DAM Good Knitting

      I finally got down to the Denver Art Museum's new textile floor to see the Thread Studio that opened to much acclaim in May, 2013.  There in the center of the lace making exhibit hangs the Shetland stole, knitted by E.B. Manson, that I collected in Lerwick some years ago while I was there teaching knitting.  It's a beautiful hand-spun, hand knit stole, and the docent who was sitting in the gallery spinning told me that the shawl has been inspiring spinners to try hone their skills to such fine yarn.  It is a wonderful piece and I'm so pleased that the DAM has given it a gorgeous showcase.

 
   I have to say I was sadly surprised to see that the description card had no mention of the knitter's name.  I was especially happy to have supplied the curators with that information as so many gorgeous textile pieces are anonymous, the maker lost in history.  Well as they say, "Anonymous was a woman", and apparently she still is.  But you and I know.....

Knitaway is On the Way

     Knitaway Session I is officially on it's way.  We had a great time talking and knitting this afternoon, getting to know each other, sharing stories about how we learned to knit, and admiring what's currently on our needles.
    We are focusing on Shetland shawls and I have a lots of wonderful information to share about one of my favorite knitting traditions.   I have a small collection of shawls from Shetland that I came across some years back while I taught knitting in Lerwick.   I just loaned the Denver Art Museum one of these beauties to be displayed in their newly expanded textile art department.  It's a hand knit stole with a beautiful play of patterns using a handspun single-ply Shetland wool.  Always such a joy to see the work of a knitter's hands.
      It's going to be a great Knitaway!

 

Van Gogh and Yarn

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Denver Art Museum to consult with them on a project for the Becoming Van Gogh Exhibit that opens there tomorrow.  It seems that the brilliant painter and colorist used balls of yarn in his color studies.  Who knew?

 A  red lacquer tea caddy containing small amounts of yarns wound together with what is a recognizably Van Gogh sense of color and balance was found among his belongings in his studio.  The original box is in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  Above is the replica  my husband and I created in our studio.

This was truly a labor of love.  After meeting with the DAM committee and having the opportunity to  analyze photos of the box and it's contents, I spent some time winding sample balls of yarn from my stash to show them how their display department could accomplish this same look.  I came back to the studio bubbling with excitement;  Van Gogh, arguably one of history's greatest colorists, actually used yarn as a way to  explore the mysteries of color interplay! 

My husband Gary, a painter and faux finish artist himself, caught my enthusiasm.  Having long  created boxes as upcycled art pieces, he pulled the perfect container from his collection and proceeded to transform it.  Photos of that amazing process are below.  From modern French wine box to 100 year old aritist's tool in a few hours.....

 

 And then I got to wind some balls of yarn and place them inside.  What an outstandingly cool way to play with color, don't you think?   The artistic process never ceases to amaze me.

Eyedazzlers

Another museum trip this week.

      The new American Indian art galleries at the Denver Art Museum opened recently with intensely colored Navajo weavings from the museum's collection hanging just inside the main entrance.

        Navajo weavers tradtionally dyed their yarn with vegetal dyes which gave subtle colors. When the brightly colored yarns dyed with aniline dyes became available in the mid-1800's, the Navajo embraced the opportunity to use them to great effect.  These blankets, so contemporary in design, were woven and most popular among collectors during the last 20 years of the 19th century. They came to be called Eyedazzlers.  And they are dazzling, almost hypnotizing.  I could scarcely pull myself away.  Now I have a delicious urge to knit off-kilter geometric designs with oranges and reds next to deep blues and tawny golds.  

        Well, you see how I am.
photo © C. Oberle 2011