Scientific Crochet Artists Margaret and Christine Wertheim

I want to go outside of the box for this week’s profile of an artist who works with crochet. Margaret and Christine Wertheim are the minds behind the Institute for Figuring’s Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project, an eco-friendly math-smart crochet project that has inspired many crafters around the world. The project was originally intended to communicate about science and technology but was more broadly accepted by the art world than the science world. The intention of the Wertheim’s work goes beyond just consumption as art but it definitely emphasizes beauty and has strong links to the art world. The reef project specifically is a great art project and one that I don’t want to neglect to highlight in this blog.

More About Crocheters Margaret and Christine Wertheim

Margaret Wertheim is a cultural historian and science author who formed the Institute for Figuring (IFF) i 2003. Her twin sister Christine Wertheim is a cultural studies professor at the California Institute of the Arts. Together they launched and curate the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project, which has been exhibited in both art galleries and science museums around the world, starting with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2007. This project helped them to receive the first ever Theo Westenberg Grant for Women of Excellence from The Autry Museum. The sisters are originally from Queensland, Australia but now live in Los Angeles. They learned to crochet from their mother.

Institute for Figuring

The IFF is an organization that works to educate the public about the aesthetic and poetic beauty of science and math. This includes the beauty in nature (like the hyperbolic geometry in a sea slug) as well as the beauty in manmade creations (such as Islamic mosaic tiling patterns). They educate using letters, exhibitions and publications, including several exhibits featuring hyperbolic crochet work. The organization was founded by Margaret Wertheim because she was discovering so many different artistic things in science (such as hyperbolic crochet) but major science magazines weren’t interested in them because they were considered more art or craft than science. Hun ønskede at dele disse projekter samt gøre videnskaben mere tilgængelig for ikke-videnskabsfolk.

Hyperbolske Hæklet Coral Reef Project

Hæklet Coral Reef

Måske den mest kendte bestræbelse på IFF er den hyperbolske Hæklet Coral Reef Project, der beskrives som ”en ulden fest af skæringspunktet af højere geometri og feminine kunsthåndværk, og et vidnesbyrd om den forsvindende vidundere marine verden”. Grundlæggende er det en gentagelse af The Great Barrier Reef, der er blevet gjort i hækling.

Revet Projektet startede som en sjov opfordring af Christine Wertheim. Det blev taget alvorligt af Margaret og i sidste ende blev en stor og inspirerende kunstprojekt. De to søstre virkelig afbalanceret deres forskellige stilarter ud i dette projekt, med Margaret skabe mere matematisk korrekt strukturerede stykker og Christine tilføje en mere legende udforskning af hæklet.

Det er vigtigt at bemærke, at selve stenrevet er blevet udformet af mange, mange hænder. Faktisk, anses det muligvis verdens største community kunstprojekt. Fra webstedet:

“Den Hæklet Reef er en unik sammensmeltning af kunst, videnskab, matematik, kunsthåndværk og fællesskab praksis, der kan meget vel være den største community kunstprojekt i verden.”

Faktisk, Der har været mange sub-rev, der nu er skabt og vises i tillæg til den oprindelige Great Barrier Reef. Én udvidelse af dette projekt, som jeg kan lide, er det Toxic Reef, der inkorporerer Plarn (plastikpose garn) i designet til at rejse yderligere opmærksomhed om de specifikke miljømæssige farer af plast papirkurven. Another satellite project that I’m interested in is the one created by women in Indiana State Prison. There are many prison crochet projects and I think this one, which adds the components of math and science and art together, is a great one!

It is also important to note that the Wertheim sisters launched this project using the hyperbolic crochet “discovered”i 1997 by Daina Taimina. Taimina realized that using a simple algorithm when crocheting could create mathematically pure figures that could help explain the complexities of geometry in a highly visual format. The Wertheim sisters elevated this to a beautiful artistic level with their reef project. One of the ways in which they expanded upon Taimina’s work was by using different types of yarn – furry yarn, krøller, etc.. – at skabe påfaldende forskellige effekter. Dette er, hvad gjorde brikkerne se live, lignende havdyr. En anden måde, at de udvidet Taimina arbejde var, at de ikke bare øge det samme antal masker hver runde, men vekslede deres øges for at skabe forskellige organiske former.

Interessant faktum: Taimina oprindeligt forsøgte at bruge strikning at sko matematiske principper, men det virkede ikke, fordi det førte hurtigt til alt for mange loops på nålen. Hæklet arbejdede!

Forstå Art af Hæklet Coral Reef

Detalje fra The Toxic Reef satellit-projekt

De fleste hæklet kunst har to forskellige komponenter til det. Første, det er visuelt slående. Selvfølgelig, skønhed er i øjet af beskueren, så du og jeg kan være uenige om, hvad der gør smuk hæklet kunst, men der er helt klart en visuel komponent til at hækle kunst. Second, Der er typisk en besked eller hensigten bag kunstværker. For eksempel, mange hæklede kunstnere bruger dette håndværk til at undersøge spørgsmål om kvindelighed, kønsidentitet og relationer, fordi det traditionelt har været en indenlandsk kunst (og ikke én, der altid er blevet taget alvorligt som en kunstform).

Arbejdet med Margaret og Christine Wertheim udforsker disse temaer. Det tager “indenlandske” eller feminine håndværk hækling og bruger den til at udforske og forklare komplekse matematik, typisk betragtes som en “mand” emne. Margaret Wertheim har skrevet en bog, der omhandler dette emne: En Field Guide til hyperbolske Space: An Exploration of the Intersection of Higher Geometry and Feminine Handicraft. She also discusses the issue in depth in an interview with Maria Elena Buszek, which was published in an interesting book called Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art.

The Crochet Coral Reef Project is also art with a message. It is used to raise awareness of the ecological issues facing this planet, specifically how global warming and pollution are causing great devastation to the natural wonder that is The Great Barrier Reef. It’s green art.

A fun related fact about this project is that several of the crochet reef objects were featured in the sets of a sock puppet play called Quoi that Christine Wertheim wrote and directed in 2008. That’s adding one layer of art to another – I love it!

Understanding the Math in Hyperbolic Crochet

I think one of the coolest things about the hyperbolic crochet that has been created, used and written about by these women is the fact that you don’t have to understand math to create with it but it can be used to explain math if you’re interested in that. Hyperbolic crochet uses simple algorithms to create shapes. For someone who is crocheting, this can be translated to something as simple as working in the round and always working two stitches into each stitch of the previous round, thus creating a mathematically pure and visually striking piece of crochet that looks like something that could be found in nature. Men, you can explore it with a mathematician’s eye to get a better sense of what may previously have just been theoretical math for you. I know that I personally didn’t do well in geometry classes at all because my brain just didn’t compute that way but working with hyperbolic crochet techniques helps make some of it just make sense in my brain.

Here’s a snipped of information from the coral reef website that will give you a sense of what I mean:

“Getting started on your own hyperbolic models is easy. The basic insight is to understand that these forms result from the simple process of increasing the number of stitches in every row. The more often you increase stitches the faster the model will grow and the more crenellated the finished form will become. Models can begin with a simple line, resulting in a hyperbolic plane; or from a single point with the crochet spiraling around to gradually fan out like a cone, resulting in what is known as apseudosphere. You may also begin from a circle, which will produce tubular, bell shaped, or trumpeted configurations.”

Another Wertheim Art Piece: Inlandia

Crochet Cactus Garden

The sisters were involved in another similar art project in 2008 which explored the life of LA’s Inland Empire. Their Crochet Cactus Garden was a key feature of this project. The women curated the project, which was a collaborative project featuring the crochet work of nearly one dozen contributors.

Another IFF Crochet Exhibit: Hurtig og the Dead

Et andet hæklet projekt, som blev sat sammen af ​​IFF, men ikke kurateret af søstrene var et stykke i 2009 udstille kaldes Hurtig og the Dead, der var kurateret af Peter Eleey. Det “små og sarte installation af hyperbolske hæklede stykker … tager et nyt kig på historien om konceptkunst i det forløbne århundrede … (og spørger) hvad der er levende og døde inden arven fra konceptuelle kunst.”

Margaret og Christine Wertheim rundt omkring på nettet

Udforsk arbejdet i disse store kvinder, som jeg vil helt sikkert kalde kunstnere!

• Hyperbolske Hæklet Coral Reef Project
• Hæklet Coral Reef Blog
• Institut for Regne

Hvad tror du? Er Margaret og Christine Wertheim hækling kunstnere?

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Tagged som: hæklet kunst, hæklet kunstner, hæklet koralrev, hyperbolske hæklet