Stitching Up City Square 2013 – Installation Day

There was a while there when I worried I would never finish my City Square piece on time. Three seasons of Downton Abbey later, I measured up again and found that my piece had grown to 3.94 m. Whew! That was close enough for me.

Bali from Yarn Corner suggested sewing the piece into sections since the height of the tree was only an estimation. I made a 3.18 m section and two 38 cm sections:

This is me lying on top of my City Square piece to give you an idea of scale, and also because it’s so lovely and soft.

My sister came with me to City Square last Sunday to help with the installation and to take photos:

 

In the end I didn’t need to use the two 38 cm sections; the 3.18 m section reached right up to the branches of the tree. One of the City Square pieces did not arrive in time for the installation. We used left over sections from the other trees to assemble a yarn bomb for the naked tree. There’s one of my sections at the bottom:

While we were installing the pieces, many people stopped to ask questions and to take photos and to say thank you. It was lovely to be involved in a project that brings happiness to so many people. At the end of the day when I left the square, I noticed some tourists posing for photos in front of my tree! It made me very happy.

Art in Surprising Places

I heard a rumour that there was going to be a Shake Your Tail Feather flash mob at Southbank so I headed down there with my friend, Lucy, to check it out. (Youtube video by Miff D)

Afterwards we walked through Southgate Shopping Complex and came across artworks by Be Free. It was one of her colourful little-girl-with-bucket-of-paint paste ups in Degraves Street that started me off photographing street art just over a year ago.

The first piece of Be Free street art I spotted in Melbourne. This can still be seen in Degraves Street but isn’t in such good condition any more.

Finally, Lucy and I went for a coffee in Manchester Press. Unfortunately, the amazing coffee foam art I’d been going on and on about was not evident in Lucy’s hot chocolate.

The picture in the milk foam of my coffee.

Lucy’s hot chocolate looks dull by comparison

Some Christmas Street Art

Christmas themed yarn bombed bike racks and railings outside Fitzroy Swimming Pool, another Yarn Corner / City of Yarra installation:

 

The Melbourne Town Hall Christmas Projection:

 

This was even more spectacular than the projection I saw in Brussels a few years ago. My favourite part was when the clock tower turned into an owl, and the clock faces were its eyes:

More Prahran Street Art

Another snap of street art in Prahran, but this one is incredibly offensive, I think. I nearly didn’t post it because I didn’t want to give it a platform.

I saw it on the way to my trapeze lesson. When I got to NICA, one of the girls in my class asked if I’d come from the station. “Oh my God, did you see that piece of graffiti?”

I realised I wasn’t the only person the piece had made an impact on, so maybe it is worth posting for discussion.

Obviously the implication that single mothers are pole dancers is in itself repugnant, but I  also think it is offensive to suggest that going to pole dancing clubs supports women. People come up with all sorts of excuses to justify it – by talking about emancipation of women and freedom to do what you want with your body – but the fact is that stripping and dancing for money only perpetuates the idea that a woman’s value is in appearing sexually attractive to men.

Oh yeah, and there’s an APOSTROPHE CATASTROPHE!!!

Stitching Up City Square 2013 – Half Way There!

Yay! 2.1 m! (I was hoping to be on 3 m by now, but whatever. I’ll take it.)

Christmas Yarn Bombs on Rathdowne St

At the weekend I went to help some of the Yarn Corner crew wrap some trees on Rathdowne Street in red yarn and crocheted Christmas baubles. The project was commissioned by City of Yarra Council.

The trees are between Curtain St and Newry St, so pop along to see them if you can. The Christmas decorations are particularly sweet although I’m afraid I can’t take any of the credit for them.

While we were wrapping the trees, passing cyclists rang their bells, people in cars rolled down their windows to talk to us, and people passing on the street came up to take a closer look and ask us questions. Everyone was so interested and encouraging. It was lovely to see first hand the positive impact yarn bombing has on a community.

An article about the installation appeared in The Age today.

 

The Life Expectancy of a Yarn Bomb

Walking down Sydney Road last week I did a double take when a familiar looking orange, pink and blue woolly cuff caught my eye. It was the yarn bomb Grace and I put up almost a year ago, looking significantly grubbier than last time I saw it.

Before: February 2012

After: November 2012

I hadn’t really given much thought to the life expectancy of a yarn bomb before. I think I assumed that you put them up and left them, and they brought sunshine into people’s lives forever and ever after that. But no. They get bleached by the sun, matted by the rain and dusty from passing traffic.

We went back with a pair of scissors yesterday and cut it down, like the socially responsible yarn bombers that we are.

A Little Head Never Hurt Anybody

I’m guessing this is the work of the same person.

I saw two of these in Prahran the other day:

They made me smile.

Blogoversary 4

Another blogoversary. I’m going to resist the temptation to analyse the last 12 months. Instead all I’ll say is that last weekend, I finally fulfilled a year-long ambition.

It was worth getting the second visa just for this:

Thrill the World Melbourne 2012

Your Someone’s Reason to Masturbate

I saw this near Prahran Station the other day. I liked it. I was flattered. But then only a fraction of a second later I spotted the “your” blunder and was instantly deflated. If only I wasn’t such a colossal wanker myself I could have basked in the compliment for a little longer.