Category: Exhibitions

Mochimochimochimochimochi

Posted on by Anna

After nine months of knitting, my big colorful installation is up at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio!

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A lot of crazy went into this piece, and so I decided the title had to reflect that spirit. It’s Mochimochimochimochimochi. (Try saying it three times fast?)

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My final count of the colorful little guys was 372, but they’re hard to count now—they’re stitched so tightly together that some of the smaller ones can’t even be seen from the front anymore.

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If you’ve been following this project, you might remember that my original idea was just to knit as many mochis as I could, and then put them all together into one big mass of mochis. As my deadline approached, though, I started feeling less enthusiastic about a purely abstract piece, and I decided to add a couple of larger characters.

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These bigger guys give the finished piece some context, turning the crowd of mochis into a ball pit that they just jumped into.

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I am thrilled to have this up at such a great space, and I have the wonderful people at Lion Brand (especially Patty, Marni, and Edita) to thank for making this happen. Also, a big thank-you Koigu, who provided much of the bright, colorful yarn in the piece.

Mochimochimochimochimochi is on exhibit at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC through the end of October. I hope you will stop by to see it if you’re in the Union Square area!

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I’ll also be doing a book signing at the Lion Brand Studio on September 8th. More info about that soon!

Rush Hour on the Mochi Train

Posted on by Anna

The mochi count is now at… 320! So in August, the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC will be home to at least that many mochis, all stuck together into one very colorful art piece. I started sewing them together recently, and I’ve been having a blast.

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I want to keep the final piece under wraps until August, but that’s a little peek at how part of it is looking. It’s a good thing that everybody showered just before things got cozy! 320 quickly starts to seem like a very small number when they’re all squooshed together like this, so I’ll keep making as many as I can and keep adding more to the piece.

The finished piece will be on display at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio August 1st through October 31st. Much of the yarn that I’m using came courtesy of Koigu, so once again, big thank-yous are in order for both Lion Brand and Koigu!

192 Mochis

Posted on by Anna

My knitted ball pool has been growing! If you haven’t been following, I’m knitting tons of little colorful characters that I will eventually assemble into an art piece, which will go up August 1 at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC.

As of last Wednesday, I had this many mochis:

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You can count them if you like, but by my count, it’s 192. For a little size perspective:

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My goal is at least 300, and I think I’m going to make it!

I still haven’t decided exactly what formation these guys will take, but I’ll probably start stitching them together in the next few weeks. I might just begin attaching and see what happens. Stay tuned!

Recently Discovered Planets

Posted on by Anna

One more post about my recent show in Berlin! It just occurred to me that I took photos of all of the planets before shipping them off to Germany, and these show more details than the pics from inside the gallery. So here are the ones that I haven’t posted here before.

Birthdayville, aka the Cupcake planet:

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Planet TV:

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… which is plugged into Pollute-o (the only cleverly named planet):

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Waterworld:

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Baby Planet and Cookie Moon:

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Jailbird Planet and Ball and Chain Moon:

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Gray Comet with Santa (the solar system just needed a Santa):

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Purple Comet with Penguins:

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Other heavenly bodies include Ursa Majorly Cute (I guess that one also has a clever title), Snowman Planet, and the Giant Ball of Yarn in the Sky.

As I’ve mentioned (and much to my surprise at the time), ALL of these pieces sold, so I won’t be showing them again. Guess I’ll just have to dream up another show for another place…

Mochimochi Worlds Pics

Posted on by Anna

As promised, here are some more photos from my show at Smallspace Gallery in Berlin last week! I can’t believe it went up and then came down within one week, but I was really happy with how it turned out, and there were plenty of people who came to see it, thanks in large part to the Pictoplasma Festival.

It turned out to be kind of a difficult show to photograph, but I hope this gives you a pretty good idea of how it all looked. Some of the photos were taken by me, and some by my sister-in-law Jenna.

This big guy (about 18″ in diameter) took a few hours and seven balls of yarn to make!

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The big scarf that the ball of yarn is knitting supposed to be an asteroid belt, connecting it to the Snowman Planet at the back. The white letters spell “mochimochi!”

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View from the back of the gallery.

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Snowman Planet (my personal favorite):

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Snowman Planet butt:

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Planet TV, which is plugged into Pollute-o, the smelliest of planets.

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Birthdayville is a cupcake planet, whose aliens are candles eating the frosting…

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One more look from the front. The purple comet is being ridden by a few Tiny Penguins!

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There are a few other planets that didn’t fit into these photos, but I’ll be putting more up on Flickr soon.

Once again, big thank-yous to Smallspace, Pictoplasma, Lion Brand, and Jenna!

Now Open in Berlin!

Posted on by Anna

I was so happy with the crowds who stopped by all day yesterday to see the knitted solar system! Here’s a quick pic from the opening last night.

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It’s enough of a thrill just to exhibit these pieces that I spent the past two months making, but amazingly everything has also sold out! I couldn’t believe that!

Big thank-yous to Anna at Smallspace gallery, to Pictoplasma, and to Lion Brand for providing lots of colorful yarn. Also, to everyone who stopped by! (The show will be open just through this weekend.)

I promise more photos very soon. Now I have go to see all the other shows in the Pictoplasma character walk!

The Makings of a Solar System

Posted on by Anna

Hello from Berlin! It was sunny and warm when we arrived, and it seemed like the whole city was one laid-back garden party with both children and dogs running around unleashed and happy.

After a delicious meal and much-needed coffee with Anna from Smallspace, we (Anna, and my sister-in-law Jenna, and I) got right to work on the layout of my show. It was exciting to get started and a big relief to see that all the pieces were here and I didn’t forget something important at home (knock on wood).

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The most exciting thing might have been the vinyl sticker that Anna put on the window at the front of the gallery. It has my name on it and everything for everyone who passes by to see!

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We’re actually almost finished now, and I’ll share plenty more pics of the show soon. Can’t wait for the opening of the Pictoplasma festival!