Media Release
Tuesday 21 July

Colour blooms in the WinterGarden

It’s the depths of winter. The urban landscape is at its bleakest. While crossing Cathedral Square a small sign of life catches your eye – just a couple of leaves – a small, innocuous vine clinging to the hard metallic surface of a lamppost.

The next day, as you pass by again, you notice the vine has grown. Is that a bud? A couple of days later, flowers. How lovely to have a pretty flower to pin to your coat...

As part of the Christchurch Arts Festival WinterGarden, Christchurch designer Lucy Arnold is co-ordinating a knit and crochet installation in the Square, entitled “Slip”. 

“In keeping with the theme of the WinterGarden, the intention is to create crocheted vines, which produce flowers. Over the period of a week, the vines will grow to gradually cover an area of the Square. The flowers will be attached to the vines using brooch pins, so they can be ‘picked’ and pinned to a coat or scarf, to brighten up someone's day,” Lucy says.

Putting out a plea to knitters and crocheters around the city, Lucy now has a team of around 30 including women and men of all ages yarning away, using pure New Zealand wool in the “Tekapo” palette supplied by Ashford Handicrafts.

A competition among the team to see who can produce the most flowers is currently being led by Pamela Gibbons on 130 and the team is more than two-thirds through the target of 1000 flowers.

Seasoned crocheters are not the only ones taking part. Beginner Susanne Compton has taken the opportunity to get involved and learn a new skill.

“I usually knit in solitude, so it's great to spend time crocheting with other enthusiasts, and it will be lovely when people see the flowers in the Square. I’ve never been involved in an artistic installation before, it’s wonderful!” she says.

Lucy runs online craft outlet Felt, www.felt.co.nz, which showcases work by New Zealand crafters.

“I thought the Slip concept was an excellent project for Felt because it’s bringing crafters together to create a great example of how much brighter the world can be with the addition of handmade things! And it felt right,” she says.

Christchurch Arts Festival begins on Thursday 23 July. Installation of Slip begins on Sunday 26 July and grows in the WinterGarden for the duration of the festival, which ends on Sunday 9 August.

Ends

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