Lark Crafts

I’m going to throw some terms at you–see if they resonate familiarly with your sense of creativity:

Street Art.  Yarn Bombing.  Knit Graffiti.  Flash Mob.

If your ears perked up at any of those mentions, then you’re in the know about a wildly wonderful vein of art that is defining towns, regions, artistic movements, and the ever-expanding world of creativity. If your ears sort of leaned in curiously (but didn’t recognize those terms right away), let me share with you a Wikipedia definition.

Street art: any art developed in public spaces–that is, “in the streets”–though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives.  Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art. (more from wiki)

Yarn Bombing and Knit Graffiti are types of street art, and (as you might have guessed) involve knitted and crocheted cloth (instead of spray paint or stencils, etc). Yarn bombing is often about adding expression and color to sterile public spaces, and many of the guerrilla artists behind these fiber creations choose to remain anonymous. Like all art forms, everyone yarn bombs differently.

We were lucky enough to witness some awesome yarn bombing right in front of Lark’s office!! The incredibly talented artist StreetColor traveled to Asheville from Berkeley, California, with the specific goal of sharing her work in our fair city. Within minutes, she affixed a pre-knitted cover around the pole of a parking meter on Broadway, and just before that, she’d gifted a stop sign on Wall Street with a similar (colorful!) knitted tube.

StreetColor prefers to remain anonymous, which was pretty cool (sort of like an artistic Batman or Spiderman–we’ll never know who you really are, StreetColor). On behalf of everyone at Lark and the fine people who walk, drive, hop, run, scoot, and meander past the parking meter on Broadway, I’d like to say THANK YOU! We love admiring this knit graffiti and the creative spirit behind it.

Rock on, StreetColor; we salute you.

For more info about StreetColor and yarn bombing, visit her blog: http://streetcolor.wordpress.com/

*photo of knitted bike found here: erindoyle’s flickr page

*photo of knitted tree found here: hciere’s flickr page