Saturday, March 27, 2010

Eye Candy

These may be no summer blockbusters, but definitely keep them within your radar. Banksy has come out with his own film, staring who else but Shepard Fairey and himself. A little self indulgent? Yes, but I suppose all that publicity is bound to get to his head. Regardless, I highly respect his work. I must not be the only one - Exit Through The Gift Shop has recieved 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes.

Exit Through the Gift Shop trailer

And in the other corner we have Street Art: The Ephimeral Rebellion. This German documentary made for the Arte TV channel, doesn't even have a spot on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it seems to be a more down-to-earth documentary that sheds light on international graffiti artists without all the Jackass humor.

Street Art: The Ephemeral Rebellion trailer

Please add a comment to let me know which days suit you best for a meeting this week.

xoxo
CK

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Buttons!

Buttons have arrived! They  are free to active members, and I highly encourage adding one to each of your pieces. We should also add some to the pieces already up... I only have 25, so when we need to, we'll order a large supply, and separate ones for specific tag names if you're interested!

Some time in April I'd like to take a meeting field trip to a little yarn store. Perhaps we can find a sale.

I've discussed a collaboration with The Libertine Collective, involving spray painting stencils onto our pieces for added flair and acknowledgment. More on that to come...

Speaking of spraypainting here's what our local street artist, Twice, is up to.
Pretty impressive.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A new little friend!

Seems like our Facebook friends are having a little more than trouble with their web-browsers. Oh well, thanks to those who safely made the transition! At today's meeting I finished a little friend I was working on, based off of the claw pattern in the Yarn Bombing book. I also tasted some delicious vegan gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough bites. Man, It's hard for someone with severe food allergies to find delicious cookies like these. We were also approached by a curious couple. I gave them our web address, so if you guys are reading thanks for checking it out!
Not quite sure where he's going to go...

Originally posted by Paperplane
Definitely hitting the beach this summer...


Monday, March 22, 2010

Event Posted!

As you can see, the upper right hand column of this blog holds this week's event. Sorry for the short notice but no one responded to let me know what days they were available.....

From the Wooster Collective

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Daily Inspiration

This article, found at NPR.org, is enough to touch every graffiti artist's heart. Graffiti Research Lab has been doing some cool things for many years now. Remember the LED throwies at the Odd Ball last year?


A group of artists and hackers have crafted a gadget that lets a paralyzed graffiti artist continue making art using only his eyes. And it costs about as much as an iPod shuffle.
Zach Lieberman of the Graffiti Research Lab started working on the EyeWriter with one man in mind: Los Angeles-based graffiti artist Tony Quan. In 2003, Quan was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, leaving virtually every muscle in his body paralyzed except for his eyes. Lieberman and developers from Free Art and Technology, OpenFrameworks and the Ebeling Group were inspired to create low-cost, open-source hardware and software for eye-tracking to help Quan draw again.
Eye-tracking technology, in which computers and small cameras harness eye movements for writing, highlighting Web site text and other tasks, has led to digital tools for users with disabilities. However, as Lieberman tells NPR’s Liane Hansen, those devices usually have hefty price tags.
"Commercial eye-trackers, to get a device is $10,000-$15,000," he says. The EyeWriter is estimated to cost about $50. He and his hacker colleagues have a do-it-yourself kit for building an EyeWriter that starts with a pair of sunglasses. For Lieberman’s prototype, he bought a pair from a vendor at Venice Beach.
"Then we assembled a kind of wire frame that holds a Web cam, a small camera that we've mounted close to the eye," he explains. "We've written software that tracks the eye, and then we calibrate with [Quan's] eye movements and the computer screen."


Quan can draw lines and color within them, though graffiti-writing with the EyeWriter is nowhere near as fast as shaking up a can of spray paint and drawing by hand.
"But he can plot points. And from plotting points, create letters. And from creating letters, create words. And then color the words, shade the words, extrude them in 3-D, add different features," Lieberman says.
The artist-hacker team studied Quan's art and his love of letter forms in order to produce the most effective software for him. They've just won a FutureEverything Award for innovation. That honor includes a cash prize, but Lieberman says he and the developers aren't interested in following the stereotypical storyline for a tech start-up: splashy launch, market saturation, initial public offering, high-priced sale. They want to help people who could use the EyeWriter to communicate, whether by graffiti or much simpler written words.
"There are people who have loved ones who have ALS or locked-in syndrome ... or other diseases, where having that option, at least, of a kind of device that you can build for somebody in need is really important and really necessary," he says. "We're not in it to make money. This is really coming from the heart." Copyright 2010 National Public Radio

Now that the weather is really warming up and I have measuring tape, it is time to take walks and start measuring street furniture! Anyone interested leave a comment. It's best to travel in pairs, anything more than 3 people walking at night is pretty shady.

I would also like members to let me know which days this week work best for them. That way I can pick the day for the biggest attendance. Also, let me know what you think about earlier meetings we can hold outside.

For those actively involved or contemplating yarn bombing, try to come up with a tag name. It's great for leaving your mark on pieces of work. One of the most important parts of this group for me is community, so I came up with Camus Knitty (pronounced like Camoo, Camoo-Knitty, get it?). KGC buttons are on their way. There is a limited supply for now, but depending on demand or cash donations we can order more.

I'm also looking for contributors to this blog. Blogspot is free and confidential. Post your projects. Even if they aren't street related they may inspire others. Post found work on websites, articles, spray graffiti, anything related. It's time to expand.

One of our most active members shared this with some of us today. Reminds me of that great Banksy piece that I'm going to try to make a part of this page...

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Getting the word out

Feel free to print, cut, and disperse these bad boys!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Around Parkville

Here are some KGC creations seen around the Parkville neighborhood in Hartford.

At Day Park on Arbor St.
This one is actually the first piece to go up, a donated scarf from a member.

On the corner of Capitol and Arbor St.
This one seems to be turning some heads on Facebook!

At next week's meeting we'll be discussing various patterns found in the Holy Grail of Yarn Bombing and labeling our work. More on that later.

Mission Statement

The Knitty Gritty Committee is the one and only Hartford yarn bombing chapter. Our influences came from Houston's Knitta, and they deserve credit for the concept.

Yarn bombing is a type of street art which employs colorful displays of hand-made textiles placed in an urban landscape. Like most graffiti, yarn bombing isn't about destruction, but bringing art, personality and beauty to sterile environments. This opportunity allows us to make a statement against hard, cold, masculine culture by taking a widely-viewed warm and cozy feminine past-time to the streets. Perhaps we'll even bring some "mother" nature to Hartford.

Our targets include many objects in need of sweaters: trees, lamp posts, fire hydrants, fences, benches, monuments, statues, railings, and other urban objects.

All are welcome - male/female, crocheter/knitter.
Even if you don't know how to knit, all you need is a willingness to learn. We also appreciate scrap yarn donations for those unable to participate in the stitching process.

For those worried about the loss or damage of a finely knit product - don't fret. Think of it as a public service or arts donation. Odds are you'll make someone's day, and if a bum comes and rips it down they'll at least be warm for the night.