The MA:P structure set to be yarn bombed. Photo courtesy of UAM.
Don’t underestimate the power of yarn bombing.
MatterApp:Pyramidial, a new space-frame sculpture collaboratively designed by students of Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) Assistant Professor Heather Barker’s Environmental Communication Design Class students, alumni from the Design and Fiber programs, and the LA-based nonprofit Materials & Applications, is now a site to be yarn bombed.
Yarn bombing is typically the spontaneous knitting of a public object or place—made famous in Long Beach by local artist Yoshino Rosalia Jasso—with the colorful threads left for passersby to discover. CSULB and members of the art collective, Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, aim to activate MA:P by inviting the public to participate. This art-on-art objective, using the Walter Pyramid inspired installation, invites the Long Beach community to intervene with their own fibrous interpretations of the sculpture.
Think Grandma gone guerilla.
Located between the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater, the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall and the Walter Pyramid, MA:P is an elegant, geometric form made of steel soon to be creatively covered in craft material. On Tuesday, July 8 between 10AM and 6PM, the public is invited to yarn bomb the space frame sculpture, preceding the public reception on Thursday, July 10 from 5PM to 7PM to celebrate its completion.
UAM and the Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse asks that the participating public bring not just yarn, but nylon, glow-in-the-dark cord, VHS tape and other repurposed materials. Artists and organizers involved will prepare a warp for the “crowdsourced” design in advance so that the MA:P space frame is approachable to those more hesitant to yarn bomb.
Everyone is encouraged to wear clothes they can get dirty and, according to UAM’s Tumblr page, “get seriously warped!”
MA:P is presented by the University Art Museum of CSULB and culminates the Spring 2014 UAM exhibition Materials & Applications: Building Something (Beyond) Beautiful, Projects 2002-2013. Funded by an NEA Art Works Design grant, MA:P is presented by the University Art Museum at CSU Long Beach.