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Rainy Rocking Weekend In Montreal: Part 3 – Bombe Sur La Main and Poster Art

spins & needles — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:07:34 +0000

Ville de Montreal street signs incorporated into festival gates

One thing I love about walking around Montreal is how many design ideas you can get from all the large posters and street art in different areas of the city.

We got lots of inspiration last weekend by walking streets that are undergoing construction (Ste-Catherine, Boulevard de Maisonneuve, St-Laurent). It turns out that much of the graffiti on St-Laurent and between Ste-Catherine and Rene-Levesque was part of Bombe sur la Main, which happened the weekend before last, presented by le Quartier des Spectacles de Montreal. Thirty-six well-known and emerging artists descended upon the Main with spray paint, brushes and ink, and attacked 365 feet of boarded up facade. Artists involved included:

Collectif Crazy apes crew
Collectif En masse
La Paria
Péru et Cabin
Chris Dyer
Zilon et Seaz
Collectif K6A crew
Oneton
Arpi, DKae, Fleo et Tom Sydor
Zeck et Herezy

Here’s some higlights:

Poutine and street art on Ste-Catherine: the best kind of combo (Artists: En Masse)

Roch Rocking It (Artists: Zeck et Herezy)

Artists: Péru et Cabin

Apparently the works will be up until the end of summer, when the facades of buildings on the street are dismantled. If you’re in Montreal, definitely try to get to this area to take a look. You can find out En Masse’s, one of the artists collectives who participated, take on the event here. Le Quartier des Spectacles photoset here.

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

spins & needles — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:57:49 +0000

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!

Knitting, Gritting and the Fourth Plinth in London

spins & needles — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:49:21 +0000

Performances at Traflagar Square near the Fourth Plinth. In celebration of Antony Gormley’s One & Other Project (via Deadly Knitshade’s Flickr stream)

In line with last Thursday’s royal theme, I thought I’d share some upcoming, really innovative knit-related events happenings in London, UK this summer/early fall.

Last week, two knitters, Marian and Alix, occupied the top of the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square as part of artist Antony Gormley’s One & Other public space project (on until October 14). Gormley has called on the public to enter a draw in which they may be selected to get atop the Plinth as a “living monument” and do whatever they want. If you’re heading to London before the end of the project, you may want to enter the draw (anyone can enter!)

Space Invader at Banksy’s Cans Festival last September 2008, London

On Sunday August 1st, if you’re in London, head over to the Tunnel, hidden below the Waterloo station on Leake St, SE1 for the city’s first gritting (graffiti + knitting) event. Knitted or crocheted pieces will be used to decorate the the tunnel alongside graf artists who’ll be spraying and painting their own interpretations. Judging from the awesome work and atmosphere created in the same tunnel at the Cans Festival last year organized by Banksy (which I was lucky enough to catch when living in London last year), this fusion event looks like the place to be (via iKnit).

Pom pom table hosted by Pom Pom International at iKnit weekender, September 2007, London

Speaking of iKnit, the Vauxhall-based knitting store, check out their official iKnit 2009 weekender on September 11th and 12th with appearances by Debbie New and more special guests yet to be announced. I was able to check the 2007 edition with Debbie Stoller and 2008 edition with Stephanie Pearl-MacPhee and they were quite fun!

For all those heading over to her royal majesty’s territory in the near future, check out my upcoming post on crafty, creative and music city guide to London.