Local yarn bombing

There’s been much to enjoy outdoors recently and not only naturewise. For the two last weeks in May, a stretch of the downtown riverbank was once again adorned with a Knit ‘n’ Tag event. This time the theme was ‘My Finland’ to celebrate the centenary year of our country’s independence.

In addition to knitting and crocheting, diverse other kinds of handicraft techniques were also presented in the creations mounted on the trees: weaving, sewing, quilting, appliqué, even macramé and felting.

I couldn’t help feeling some of the pieces had been just patched together out of a pile of random items, which is of course a perfectly valid way to demonstrate each contributor’s individual relationship to crafting. However, I always prefer those with a more tight-knit approach to the theme, especially those designed to the finest detail taking every lump and bump on the tree trunk into account.

My favourite creation entitled The Landscape of my Childhood was one of those holistic pieces of art. The swellings on the trunk had become clouds. An orange sun was resting where the trunk branched out into three.  There was even an owl sitting in a hollow.

My other favourites included a couple of striped pieces just because of their colourful beauty, the wrap of crocheted portraits because of the brilliant idea, and the piece with a string of lemons because of the positive message. When life gives you lemons use them to make lemonade the last one was indicating. Some optimism would certainly be welcome for a nation with ‘a brutal sense of realism’ as Jared Diamond characterises our people. It is naturally a strength in our kind of a big picture, but many of us could use a generous dose of joviality in the less grave things.

I didn’t know about the event beforehand and will try to keep better track in the future to consider reserving a tree for myself next time. I took most of the photos around mid-May when the riverside lindens showed hardly any shoots yet. Now the scenes are completely transformed into an intoxicating greenery, my favourite season under the sun.

Have a look also at my post of the previous yarn bombing event in 2015 here.

Clad trees

There is a two-week Knit ‘n’ tag event going on in our neighbourhood. On both side of the river between the two bridges closest to the Main Library, the trunks of the trees are wrapped in all kinds of knitted, crocheted, appliquéd and quilted creations.

The purpose of the yarn bombing event is not only to bring some delightful urban art to the area but also to promote handicraft in all its versatility. Hooray to such an event! I do hope the wonderful trend of crafting will continue to grow.

Each tree is clad by a different organisation, school, club, private group or person. I am not sure about the history of the event but I heard that a similar one took place here two years ago. This time the theme was strips, flowers and laces. Some of the works are utilising the shape of the trunk rather nicely. Some are making a statement while others are simply decorative.

I loved especially the bright, not-too-mixed ones. They made me want to reserve a tree for myself next time, perhaps next year. My daughter has recently gone bonkers about crocheting and could probably be persuaded to join such a project. Well, maybe next year is too soon but one of these years, definitely.

The random guy

On our way from Venice to Bologna, we stopped in Padova for a couple of hours. There I finally solved the puzzle of the ‘random guy’ my son has been referring to for years.

He likes to be called Kenny, a name he adopted probably thanks to his younger years in London and Florida. In real life he is Andrea Coppo, an artist coming from Padova.

We spotted two of his delightful street art pieces of a man and his cat in silhouette, which are his trademark figures.

Recently, Kenny Random has been incorporating well-known cartoon characters into his works. I’d love to see more!

See also my earlier posts on street art here and here.