Don’t Be Koi–Artist’s Statement

Over the next few days I’ll be posting some information from the featured artists in this month’s gallery show.

Today, Marla Rudnick, who made the wonderful knitted metal fish titled, “Don’t Be Koi,” has this to say about how this piece came about:

“In the beginning I wanted to make a fish that would sit on a surface or swim through the air. I have two photos of Koi at my house and I love to look at their shapes swarming around.

“I thought that they would be my inspiration for the fish. I wanted to make a large fish and I wanted it to have attitude. I knitted the fish from the tail to the mouth using lace stitches for the tail and dorsal fin. I fashioned the eyes by sawing them out of sheet copper and then forming the bulge of the pupil with a hammer and stake. I curled the eyelashes and used liver of sulphur to patina the eye.

“For the mouth I searched for the right color ‘Lips’ to make the fish cute. The title came to me as I was thinking about the lips.”

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Several of our gallery's members (as well as members of our parent guild) contributed their time and talent towards a very unusual upcoming exhibition. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History will display the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef October 16 through April 24, 2011. The Reef is the perfect intersection of advanced mathematics, environmental science, biology, and fiber art. Learn more about the project here.

The mathematical concept of hyperbolic space is best shown in crochet. Who knew! The majority of the pieces donated to the reef are indeed crocheted, but other techniques were also accepted.

This is a classic example, by Debra Lee. The colors represent a "bleached" reef -- where the corals are dying due to increased seawater temperature. (The Smithsonian reef will have three parts: healthy, bleached, and toxic--lots of plastics incorporated.)

Marla Rudnick knits in silver wire. Here's a close-up of one of her creations:

Elida de Souza Moore made a variety of fascinating coral reef shapes.

Eileen Doughty stitched layers of netting and organza, to closely resemble a fragile Glass Sponge.

She also used a sewing machine stitching technique to make vase sponges, entirely out of thread.

The Smithsonian's reef is truly a community project, with hundreds of crafters within a few hundred miles of DC participating. Debra Lee organized seventeen people in her own neighborhood to make nearly 200 pieces! Here's a picture of them all, before being delivered to the Museum. Awesome!

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef will be a don't-miss event, starting October 16.