Alarming Female

Cathy Kasdan’s thesis project for her Master’s degree in textiles from Kent State University was this vintage 1950′s ensemble knit entirely from grocery bags. She also knit a pillbox hat and handbag, not pictured. Her work goes on display April 19 in Cleveland at the School of Art Gallery. More on Cathy’s thesis project here.

While I was in New York I tried to pack as much into each day as I could. As a result, it was already 6:10 when I entered the Museum of Arts and Design, out of breath, and willing to pay twenty bucks to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit, if only for a few minutes. The attendant waved me in, gratis, with a warning that they closed at 6:30, and I raced through to see each piece.

There were pieces like Cathy’s, including an evening gown knit from cold, hard cash, and articles of clothing to outfit an entire family knit from scraps of newsprint, both commentaries on concepts of wealth and poverty.

My most favorite piece was Hildur Bjarnadottir’s* circular lace tablecloth, crocheted from cotton thread, entirely traditional except for the three-dimensional skulls that circled the edge. I have a particular fondness for skulls, I’m sure a result of some unresolved existentialist angst. See more of Bjarnadottir’s work at her website, and more photographs from the exhibit can be seen at the museum’s website.

*By the way, I find fascinating the Icelandic tradition of naming daughters with the suffix “dottir” and sons with the suffix “son” appended to the father’s name. The only thing better would be to have the suffixes appended to the mother’s name.