By Christopher Hartwell @SILIENCESEEN
There’s a bombing in Livermore, but of the most kind and peaceful sort. This is a bombing of soft fiber woven around trees in town. Yarn bombing, as it is often called, goes by many different names.
Some names include “guerrilla knitting,” “kniffiti,” or “urban knitting”, and as a local artist, Stephanie Andrews, said, “You can also call it yarn bombing or fiber art.”
“That’s kind of the different names it’s referred to as. The tree sweaters, or the tree sweater forest, you can see that. From L Street to the theatre, there’s about thirty.”
Yarn bombing is believed to have originated in the state of Texas, yet in 2016, pictures of fiber art can be found across the United States and even some counties in Europe.
There are many reasons for
doing fiber art, ranging from social protest to artful advertising.
But in Livermore, the reasons for fiber bombing has some specific purposes, they are not just art.
“These will all go to the humane society, and they will be blankets for the animals there,” said
Andie Rosendie, regarding her art.
This project is about more than just fun as Rosendie said ”this is done in part with the city arts commission, so to bring art downtown in a different format. Then they all become comfort sweaters, comfort blankets, for dogs and cats awaiting for their forever homes.”