2 minute read
Ladies Fancywork Society Meet the ladies behind Denver’s crocheted art installations
Ladies Fancywork Society
The street art group that's brightening the neighborhood
Meet the group of four female artists who are “yarn-bombing” the streets of Denver with their crocheted works of art. These badass street artists have been creating their 3-D “graffiti crochet” installations since 2007 and now have pieces everywhere from RiNo to LoDo to the Vail Valley, with one in the works for the Boulder Public Library. We got to catch up with the ladies behind the yarn and learned all about their crazy-cool street art. Here’s what they had to say:
Q: How did the Ladies Fancywork Society get started?
A: Our story began in a petri dish in 2007 when a mad scientist, bent on taking over the world, accidentally created us. Unbeknownst to him, our hive mind had a plan of its own: to cover the streets with rainbow crochet yarn vomit! Knowing the world couldn't handle more than four of us, we devoured our creator in one gulp and destroyed the lab. In the decade plus that has passed since we made our escape, we have honed our fiber art skills and have grown into a diabolic art hydra capable of putting together large-scale projects, art shows, and installations. We are the Ladies Fancywork Society, and we are one of a kind. Also, we're fun at parties.
(Keep reading—there's more on the next page!)
Q: How has your work evolved over the years?
A: Tired of making gloves and hats, we needed a place to put all this crazy crochet output, and the street seemed like a good spot! Over the years, our art has grown bigger, it’s grown more eyeballs, and it’s definitely grown a mind of its own. These monsters just tell us what they want and where they want to be, and we use our hands to make them.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your creative process?
A: We start by talking over each other a lot, singing Disney songs really loud, and running around in crazy circles until an idea starts to take shape. After a while, we high-five and go off to our respective houses to crochet for hours and hours and hours until it’s time to come back together to stitch up a yarn creature. Then we use our magic and throw them up on roofs and other structures around Denver. Pretty neat, eh?
Q: What inspires your art?
A: We’re mainly inspired by all the colors of the rainbow, the time-space continuum, cool bugs that we see hanging out, TV shows about vampires and ancient Mayan calendars, the Botanic Gardens, interesting shapes, coffee, caves, and probably some other things too.
Q: What effect do you hope to have with your art?
A: We hope our art makes you smile! And think “Wow, how did they do that? They really CAN make any shape!” But mainly we want you to smile a lot.
Ladies Fancywork Society
ladiesfancyworksociety.com @LadiesFancyworkSociety
— LADIES FANCYWORK SOCIETY
