When I walked into “Gender Stitchery: Artists Sew/Knit Art,” Carleton’s new art gallery exhibit, I was expecting something a bit more conventional. After all, sewing and knitting are practices that have long been more closely tied with traditionalism than with experimentation. But the exhibits on display were avant-garde, even bizarre. There was an 11-foot-long knitted jumpsuit, made to fit an impossibly tall human being, dangling from the ceiling like a limp windsock. In another work, a print of two Victorian ladies walking had been embroidered over to replace their faces with tribal masks. Then there was the quilt-like patchwork of two squirrels with the head of boys shooting each other with orange fuzz.
Clearly knitting and stitchery have gone artistic. Carleton’s “Gender Stitchery” is a collection of the work of nine artists who have turned to handicrafts with artistic intent. Through this medium that has generally been considered feminine and not a legitimate means of artistic expression, they have subverted gender roles, created juxtapositions that challenge viewers, and participated in social activism.
Laurel Bradley, the exhibit’s director, got the idea for an art exhibit on knitting and sewing while she was teaching courses on women and art at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. At the time, women were turning to knitting and sewing to express feminist ideas, and an increasing number of men were picking up the medium as well. “Everybody’s knitting now, right?” she says. Knitting’s recent upswing in popularity gives the exhibit added relevance.
Carleton does not have an official knitting club, but the knitting Caucus conference, Yarn and Friends, is alive and kicking. I contacted two Carls who knit, and they shared their experiences with me.
Lisa Gaetjens ’09 and Sara Rothwell ’09 both knit traditional materials, including items of clothing like sweaters and scarves. Sara is currently knitting a cardigan for herself, and sweaters for her grandmother and cousin. Lisa has been knitting mostly hats recently because they’re easier to work with when experimenting with a new pattern. She also knits scarves and has recently begun working with socks.
A far cry from her grandmother's day, the Internet is now an important part of Lisa's knitting hobby. She regularly searches the Internet for new and interesting patterns. The Internet also helped Lisa get started knitting. "I went on the Internet, checked out a couple of books from the library, and taught myself." Lisa is constantly experimenting with her work. Recently, she's been moving from downloaded patterns to ones she's written herself. She estimates that about half of the things she knits now are from her own design. "I like thinking about the patterns, the mathematical patterns" to knitting, she says.
Four other people in Sara's family knit: her mother, grandmother, cousin, and stepmother. She learned from a combination of what she taught herself and what her mother taught her when she was about six. All the knitters in her family "discuss things, suggest things, change things, fix things etc. for each other and with each other." When she finishes a piece, she usually gives it away to friends or family.
A common point in the knitting of Sara and Lisa is their shared enjoyment in the process. The work of knitting is relaxing. Lisa knits whenever she watches the TV. And Sara enjoys the feeling of the different types of yarn: “The fuzzy mohair, itchy wool, smooth silk, etc . . . my favorite kind of yarn would be wool . . .”
Both Sara and Lisa run into a common problem of knitters: finding something to do with all their work once they're done. "There's definitely whole shelves full of scarves in my room at home," says Lisa. Sara agrees. "One can have too many scarves and hats."
