First Impression - Knit The Bridge is Both Awesome & Underwhelming

A few initial personal impressions of The world's largest "yarn bombing" project, Knit The Bridge. (Opinion is my own and may change as I spend more time with it) 

Tons of people put lots of time, effort and love into this project and I'm very glad they did.

Awesome:

The awesome part of this sort of explains itself. The project was huge and pulling it off demonstrated a tremendously powerful community effort; technical skill and almost military coordination. Using an iconic bridge as a metaphoric demonstration of civil society involving almost 2000 people.

From The Post Gazette

"A niece in Toledo, Ohio, Rose Durant, also got involved. Ms. Deaniello didn't stop there, though, and brought in yet another acquaintance to create panels, 90-year-old Zella Poindexter, who lives in a Pittsburgh nursing home.

Much of the pre-site planning for Knit the Bridge was accomplished at the Spinning Plate gallery in East Liberty, where volunteers such as Ms. Deaniello, 71, were "little worker bees," she said, laughing.

The real buzz began early Saturday, when the actual assembly began. With the bridge closed off to vehicle and foot traffic, the low chatter of conversation from the mostly female crews was a backdrop as they stitched away hours in the sun."

Underwhelming:

The weakness of the project in some ways comes from it's greatest strength. 

Yarn Bombing as a movement tends to relate to street art and gather strength from pushing boundaries. Overwhelmingly the aesthetic is about softening the hard, technical world with the handmade, funky and chaotic. 

The main tower covering was machine knitted according to reports. Also, the most interesting aspects of the bridge like the cables were not "bombed". 

One also gets the strong impression that an effort was made to control and design out unexpected content or quirks- washing out anything remotely offensive or personal. (Could be wrong about that)

While I understand the physical and logistical barriers involved, the project fails to push the envelope in a way that creates true art. 

Views were from first look late Sunday evening. I may change my mind as I walk the bridge and soak it all in.

Andy Warhol Bridge Yarn Bombing Begins: Knit The Bridge Project Should Be Complete By Tomorrow Night

Article in Post Gazette Follow #KnitTheBridge hashtag on twitter for images. Or go downtown and watch.

Knit the Bridge: just keep on stitching

Yarn bombing began to surface several years ago, as a form of urban grafitti. The examples that I have seen on the internet range in scale from intimate coverings on park benches and trees up to large-scale works that cover the steps of a cathedral.

Locally, there haven't been too many in-the-wild yarn bombings. You'll see the occasional bike rack or street pole with a touch of colorful yarn, but nothing more ambitious. I could be wrong; if you know about larger projects I'd love to hear about them! Purely as an appreciator; I love looking sometimes, it's the voyeur in me.

However, Pittsburgh has an extremely large and exceptionally ambitious project that will completely cover the Andy Warhol Bridge. If memory serves, the project was launched the better part of a year ago by the Fiber Arts Guild of Pittsburgh. I made a point of stopping by the Knit the Bridge booth at Three Rivers Arts Festival this week. Kitty Spangler, who has been working with the group from the start, was at the booth with a couple volunteers. She tells me that most of the blanket sections are complete but that they are still looking to make the black framing sections that will serve as a unifying element in this crazy quilt of a project.

The project is very complex, with multiple neighborhood coordinators enlisting the help of residents in making the panels and representatives from the project on hand at most community gatherings and street fairs. The project's statement about knitting a bridge between Pittsburgh communities is very apt.

There are several ways that you can help support this project. Knit the Bridge recently launched an IndiGoGo campaign to support the project. The funds raised will go to support installation costs, which is no small feat. If you want to get involved in making the panels, there are several drop-in sessions every week where you can go. They'll even show you how to knit or crochet and the company is wonderful. Or you can make a panel while you watch The Newsroom, and drop them off.