Here in Des Moines we are so lucky to have The Des Moines Art Center, home to ever-changing exhibitions throughout the year and a fantastic permanent collection that includes pieces by Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Francis Bacon, Georgia O'Keeffe, Grant Wood, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko and so many more. Yes, we are pretty lucky. And the current exhibition on display is a fiber exhibit called Fiber: Sculpture 1960–present. Which, for a knitter, is pretty on point. Lotus and I had to check it out.
And not long ago, I mentioned a community fiber project that correlates with this exhibit – the Art Center is collecting hand-knit or crocheted swatches for a re-imagining of the iconic painting "From the Lake No. 1"
by Georgia O’Keeffe. So Lotus and I signed up for the project and picked up our yarn. (I believe knitted submissions are due this Friday if you would like to jump in.) It's such a fun project for us to do together.
Last weekend the Art Center hosted a knitting circle, which was the perfect way to celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day. We worked on our swatches for the community fiber project and I got to chat with some of my favorite knitting friends. Paul Kasal also gave a short talk on Georgia O'Keeffe and history of "From the Lake No. 1," which was quite fascinating.
I'm naturally pretty excited to be part of this fiber experience and can't wait to see how this turns out. After what I imagine will be some very creative and interesting assembly sessions, the final piece will be unveiled on July 10th. Thank you, Des Moines Art Center friends, for bringing knitters together from all over our lovely city and making something big and beautiful out of all of our tiny handmade creations.