{"id":17542,"date":"2013-07-03T18:16:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T22:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=17542"},"modified":"2014-08-18T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T19:05:36","slug":"massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the weekend of August 10, Pittsburgh\u2019s famous Andy Warhol Bridge will begin wearing a massive knitted sweater of sorts, designed, created and installed (save for high-altitude stuff left to professionals) by more than 1,400 volunteer knitters in and around Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Once complete, Knit the Bridge<\/a>, led by Amanda Gross \u201907, MA \u201913 (conflict transformation<\/a>), will represent the largest-ever U.S. \u201cyarnbomb,\u201d which Gross describes as a sort of \u201cjoyful graffiti\u201d that covers public spaces and objects in knitted artwork. The installation, which will stay up for a month, will include thousands of colorful 34 x 72-inch panels covering the bridge\u2019s superstructure, plus miles of yarn knitted into narrower railing covers.<\/p>\n

Gross focused on art as a peacebuilding tool while studying at EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a> and came up with the idea of the yarnbomb as a way to inspire wide community participation in a public art project. For the past year, she has been working full-time on the project, which is funded through an Indiegogo campaign<\/a> and support from numerous organizations.<\/p>\n

Process as important as product<\/h3>\n

\u201cI was looking for different ways to connect people and connect different communities,\u201d says Gross, who organized a much smaller yarnbomb in downtown Pittsburgh a few years ago with other members of the city\u2019s Fiberarts Guild<\/a>. \u201cThe process is just as important as the final product.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sections of knitted or crocheted panels are piling up, awaiting installation on the bridge in August. Amanda Gross is visible at back right. (Photo by Jenny Tabrum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While covering a major and massive physical feature in Pittsburgh with yarn will be a significant artistic achievement in and of itself, both the act of knitting and bridges are symbolic of the connectedness Gross hopes to achieve through Knit the Bridge.<\/p>\n

Now entering the final month of frenzied preparations, the community-connecting objective has already been a considerable success. As of early July 2013, some 1,500 people had contributed knitted panels, representing more than 80 percent of municipalities and townships within Allegheny County (home to Pittsburgh), as well as numerous other communities within southwest Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a community project. It\u2019s a wonderful thing, and it\u2019s a privilege to be working on it,\u201d says Penny Mateer, an artist and lifelong Pittsburgh resident who is co-directing Knit the Bridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmanda is amazing,\u201d continues Mateer. \u201cThe initial concept itself was a really lovely design [and] she has quite a vision. She engages people in a way that has been extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

All ages, races, ethnicities, classes joining in<\/h3>\n

Ranging in age from very young to very old, knitters who have contributed panels represent the city\u2019s different racial, ethnic and class communities. Elementary schools have participated; kids in juvenile detention have knitted panels; retirement homes have pitched in. The National Public Radio affiliate in Pittsburgh ran a story in late June about a group of boys in a local program for at-risk teens who are finger-knitting a piece for the bridge.<\/p>\n

Gross and her colleagues drummed up support for the effort through social media, word of mouth, and with the help of about 90 people who volunteered to lead outreach and organize knitting parties in their own communities. Other than rules against letters, numbers or other representational imagery, contributors were given free rein to design their individual panels.<\/p>\n

The Knit the Bridge installation will remain up through September 8. After coming down, the panels will be washed and donated to charity.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Knit the Bridge] connects everybody,\u201d says Sherri Roberts, vice-president of the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, one of the project\u2019s major supporters. \u201cFrom start to finish, it has unified, it has made joyful, and it has connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Gross, she hopes that new connections made through participation in Knit the Bridge will continue long after the panels come down.<\/p>\n

One reason for the project\u2019s wide appeal, Gross says, is that knitting and crocheting are generally seen as accessible \u201ccrafts\u201d rather than fine art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat part has made it really easy for people to get excited about it and feel like they can be a part of it,\u201d Gross says. \u201cA lot of people are missing that\u2026. They just want an opportunity to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of volunteers doing the logistics<\/h3>\n

In addition to the knitters, hundreds of other volunteers \u2013 a pro-bono attorney, technical advisors, database developers \u2013 have pitched in on the formidable logistics of pulling off the yarn bomb, Mateer notes.<\/p>\n

Gross said that behind-the-scenes work has been the biggest challenge of the project, particularly the task of shepherding an unusual and never-before-attempted idea through the bureaucracy of local government. (It\u2019s not every day that someone rings the Allegheny County administrative offices asking how to go about covering a major downtown bridge in yarn.) In mid-June, the county council unanimously approved an ordinance to allow Knit the Bridge to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really hopeful that the county will figure out some sort of public art policy, and that this will open more doors for more creative, grassroots projects,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n

Also as of late June, the community-made panels totaled 116,688 square feet of hand-knitted or \u2013crocheted panels. The black border to go around the knitted panels will use 600 miles of yarn, while the bits on the towers \u2013 to be installed by a rigging company \u2013 will be close to 3,000 linear feet of machine-knitted yarn.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipating has meant a lot to people,\u201d Gross adds. \u201cPeople really jumped at the opportunity to do something positive for their community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the weekend of August 10, Pittsburgh\u2019s famous Andy Warhol Bridge will begin wearing a massive knitted sweater of sorts, designed, created and installed (save for high-altitude stuff left to ... read more about Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":17545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,12503,264],"tags":[15011,13745,15012],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-17542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-cjp","category-graduate-programs","tag-amanda-gross","tag-conflict-transformation","tag-knit-the-bridge"],"yoast_head":"\nMassive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the weekend of August 10, Pittsburgh\u2019s famous Andy Warhol Bridge will begin wearing a massive knitted sweater of sorts, designed, created and installed (save for high-altitude stuff left to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T22:16:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-18T19:05:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/\",\"name\":\"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-03T22:16:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-18T19:05:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg\",\"width\":\"610\",\"height\":\"370\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News","og_description":"On the weekend of August 10, Pittsburgh\u2019s famous Andy Warhol Bridge will begin wearing a massive knitted sweater of sorts, designed, created and installed (save for high-altitude stuff left to","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2013-07-03T22:16:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-18T19:05:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":610,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/","name":"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg","datePublished":"2013-07-03T22:16:25+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-18T19:05:36+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/07\/knit_the_bridge_2_web.jpg","width":"610","height":"370"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/massive-knitting-project-to-cover-a-bridge-aims-at-building-community-in-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Massive Knitting Project (to Cover a Bridge) Aims at Building Community in Pittsburgh"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17542"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17648,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542\/revisions\/17648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17542"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=17542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}