A response to another Yarn Bombers observation

After reading this great blog entry on the observation of another Yarn Bomber…(First if you want to read what they said before going on with this read Maluca Yarnbombing entry). I’ll wait...

Okay, now I’m assuming you have read the entry and now know that they were looking at monster feet and chicken feet moving up on a post and finding that it’s the city workers moving them so that they will not be damaged when cleaning the streets. I personally think it is fantastic and choose to assume that the workers liked having something different to look at other then the usual post. Now, it’s funny, because when we bombed Freeport, Maine, for International Yarn Bombing Day and Monster Foot day it was very interesting to see what happened to the works and who seems to really like them and who, oddly, has a problem. One restaurant, Azure Café, really enjoys it. The monster feet from June 11^th, as well as the additional ones on Monster Foot Day, were such a success they are still on the lights outside the building. The book store across the street leaves work up until it gets to a point that it looks a little shaggy and they take it inside. Some things they have even put aside for us to recollect and use later or just for display behind the counter. Surprisingly, Banana Republic, has left monster feet up on lamp posts, the Historical Society cracks me up by protecting things put up there. I even hear people talking about how when something fall off they pick them up and put them back! This means people around town are protecting these random works of art. Which is really pretty funny, sweet, and telling that art touches all of us in surprising ways. 

Now, one thing I find funnier than the places that keep stuff up, is some of the ones that take them off right away. For example, a store that on International Yarn Bombing Day, June 11, 2011, my team was pretty sure this one store would be all for it. It’s a “Hippie” personality of a shop. So we figured that they would be laid back and want it. But, they were the first to take the two or three small things off the bench in front of the store. I went out early that morning to photograph the work in the morning light, the bench items were there, but when I talked to someone who went by an hour or so later, it turned out that the store people had taken it off. While I was pretty sure Banana Republic would have removed the feet that morning, they didn’t. And the other shop is a closer “local” shop. How ironic is that? 

Now, I think one reason why yarn graffiti is more accepted is that it’s not permanently affixed to things. That is why I think most gorilla art that is not fixed to things and just placed is more accepted. It can be taken down when it fades or if it’s not liked by someone and it does not damage anything. Chalk, yarn, sculptures are all things that can happen without really getting people’s feathers too ruffled up. That and it is always safer when it’s humorous. Please share with us what your see happen and your observations of public art, from Yarn Bombing to stickers to graffiti. Keep your eyes open because little things may pop up when you least expect them! And if you can’t find any in your area, you can always make things happen.

Originally Posted: October 25, 2011