Eve Menguc said she was having so much fun she wanted to stay there all day. Standing between two river birch trees at the Main Library she was helping David Geary attach a pom-pom she had made to the yarn rope strung between the yarn-swaddled trees. Toward the main entrance, Jason Brown wrapped another tree with a patchwork of yarn, the pieces created by individual knitters and sewn together, and Jennifer Lasik looped pied strips around the bike rack. Within the Library, avid knitters created new swaths or pieced together the remnants of uncompleted projects that, said Seventh Ward Alderman Jane Grover, can become public art.
Saturday’s event was a yarn bomb: a collective artistic effort to decorate to reclaim public spaces by adding a splash of beauty.
Blessed by comparatively warm temperatures – in the 20s and above zero even with the wind chill – this ad hoc public art installation, called a yarn bomb, was the first of three planned by the City’s Public Art Committee to add a splash of color to the drab winter landscape.
“David and Jason [the committee co-chairs] came up with this series, called Evanston Winter HeARTh. We’re really excited about it,” said Ms. Lasik, the City’s cultural arts coordinator
“The cool thing about having people bring [their knitted pieces] is that you end up with so many different things,” said Mr. Geary.
“Our next project,” said Mr. Brown “is to decorate the ice on the lakefront, using super-shooters and food coloring.”