[Nfb-krafters-korner] Visiting the Crocheted Hyperbolic Coral Reef

Fri Apr 29 00:21:01 UTC 2011

No, I didn't get to hear much of anything about the trash reef.  Jennifer
was explaining how she set up the different shades of colors and assembled
the reef.  My husband was busy with his camera trying to get just the right
shots.

We were there Good Friday.

Jennifer let me touch my 2 pieces plus another large piece that was quite
near mine.

I am anxious to hear what the next step is for the reef.  She said she is
finalizing and firming up the plans so we should hear in the not too distant
future.

Annette, thank you for telling us about this it was a lot of fun to be
involved.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Annette Carr
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 7:12 PM
To: 'List for blind crafters and artists'
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Visiting the Crocheted Hyperbolic Coral
Reef

Hi Dixie,

I am so glad you were able to get to see the Crocheted Coral Reef exhibit.
What day were you there?  I finally got my family to go the Wednesday before
Easter.  They think they saw 2 of my 7 pieces, but they were not sure.  All
of my pieces were part of the toxic reef.  I incorporated water bottles,
cassette tape, CD's plastic bags and an oil filter for an automobile.  

Did anyone tell you about the piece that incorporated CD's and a fishing
pole?  There were long strands of crocheted sea weed with CD's in twined in
the sea weed and draped around and hanging from the fishing pole.  That was
made by a friend of mine from work.  

We found your name on the "wall" and my husband took a picture zoomed in on
it.  Last week was my second visit.  I was able to go during the reception
in November with my friend and Jennifer was able to point out to us all of
my pieces.  I did not get to touch any of the completed reef as it is on
display.  I did get to see how they assembled it during the workshop last
September when Margaret taught us what needed to be done.  I had hoped to
work with Jenifer to arrange for a hands on tour of the reef on the final
day, but it never came to be, so I am really glad that you got to have that
experience.  

Annette

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dixie
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:34 PM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Visiting the Crocheted Hyperbolic Coral Reef

Last summer I learned from Annette about the crocheted coral reef being made
by crafters around the Washington DC area as well as across the country.

I thought it might be fun to try and see if I could make a piece that would
be accepted into the project. There were 3 categories of the reef project.
Healthy coral is vibrant in color, so those pieces are shades of reds,
greens, blues, purples, etc.  The bleached coral, is dead coral, and is
tans, greys, whites, etc.  Then the third category was coral created out of
garbage, like plastic bags, video cassette tapes, or had pieces of garbage
like plastic bottles crocheted into them.   The two pieces I created both
would fit into the "bleached coral" category.   one is a brain coral, that
is beige with brown specks.  The second one was a bell coral and was made in
a fuzzy, creamy, off white.

The pieces were submitted to the Smithsonian, National museum of Natural
History, October 2010.  They then categorized all of the pieces, and made
them into the Hyperbolic Community Reef.  The reef was made up of pieces
submitted by people ranging in age from 3 to 101 years old. I think the
statistics were, that there were 800 contributors and 4000 pieces. The
overall size of the reef is 16 feet long, 9 feet high and 10 feet deep.

The reef has been on  display at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum
until this past Sunday.  I wanted to see it before the exhibit closed.  I
was met by the woman Jennifer Lindsay who helped in the design of the reef.
She told me about the evolution of the project and the building of the reef.
She also had researched the pieces I had contributed and located them among
the pieces in the reef.  She allowed me to reach into the display and touch
the pieces that she found that she thought were the ones I had made.  Nobody
else is allowed to touch the display this was an accommodation she made for
me.  I also was able to touch some pieces they had out for the general
public to touch.  One piece was made out of a VSHS tape, another from a
cassette tape.  The tapes had been pulled out of their cases and the tape
had been crocheted into a piece of garbage coral.  They also did this with
plastic grocery bags.  I was also allowed to touch a piece that was made of
yarn and it was a jelly fish.  That one was really cool and I am going to
try and recreate it.  

So, do corals count as underwater flowers?  Those are my crafted flowers for
this week's question.

Dixie

~  @-> ~ <-@  ~

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