Let’s browse the dreamy corners of our minds and describe a »granny«. We usually imagine a grey-haired woman, comfortably sitting in the rocking chair, covered with a thick blanket or kerchief, holding the needles with a half-knitted scarf. The romantic image of the pile of knitted or chrocheted cardigans, jumpers, collars, napkins, and other products also means hundreds of hours of work, usually done by women behind the four walls of their homes. This work is unpaid, often invisible, and unappreciated. Only until recently knitting and chrocheting belonged solely to the private sphere. In the last years, however, a new movement emerged inside the urban/street art, transforming traditionally female craft into publicly exposed, therefore seen, street art. Yarnbombing or guerillaknitting is now an established movement, and we are inviting you to the workshop, in which you are going to learn different artistic techniques with the yarn. You are also going to participate in the moulding of an installation, which is going to be exhibited at the end of the workshop.

The workshops are going to be conducted by Kerry Howarth, a renowned yarnbomber, and the programme will be very flexible – you can become an even better needle twister, or you can learn different knitting techniques from scratch. We will also be knitting chains, which will not serve only as pieces of decoration, but will be also symbolically connecting the participants of the workshops. Inter-generational bonds will also be formed by the exchange of the knitting tips.

A five-day long group creativity will be followed by the exhibition opening, which will transform the central festival venue (Menza pri koritu) into the public space, decorated with unique knitted sculptures. This will make a female, private, and an intimate craft, public, and turn the assigned social roles upside down, as the public space is traditionally understood as the space of male-defined politics.

Kerry Howarth is an artist living and working in Manchester, U.K. Her workspredominantly incorporate textiles and mixed media. By utilizing traditional craft processes, such as knitting, weaving, crochet and embellishment techniques in urban settings, she aims to change the way we perceive our surroundings. These tactile artworks are created as a point of convergence between the hand-made, manmade and environmental factors, such as weather, light and soundpollution.

Producent by: City of Women.
Organisation: Red Dawns.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City Municipality of Ljubljana.