Crochet in the Expanded Field

By: linda

Change your perception; Crochet = Cool, or to paraphrase Gloria Steinem: "This is what crochet looks like".*

Like so much of what we think we know, many of the ideas we have about crochet are simply outdated, innacurate and/or not based on the evidence of vibrant examples in our world, if we would but notice.

If we more accurately perceived our bodies and our world, we would be saying mind/body as opposed to simply "body", because of Dr. Candace Pert's research into how emotions affect our bodies. We "know" that the 400 year old Mercator projection maps shown in schoolrooms for so many years do not represent our world well. But maps such as the Peters Projection maps and Bucky Fuller's Dymaxion maps, which show more "realistic pictures" of the world are not widely used, so we grow up with distorted views of the earth in our mind's eye. I won't even go into all the misperceptions that seeing the world in that way leads to! As a last example of such thinking, how many of us learned about quantum physics when attending school? Most often, we're still taught classical physics, which doesn't reflect all of the discoveries and new ideas that have been pondered since Einstein was the big news.

So let's finish the "holy war between knitting and crochet" as I've seen it recently referred to, and wake up to the idea that there are many roads to using yarn/rope/fibers, whatever the material, beautifully and expressively. We haven't apprehended the whole picture of crochet, but there is no longer any excuse to live in darkness. We are all cool in the eyes of the yarn goddess. What follows are some references to help you perceive, more accurately, the variety and splendor that is crochet now.

Of course there are all the crocheted body elements. The internet is alive with crocheted breasts, penises (crocheted willie warmer) and vaginas.

Monsters, plush animals and crocheted sushi are also well represented in crochet. Plush and Amigurumi animals are, perhaps, poised to take over the world. Some examples:
Veggies from monster crochet.
Mermaids, pirates + monkey feet from monster crochet.
An amigurumi-along and Camilla Engman's little creatures(click on "shop") and more amigurumi.

The runways and fashion catalogs have done a lot of playing with crochet. Here is a Fashion Telegraph article (click on "In pictures: get the crochet look") cooing over crochet. Fashion magazines have shown us works by Missoni, Stella McCartney, Stephen Jones' hats for John Galliano, Marc Jacobs' crocheted shoes, Lorenza Gandaglia's crocheted bags, scarves and more from Domakaya.


"Misconception" from Yvette Kaiser Smith, crocheted fiberglass.

The range of materials able to be used in crochet are wonderfully varied. Yarn, wire, plastic trash bags, fiberglass strands, string, paper, rags, cord, raffia, leather, shoelaces, rubber tubing, and rope are just some of the possibilities. There is probably an endless array of shapes and forms that may be created through crochet. And depending on tools and materials, one can crochet things that are practically microscopic to gigantic. (That's BIG.)


Below are some other artists who use crochet in their work. Sometimes crochet is an essential part of their art, sometimes it is the medium through which the artist is exploring other ideas. Each artist has his/her own reasons for including crochet in the process, ranging from looking with fresh eyes at "women's work", studying the potentially obsessive, repetitive and/or meditative qualities of crochet, or noticing the attention to the moment often entailed in crocheting.

From huge indoor and outdoor installations to intimate wall pieces, they are all creating engaging work. This is but a small sampling of contemporary crochet - informed art that is able to be seen today. If you get a chance to see it in place, great, but most of the pieces are also very thoroughly and well documented on the web.

Zenobia Bailey and more
Tracy Krumm and more: available work, show
Norma Minkowitz and more
Hildur Bjarnadóttir (click on "untitled 1999")
Knitty article on Hildur
Patricia Waller Website
Article on Patricia
Bea Camacho Interview
Video of "enclose"
Agata Olek Oleksiak: some more on Agata
Photos from "Mulysa" A dance piece which incorporated a giant crochet installation. "500 lbs of crochet". Another photo
Ming Yi Sung and more by Ming
Marianne Midelburg's coral reef
Yvette Kaiser Smith: crocheted fiberglass
Sheila Pepe
Isabel Riley
Mathematician Daina Taimina's models
Eleven Eleven Gallery Show: Not the Knitting You Know


Crocheted camouflage cadillac from Agata Oleksiak.

*when someone commented to Ms. Steinem on her 40th birthday that she didn't look 40, she responded, "This is what 40 looks like!"
back to top

See Also

Review: Alabama Studio Style
Flora Alchemy
Sculptural Crochet Primer