantasy.”

Check out more of Patricia Waller’s work at patriciawaller.de and Rania Hassan’s work at her blog goshdarnknit.blogspot.com.

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More Knitters to Know
Chrystl Rijkeboer
Remember those creepy knit masks from ’70s how-to craft books? The Netherlands’ Rijkeboer revisits them and makes them more realistic (and twisted looking) by adding hair in her 2007 “Avatar” series. (rijkeboer.com)

Anu Tuominen
This Helsinki-based artist uses crochet work in conjunction with everyday objects like a half-used palette of watercolors, drinking glasses, and kitchen utensils, resulting in beautiful, poetic pieces that meld the ordinary and the imaginary.

Liz Collins
The assistant professor at Rhode Island School of Design uses machine knitting for her whimsical and romantic textiles and installations. Collins also is one of the founding members of Knitting Nation, a collective that uses knitting “performance” as installation in a variety of venues in order to provide commentary on the social and political world. (lizcollins.com)

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KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects From Knitting’s New Wave (STC Craft)
By Sabrina Gschwandtner
Photographed by Kiriko Shirobayashi
Sabrina Gschwandtner, founder of art zine KnitKnit, profiles 27 diverse knit artists with projects from each. She focuses on their deeply personal relationships with the medium and the intersection of knitting as pastime, high design, political act, and contemporary art. Projects are not for the casual knitter but capture each artist’s spirit, from Anna Bell’s classic sweater and Erika Knight’s mohair belt to boxing gloves from Rachael Matthews and Dave Cole’s fiberglass teddy bear. However diverse their styles, the act of knitting has given each individual in KnitKnit a sense of greater purpose and the results of their work are incredible to behold. (A href="knitknit.net/book">knitknit.net/book)