INSTRUMENTS GONE WILD

FREEFORM KNITTING/CROCHET SCULPTURE

ADVANCED 3-D ART

vintage instruments, handspun/handdyed yarns, & various other goodies

This project took a whole different twist this year.

In years past,

 it was referred to more as a Twig Sculpture with Free Form Knitting/Crochet,

but superstar seniors Shreya Sheth & Jacqueline Yu took it in a whole new exciting direction.

Instead of starting with a large interesting found branch/twig,

they rescued old discarded instruments and turned them into amazing works of art.

They were required to incorporate their handspuns that we saw them spinning in last weeks post.

And they also learned to free form knit & crochet in order to sculpt with the fiber.

Let's see what they came up with. 

Shreya  was able to find an old child sized guitar to use as her foundation.

The green fiber is her handspun.

She also dug thru my eco-dyed scraps, burlaps & laces to add a bit of color and texture.

And check out the adorable flag bunting that she knit up to drape around the neck of the guitar.

And last but not least,

she named her piece Sage.

Priceless!

Jacqueline was hoping to work with an old brass horn as her foundation.  

I was able to find her one at an Antique store up by our cabin.

I adore what she did design-wise with this piece.

How it has tentacles that reach out into space,

how she incorporated the hanger and brought in wood as well.

And do you see the glass shards she has glued down to the branch?

Her handspun is wrapped around the branch as well.

And her free-form knitting is done with some dark blue cording she found.

I also really enjoy the vintage crocheted doily that she is using to create a focal point with.

Jac also thought to use wire to build this tree form,

and it's feels so good that she has wrapped fiber thru it.

Plus my eye likes all the little dangley fibers.

You are a very clever girl Jacquline!

A highly unique piece.

Thank you Shreya and Jac for always pushing my assignments in great new directions,

and coming up with amazing pieces to display

DISPLAYING A LARGE PIECE OF ART

Senior Laarnie Barcelon,

sold one of her largest pieces to our English teacher Donna Hall.

Donna's room is already chock full of pieces she has bought from my art students at our Open House Sales,

so I was especially curious to see how she was going to display such a large work.

She picked the wall panels right behind her lecture podium to hang the piece.

She backed half of each panel with a gently patterned piece of fabric 

in a color that worked without distraction.

Then she went to Michael's Crafts and found the most wonderful twig and wire border

to place around the edge of the fabric.

Next she plans to buy a few more student art works to compliment Laarnie's sculpture

to hang in the negative spaces.

Can't wait to see it next year when she finishes her dispaly.

Maybe I'll photo the entire room so you can see her incredible collection. 

Yarn Bombing a Branch

FREE FORM KNITTING

ADVANCED 3-D ART

handspun & dyed yarns, twigs, watercolored paper, wire, scrap fabric, tissue paper & misc. items

This was a new assignment that I tried out last school year with Karisma Dev

 when she was in 3rd year 3-D.  

It received so many raves that I wanted to bring it back again this year for senior Laarnie Barcelon, 

my sole Adv. 3-D student. 

The assignment really begin at the beginning of the school year when I gave Laarnie white roving to dye and spin up on the spinning wheel.

I encouraged her to make to spin as liberated as possible creating art yarns 

(We saw her earlier in the year on the blog spinning her brains out  :)

Then it was up to her to find something special to incorporate with the yarn for a mixed media effect.

She brought in a great looking branch that she cut into 3 pieces then reconfigured.

Working to the shapes in the branches she used a free form knitting technique to knit up her yarns

 so that she could stretch, 

weave and wrap them about the branches. 

She was also required to bring in additional media to compliment the work.

So when you look closely you see sheet music that's been watercolored,

some of it cut into butterflies.

I spy a stuffed felt bear head peeking out from a fabric nest,

coiled wire springs, and black rubber washers from the hardware store.

It's a perfect assignment for re-purposing. 

Spotlight on Karisma Dev - Student Art

I've featured junior Karisma Dev several times over the last 5 years, and there is a reason;  she is an up and coming brilliant young artist who is making a name for herself here at Whitney.  I recently showed off the art display in our office but I didn't talk about the remarkable twig piece hanging in the forefront.  It is Karisma's lastest work.

She started this piece off by dyeing and spinning her own art yarn, and learning a free form knitting technique to build a interesting web-like structure.  Then she inserted a few twigs to bring a visual relationship between the larger branch and twigs.

When the Santa Ana winds came thru here a month or so ago, this beautiful tree limb was blown and broken off in a park that Karisma and her sister frequent, so they dragged it home and then to school so she could use it with her free form knit piece.  

My T.A. Josh Berger and Karisma figured out a way to suspend the branch from the wall so she could get under it to work.

Not only did she attach her knit piece but she loves to use recycled items in her work so she incorporated quite a few goodies as well.

Here you can really see how intricate the piece is, and how she did a bit of yarn bombing as well around the branch.  

Amazing work for a high school student! 

The Loop & Leaf - Fine Yarns and Tea

Traveling thru Santa Barbara this past summer, I was able to take some time to explore yarn shops and found this gem in the downtown area.  Owner Celeste Varner has created a warm and inviting space to shop, chat and knit.  

The Loop and Leaf is located at 536 Brinkerhoff Ave., Santa Barbara. and the number there is 805-845-4696 in case you want to call for hours.  

The yarn shop is located in a wonderfully established neighborhood, in this sweet little house.  You can't miss it because of the knit wrapped tree in the front which gives it away.

I found all the ladies inside to be friendly and curious, and owner Celeste really knows her yarns and pattern books.  

And I really liked the comfortable knitting space for hanging out.  But what really caught my eye were the samples spread out throughout the place, like the felted bird below.  I liked the bird so much that I actually bought the book that the sample was made from.  It would make a fun new assignment.  

Another inspiration were the free form knitted hanging sculptures about the place like these two.  Done with the local driftwood and shells that wash up along the sand, I felt this too would be a terrific project for my 3rd year 3-d kids.  I found out that these works were created by Celeste's mother.  

So this shop along with Colors in Claremont are my two new favorite knit places to visit.