25 Edgy 1970′s Σχεδιαστές πλέκω: Where Are They Now?

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately of vintage crochet books from the 1970′s. Several of them are really unique books that share the early stages of niche areas of crochet that are popular with certain segments of crafters and artists today. For example, Creative Crochet is about freeform crochet and Hard πλέκω touches on tapestry crochet. These books mention so many different designers from the 1970′s and I can’t help but wondering what their body of work looks like and where those designers are now. So I decided it’s time to launch a new blog project: 25 Crochet Designers from the 1970′s.

1970s Crochet Isn’t Just What You Think

In the post that I did about Hard Crochet one of my readers, scarletdash, mentioned how everyone makes these assumptions about what 1970s crochet looks like and these great books that look at the line between crochet as a craft and crochet as an art remind us that those things aren’t the only things that 1970s crochet was about.

Ναί, 1970′s crochet definitely include lots of the things we think of. I asked my Twitter friends and my G+ friends what comes to mind about 1970′s crochet for them and some of what they said included:

• Orange, brown, yellow and avocado acrylic yarns
• Clunky, bulky patterns
• Granny square everything, especially vests and bikinis
• Chevon pattern blankets

Ναί, there were a lot of those things in the 1970′s and that’s why we automatically think of those things. But there was also a big celebration of the domestic arts as a part of the women’s empowerment movement, especially in the art world, and there was a big push to take crochet to the next level. One of the books I’m reading, Fiber Arts: Macrame, Πλέκω, Wrapping, Coiling, Weaving by Diane Philippoff Maurer has a great description of how crafting wasn’t accepted in the art world at this time (sculptures okay, fiber sculptures not okay) and how artists, especially female artists, fought that to get crochet and other crafts seen as a legitimate art form.

About the Series

In this series I’ll be doing research into a new designer each week to find out more about him or her. I will look at: who they are, their published work from the 1970′s, how that work represents 1970′s crochet ideas, what they’ve been doing since then (if I can find that information), and how any newer crochet work compares to that of the 1970′s.

Ο 25 1970′s Σχεδιαστές πλέκω

I’ve put together a list of crochet designers that are mentioned in the two main books I’m using to kick off my research (Creative Crochet and Hard Crochet). I’ll start there with my explorations. There are actually 26 designers on the list which gives me a bonus option in case there’s a designer I just can’t find any information on. Εδώ είναι:

1. Υπάρχει Stearnbach
2. Arlene Stimmel
3. Barbara Murrio
4. Cindy Picchi
5. Debbie Einbender
6. Del Feldman
7. Diana Schmidt
8. Diane Kender
9. Dina Schwartz
10. Frank Lincoln Viner
11. Helen Bitar
12. Jackie Henderson
13. Janet Karpuck
14. Janet Lipkin Decker
15. Joan Wortis
16. Lannie Martowe
17. Mark Dittrick
18. Nicki Hitz Edson
19. Norma Minkowitz
20. Pat Mueller
21. Paulette Stammer
22. Peri Trout
23. Ruth Nivola
24. Sharron Hedges
25. Susan Morrow
26. Suzannah Lewis

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Tagged όπως: 1970's crochet, 1970s designers, crochet design, vintage crochet