Featured events- 08/28/2013 - Free Outdoor Screening in the BAM/PFA Sculpture Garden
- 08/27/2013 - MARK EPSTEIN / The Trauma of Everyday Life
- 08/24/2013 - The goat Rodeo Sessions
- 08/20/2013 - Yang Fudong and Philippe Pirotte in Conversation
- 08/03/2013 - Book Signing and Discussion with Dave Kehr, followed by The Lawless Breed
Tag Archives: Yarnbombing
Berkeley library welcomes back yarnbombing on racks
Some stories do have happy endings. Readers may remember in April when something of a brouhaha erupted over the “yarnbombing” of a bicycle rack outside Berkeley’s North Branch Library.
Local yarnbomber Streetcolor had decorated the circular racks before the grand reopening of the library, but the knitting was removed by librarians concerned over the distraction it might cause when they wanted all attention to be focused on the beautifully remodeled building.
Donna Corbeil, Director of Library Services, said at the time that it was important for the community to experience “the completed project fully, without anything covered up or altered since it was the grand reopening.”
She also added, however, that the library would be glad to talk to the anonymous street artist about putting the yarn back up at a future date. … Continue reading »
Berkeley library not thrilled about yarnbombing
One creative contribution to the newly reopened North Branch Library was not seen by the crowds of supporters who turned up on Saturday to celebrate the library’s return to service. Local “yarnbomber” Streetcolor had made some custom knitted coverings for the new circular bike racks outside the library — but they barely saw the light of day as they were quickly removed by librarians displeased with the rogue artistic action.
Streetcolor, who likes to remain anonymous and has created many stealth knitting installations around the Bay Area and beyond, said she spent a couple of months spinning and knitting the covers for the curvy bike racks. She put them up on Friday night. “Lots of locals stopped to take pictures and thank us,” she said. But, on the morning of the reopening on Saturday, when she drove by to take pictures, the yarn had been taken down, she said.
Yarnbombing, like any unauthorized street art in public spaces, is illegal, but the Berkeley community has generally welcomed installations in the city in the past — at least as expressed in the many hundreds of comments our stories on the subject have garnered. Not everyone loves it, however, and some have expressed concern about how the yarn fares long term, exposed as it is to the elements. Most installations are taken down after a few weeks. … Continue reading »
A yarn-bombed seat on the Berkeley-San Francisco BART
Just as BART is considering how to design new seats for its trains — including what covers to use — local yarnbomber Streetcolor has come up with a suggestion.
Streetcolor, whose most recent major Berkeley installation was the looped bike rack outside the downtown Berkeley Public Library, said she wanted to knit “something really big and ambitious” and hence came up with the BART idea.
“I had been reading about how scary the Bart seats had gotten and I could see for myself that the seats covers were drab and depressing. I thought it would be startling to see really bright clean knitting on a seat instead,” she wrote on her Streetcolor blog.
The Bay Citizen recently ran a series of stories on BART seats, highlighting how unhygienic, even potentially unhealthy, the old seating stock is. It kicked off its coverage on March 5 with a piece that revealed lab tests showing seats contained fecal and skin-borne bacteria resistant to antibiotics. … Continue reading »
Tagged BART, Streetcolor, Yarnbombing
