Tagging the Cozies

Winterlude 2010 has arrived! It’s been busy behind the scenes, so we’ll be giving you little photo montages of what happened pre-festival in the next few posts and then show you what’s happening in real time. As well as some upcoming profiles of people who have contributed to the Project.

The first deadline for receiving the cozies was February 1st so lots of urban cozy contributions came rushing in: from drop-offs at wabi-sabi to Express Post mail and to meeting up with people in downtown Ottawa.

A couple nights before the festival, a few of us got to tagging the contributions with a card that listed the person’s name and city of residence. We are superexcited to be displaying contributions from local makers, coast to coast across Canada (St. John’s, Newfoundland to Burnaby, B.C. and in between) and from the UK, Europe, Africa and more to come from the US and Australia.

We loved how the Bibliophile Yarn Bombing Collective labelled their urban cozies with two Dewey Decimal numbers: 746.43 and 027.571. We’ll have to check what kind of books those numbers correspond with! Does anyone know what these numbers mean?

Off to install and tag the other contributions…

Posted in Urban Stuff. Tagged with knit graffiti, Ottawa, public space, Urban Cozy Project, Winterlude, yarn bombing.

By melanie

February 7, 2010

2 comments

The Urban Cozy Project at Winterlude 2010 Press Conference

The Winterlude 2010 press conference took place last Tuesday at noon at one of the festival sites, Confederation Park. One of the highlights of this year’s festival is, you guessed it, the Winterlude Urban Cozy Project!

The National Capital Commission (NCC) invited us to take part and install a temporary cozy around a tree at the site. We put up cozies that we had already received as well those from cozy-makers extraordinaires Barb and Robyn who installed some of their work in progress.

There was a lot of curiousity from passers-by walking through the park, and some asked questions. One passerby loved the idea and asked how she could donate bags of yarn that she was no longer using to our intervention. Another asked if the unfinished objects tucked away at the back of her closet could be used. (We answered, of course!)

Thanks to CBC Radio and CBC television for covering this project.

We’re excited to be bringing you a project that combines community, local and international collaboration, skill-sharing, a social atmosphere, a transformation of the city, and the upcycling of materials into wearable items to help out local organizations.

We’re getting closer to opening night!

Posted in Urban Stuff. Tagged with Ottawa, public art, public space, Urban Cozy Project, Winterlude.

By melanie

January 27, 2010

1 comment

Walking in a Winter Wonderland: Parc Jacques-Cartier

This past week we took a walk through Parc Jacques-Cartier to check out the second site where the public art installation will go.

Here’s some shots of trees that we are intending to cover. Depending on the number of contributions we get, we plan to build the cozy as high as we can go.

Here’s a sneak peak of Maison Charron, the chalet where we will be holding the Weekend Warm-Up Workshops.

Only a couple more weeks remain!

Posted in Uncategorized.

By melanie

January 20, 2010

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Ontario Crafts Council Masterworks Southwest Call for Entry

We’re interrupting Winterlude Urban Cozy Project scheduled blog posting to bring you a Call for Entry from the Ontario Crafts Council. Hurry - the deadline is this Friday!

Masterworks Southwest is a juried travelling exhibition that will take place between March – October, 2010. In an effort to highlight the best contemporary craft this region has to offer, this exhibit will showcase approximately 40 pieces in five galleries between Owen Sound and Windsor. This call is open to all makers in southwestern Ontario residing in postal codes that begin with N, L0S, L0R including the urban centres of St.Catharines, Niagara, and Welland. If you have created an outstanding piece of work in any craft media (clay, metal, fibre, glass, wood, stone, etc.) within the last two years, we urge you to apply. The exhibition will travel to the following locations:

* Tom Thomson Art Gallery (Owen Sound)
* Art Gallery of Windsor
* Station Arts Centre (Tillsonburg)
* (additional venues to be confirmed)

Deadline: FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010

Posted in Calls for Submissions. Tagged with ontario crafts council.

By melanie

January 11, 2010

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland: Winterlude Site

It snowed for about six straight days in Canada’s capital, starting last week. (And I mean straight - each time you looked out the window it was snowing!) So that means more trees and lampposts to cover - perfect conditions for installing the cozies.

Here’s some photos of Confederation Park, one of the festival sites where we will be installing cozies as well as holding a Spins & Needles special Winterlude edition. You can get an idea of how many trees there are, as well as the layout of the park.

You’ll also spot the Rideau Canal in the photo below (covered with snow right now), the largest skating rink in the world. Plus Parliament Hill to the left, where Canada’s seat of legislation is located. You can also see the little houses, or chalets, where you can buy yummy hot chocolate or the delish pastry found in eastern Canada, the Beaver Tail, (US President Barck Obama stopped to get one when he visited Ottawa last year) as you skate down the rink.

It’s all white, grey and empty right now - but next month it will all change!

Posted in Urban Stuff. Tagged with Confederation Park, Ottawa, Winterlude.

By melanie

January 6, 2010

1 comment

Street Art + Craft Inspiration: A Prelude to the Winterlude Project

Graffiti in San Fran’s Haight District (2007)

So what ’s the inspiration for the Winterlude Urban Cozy Project next month?

Throughout the years we’ve definitely been inspired by urban art/craft movements around the world and our love for cities. Here’s some examples (all the photos can be found here):

Knitting up around monuments and Parliament Hill in Ottawa (2005)

Spotting sticker art in Ottawa (2008)

Making textile flowers for a unique garden with Janet Morton at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (2007)

Creating wet felt graffiti at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver (2006)

Graffiti in San Fran’s Mission District (2007)

Checking out Banksy’s and other graffiti artists’ work in London at the Cans Festival (2008)

Spotting Space Invader blocks in London (and Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam) (2007-8)

Taking photos of statues and my UFOs (unfinished knitting objects) in Berlin (2005)

Spotting strands of knit graffiti outside a yarn store in Mitte, Berlin (2005)

Smiling Disposal Bins in Copenhagen (2008)

Street Art from the National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa (2008)

Another inspiration? My graduate dissertation in 2008 on the topic of creative identity and the city. I interviewed Ottawa-based artists/crafters/designers and had them take photos of the city. Above is a photo taken by one of the artists I interviewed of street art from Canada’s National Portrait Gallery. You can see the rest of her photos here.

Signs of the City - Street Art in Hackney, London (2008)

The method I used to collect visual information was inspired by a youth workshop, called Signs of the City - Metropolis Speaking, that I took at Space Studios in London in 2008. The photos we took were part of a larger European initiative and were made available online and publicly displayed in Barcelona, Berlin and Sofia. It is such a fantastic project, particularly inspiring young people to make visual sense of their urban surroundings. Above is one of my photos. You can check out the rest of my photos here.

How has your city inspired you, in your daily life and in your craft/art/music activities? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Posted in Academia, Creative Inspiration, Urban Stuff. Tagged with graffiti, photography, urban art, Winterlude.

By melanie

January 4, 2010

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Holiday Sites and Sounds: Part 4 - Shopping

The last of my photos during the Christmas week. Were you brave enough to head out to the malls yesterday on Boxing Day? Here’s photos I took of some glittery window displays along Oxford Street in London a couple years ago. Enjoy and see you in 2010!

Posted in Travel, Urban Stuff. Tagged with Boxing Day, London, shopping.

By melanie

December 27, 2009

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Seasons Greetings from Spins & Needles

We just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and happy (handmde) holidays, wherever you are in the world. May you have a wonderful and relaxing holiday with your family and friends.

Don’t forget our call for submissions to the Winterlude Urban Cozy Project - the perfect way to spend some downtime you have during the week, especially if you’re stuck in your house due to cold weather or trying to avoid the malls altogether!

See you in 2010, when we’ll be celebrating Spins & Needles 5-year anniversary with lots of great programming!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tagged with christmas, holidays, New Year.

By melanie

December 25, 2009

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