Bombs away

When we had Knit Night at Spark Box Studio, I had said that I thought I would do a small temporary installation, and started knitting on a few intimate pieces of basic shapes and size to place in the park next to the Shire Hall in Picton. Little did I know I was going to end up spearheading a full-fledged yarn bomb.

First, of course, was the all-important permission to be acquired: although I did my early installation works sub rosa in parks, quickly documenting them and removing them before the strange looks started or the police were called.



But then I began sending such installations in for various calls, resulting in the solo shows I had last year at the EPCOR Centre for Performing Arts and the Fish Creek Provincial Park Environmental Learning Centre, and this past March to the Transforming Spaces exhibition in Nassau, The Bahamas.



My initial stop in Picton was in the Shire Hall, next to the small park -- they call it a parkette -- and talked to a lovely woman in the Mayor's office. While she was unable to say "yes," she did refer me to the Business Improvement Association. Between that office and the Arts Council, I ended up at the office of the Parks Manager.

Toting my trusty netbook along with my dog-and-pony slide show, I showed fifteen slides, all of which have graced this blog in the past, and the excitement was palpable. Two hours later, we had permission to install for a week.



So four days later, thanks to Spark Box Studio and local knitters, we had a great yarn bomb installed. And two days after installation, on my last day in Picton, and while we were being interviewed for one of the local weekly papers, the Parks Manager walked by and graciously gave us another week.

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?