Public Art: | |
| In the Spring of 2004, I was selected (as one of 125 Bay Area artists) to create a sculpture for Hearts in San Francisco, a citywide outdoor heart exhibit. The project benefited the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation; sponsorships and the auctioning of the hearts ultimately raised well over $1.5 million for the Foundation. | |
    |
I'd just finished teaching a particularly great round of knitting classes, during which I';d developed strong connections with my students. So, it felt natural for me to work in a knitted element. I liked the idea of translating the double warmth both physical and emotional of a garment hand-knit just for you, into public art. I developed a functional format to work in, with materials that would last outdoors. I knitted with rope, using needles I made from staircase railing. The gauge equaled 4 stitches to the foot. (Yes, you can laugh.) I named the piece The Tempest Cozy, as it warms the heart and soothes the tempest of emotions brewing within. |
    |
First, I covered the heart in vintage underpinnings by Shakespeare, collaging pages from an 1869 bound edition on the surface of the heart. The volume had been a gift, a very unexpected gift, from someone dear to my heart, to complete my search for the perfect pages to cover the sculpture. It took seven complete scripts, plus daguerrotype portraits of "the finest actors and actresses of the day. All romantic comedies, all pertaining to affairs of the heart, all 500-year old stories that read like today's heartbreak headlines. |
    |
I knitted my heart a red-and-white checkerboard cozy which caught the eye, and the fancy, of The Villas at Park Merced, the largest apartment complex in San Francisco. The Villas not only sponsored my heart, but also purchased it. The cozy inspired them to commission The Cozy Wardrobe! I'm designing and knitting seasonal cozies, so that the heart will be well-dressed year round. |
 
| |
You can drive by or visit my heart any time, on the lawn in front of The Villa's offices, 3711 Nineteenth Avenue, next to SF State University. There will be a special opportunity to see the entire Cozy Wardrobe at one time as it will be on view at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in October, as part of the exhibit Artwear: Fashion and Anti-fashion. www.thinker.org (specific dates to be announced) Tell me what you think: adelelouise@gmail.com |
|
