Missed out?

Did you know that he’s already been?

A very Merry Christmas to you all!

I’m back

It’s been a long winter and on top of that August has been awfully wet.
Yarnbombing just hasn’t been that tempting...

But a week ago I started to feel the itch!

Hey everyone:

American love

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Knit Night at Mecca here in Devonport.

It was very relaxing to chat and knit with other crafty people, over a glass of wine.

I met a lady from the USA, who had spent six months here in New Zealand.
We had a long chat about knitted graffiti and she said she was so inspired by my bits and
pieces around Devonport, that she wanted to put up a couple before she went back!

She left NZ this weekend and look at the lovely woolly tags she left behind!


Look at all the beads!


Love it!

Karma

A couple of days ago I happened to crack a tooth while having muesli. Bugger!
So the day after I went to my dentist. Unfortunately it turned out that I
had a crack in another tooth as well...

Anyway, my wonderful dentist fixed the tooth. Afterwards we had a chat and since
she really likes my art and crafts, she asked me what I’ve been up to lately. I told her about
my art donation to Amnesty International (see below). She was just stunned and said:

-That’s amazing! Do you know what?
When you come back next week to fix the other tooth, I’ll do it for free!

What goes around, comes around!

Bless you, S!

Article 19

Image above and copy below from Amnesty International NZs website


Collaborating with a group of amazing New Zealand artists, Amnesty is proud to bring you an incredible event and the opportunity to bid on the pieces. The exhibition features works from renowned artists such as Nigel Brown, Otis Frizell, Misery, TrustMe from Cut Collective, Cinzah Merkens, Tanya Blong and many more.

All proceeds go towards ensuring Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand can continue its work defending and promoting human rights both worldwide, in our region and here in New Zealand.

The theme ‘ARTicle 19’ stems directly from the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights article, ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression’. Proceeds raised from Amnesty’s exhibition will go to priority campaigns like Myanmar where the government regularly violates the human rights of peaceful critics in a myriad of ways, including torture, imprisonment and death.

Amnesty invites you to bid on the artwork in the week leading up to the event, or come along on the night to view and bid in person.

The event will be held 7 July 2010 at Shed 10 from 7-10pm.

Shed 10 is located at 90 Wellesley St
(Entrance 77 Cook St) in Auckland City.

C’mon folks, place a bid!

Click here to go to the website

It’s her song

I have finished my piece of art for Amnesty’s fund raising art auction.
It’s made of wool with a frame of novelty yarn and it has seed beads knitted into it.
It measures 40cm x 30cm.

This piece will be for sale at an on-line auction for Amnesty. The money will
(among other things) be used against domestic violence, hence the message.

Unfortunately I don’t have the details for the auction yet, so stay tuned.

Sneak peak

My piece of art for Amnesty International is slowly coming together.
Here is a sneak peak.

Knit for human rights

I have received an email from Amnesty International. They asked if I would like to donate
a piece of knitted art to their fund raising art auction in Auckland in late June.

All proceeds will go towards continuing Amnesty International’s important work in
the Pacific on issues such as gun violence, domestic violence and the situation in Fiji.

Of course I will donate a piece!

Will you place a bid?

Stay tuned

Love in Whangamata

I have had a fab weekend in Whangamata and I left some love behind.

This is the third piece I have left in Coromandel.
I wonder if the ones in Coromandel Town and Whitianga are still there?
If you have seen them, please let me know!

The love of it

There is a very cool UK website called theloveofit.
They write about fun things in life and they have a new article about yarnbombing.
Sandie, who wrote it, and I emailed a bit and, yep, Knitty Graffity is there!

Read the article here

her magazine

The latest issue of her magazine is out and it has a cool article about
knitted graffiti, vegan yarns, knitting on the internet etc.

Read the article here

Recycled graffiti

The pieces I had returned to me from the recent

knitty happening are way too pretty to lie around my lounge.
So tonight I put them up in public again.

I picked a spot where lots of kids (and parents) pass by
when they walk to school. I hope they will enjoy them!

Recycled graffiti – I like it!

Not a very good photo, I know, I will take a new one in daylight!

I also (for the first time!) removed one of my old pieces.

I decided it was time to go to wool heaven...
It’s been there for 10 months – not bad!

Knitters – I hope you’re happy with the new location?
The poles are 17cmx37cm if you feel like adding another piece!

Woolly advertising

A friend of mine asked me if I could help her “do a fence”.
Need I say that she was part of the heartening in Parnell?

They are having a big garage sale at the school and didn’t want just
an ordinary sign. So we made a woolly sign instead!
(And, yes, she asked for permission.)

(Garage sale! Sat 24 April 8am)

Looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?!

Welcome to the fair

Last weekend was the big annual school fair at our school.

I wanted people to feel welcome so I knitted a colorful piece
full of green and blue beads.


The school fair is over but the woolly tag is still there,
welcoming the kids to school.

They come and they go...

I walked by Khartoum Place today and was very disappointed to see
that the pieces on the light pole and “I dare u” were removed...

Sad, isn’t it?

I walked up the steps and at first glance it looked like the bike stands were not
stripey anymore. But when some of the people that were standing there moved, I saw
that they had been squished down to the bottom. Well, at least they were still there.

I can’t help thinking about something; the Open Art day and our knitty happening
coincided with the opening of the Auckland triennial. This year it’s called
“LAST RIDE IN A HOT AIR BALLOON
- An exploration of the ongoing possibilities for adventure and risk in art.”

Hmm, risk in art?
What happened when we took a risk in art?
The art was removed...

Or maybe they were not removed by the council or the gallery?
Maybe someone liked them and took them home?

Anyway, pieces come and go, that’s the charm of knitted graffiti!

Let’s stitch up Khartoum Place!

Some art galleries around Khartoum Place here in Auckland
have founded Auckland Art Precinct,
and today they had a special Open Art day.

The invitation to a knitted graffiti happening in a post below,
was to show support for the Auckland Art Precinct.
(Hence the black and yellow colours.)

Today the gorgeous pieces I have had sent to me, were put in place.

Khartoum Place
Yes, it’s right outside Auckland Art Gallery,
where I put up Awesome a couple of weeks ago!

If you walk up the steps you come to Upper Khartoum Place,
where we decided to prettify two bike stands.

450 silver beads leave a challenge to whoever wants to pick it up.

Big thank you

to all the knitters,
to Laurel for helping me putting it up,
and to Mira for taking the fab photos.

The greenest green

An amazingly fluorescent green piece was in my letterbox today!

Eeeek!

Thanks Yvonne!

And I have finally finished my own piece

This is a sneak peak of another piece that is going up on Sunday.
Probably the best one I’ve done so far...

Stay tuned

Woolly mail

Woolly mail have started to arrive in my letterbox.

Look at these amazing pieces!

From Glennie in Devonport, stripy and stylish.

From Megan in Tauranga, a beginner but has still sent me 2 pieces!


Sarah from CottonKiwi made this fab Jolly Rogers. So cool!

Sarah also made this one, a bit curled up now but will look great when put in place.

Sarah’s mum has contributed with this amazing piece full of yellow “knots”!

The Gritty-Knitter in Whanganui sent me 3 funky pieces!

Thanks guys!

On Sunday they will decorate...

To be continued

The Queen

Today there’s a Kid’s Treasure Hunt here in Devonport.
It's organised by friends of mine and they asked me if I wanted to knit a clue for them!

“ The Band Rotunda behind the library has musical notes around the bars.
What is the tune? Find a clue on the banister.”

New addition

It’s quite amazing, one of my first pieces
I love knitting
that I put up 9 months ago, is still there!

But someone has added three little knitted teddies.
Once again, I have no idea who did it...
But I’m happy to see that there are more people
who like to decorate our neighbourhood!

Join in!

I’m planning a new knitted graffiti happening and this time I would love it to be big!
It will be at a central location and will hopefully attract a lot of attention.

Would you like to join in?

Knit a piece that is 36cm wide.
Any length, pattern or yarn.
Preferably black and/or yellow but any colour is fine.

But, please knit fast!

I need your piece by the 10 March!

Since I have the bad habit of not asking the council for permission,
I’m not gonna give out any more information here. But send
me an email to the address in the column to the right and I will send you
more information and details regarding where to send your beautiful piece.

Happy knitting!

Removed...

The Auckland City Council follow their rules...

From todays article in Sunday News:

The following day, the piece was photographed and carefully removed.

Although the Cut Collective and gallery were delighted by the work,
spokeswoman for the Auckland Art Gallery Kate Orgias said
the council rules dictate that any street art must have consent.

Read the article in Sunday News or here

Oooops...

A few days ago, I was contacted by a journalist from Sunday News.

She wanted to do an article about street art and asked if I wanted to be part of it.

She was also going to interview the street artists from Cut Collective, who have an exhibition, Public access, opening at The Auckland Art Gallery today.
(Check the link, it looks really cool)

I walked by the gallery on Wednesday, the guys were busy spray painting
the walls outside the gallery and it looked so cool! And then it hit me
I’m gonna tag them!

Last night I met with the journo and a photographer outside the gallery, a tag in my bag.
I put it up while he took some photos. When we had just finished, the doors to the gallery opened and a grumpy security guard put his head out and asked me what I was doing!

- I’m a street artist and I have just put up a piece of art.
- Have you got permission for that?
- No...
- You can’t put up something like that without permission from Auckland City Council.
etc, etc, etc...

To Auckland City Council

I’m a street artist and I have a head buzzing with ideas.
I put a lot of love, effort and time into my pieces and I only do it to make people happy.

I’m not causing damage to property and if people don’t like my work
they can just pull out a pair of scissors.

I’m sorry but I’m not going to ask for permission, the time involved
in the process would kill my creativity.