Comments on: Listening as Communication, or Why I’d Rather Be Knitting http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Agnieszka http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/comment-page-1/#comment-14085 Agnieszka Thu, 26 Apr 2007 02:26:29 +0000 http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/#comment-14085 There is a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, titled Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. The pictures at their website look amazing (<a href="http://www.madmuseum.org" rel="nofollow">www.madmuseum.org</a>) and this morning <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2007/04/25" rel="nofollow">Leonard Lopate</a> interviewed the curator and one of the artists on this radio show on WNYC. It seems that knitting and crocheting has emerged again in the 21st century from the antiquated classification as mostly female activity, and a craft rather than art. It is now often perceived as a feminist, subversive act, or as a political activity, as a form or art, and of course as a lot of fun. Internet has helped in connecting the international knitting community. One of the exhibit pieces invited the audience to sit and knit and engage in a dialogue about war, another is a video installation about sweetshop labor, and then there are those tiny weenie little gloves, probably less than a quarter inch in size, and gigantic installations made with industrial equipment. <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/slideshows/knit" rel="nofollow">Check it out.</a> I must make a plug here for a Polish artist <a href="http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/" rel="nofollow">Magdalena Abakanowicz</a>, who is well know as a pioneer of working with texture, sculpture, fabric and yarn and art made out of “organic” materials. She worked with fibers long before artists ventured into this territory and apparently her work inspired some of the international artists featured in the exhibit mentioned above. There is a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, titled Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. The pictures at their website look amazing (http://www.madmuseum.org) and this morning Leonard Lopate interviewed the curator and one of the artists on this radio show on WNYC.

It seems that knitting and crocheting has emerged again in the 21st century from the antiquated classification as mostly female activity, and a craft rather than art. It is now often perceived as a feminist, subversive act, or as a political activity, as a form or art, and of course as a lot of fun. Internet has helped in connecting the international knitting community. One of the exhibit pieces invited the audience to sit and knit and engage in a dialogue about war, another is a video installation about sweetshop labor, and then there are those tiny weenie little gloves, probably less than a quarter inch in size, and gigantic installations made with industrial equipment.

Check it out.

I must make a plug here for a Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, who is well know as a pioneer of working with texture, sculpture, fabric and yarn and art made out of “organic” materials. She worked with fibers long before artists ventured into this territory and apparently her work inspired some of the international artists featured in the exhibit mentioned above.

]]> By: Agnieszka http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/comment-page-1/#comment-14084 Agnieszka Thu, 26 Apr 2007 02:21:33 +0000 http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/#comment-14084 There is a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, titled Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. The pictures at their website look amazing (www.madmuseum.org) and this morning <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2007/04/25" rel="nofollow">Leonard Lopate</a> interviewed the curator and one of the artists on this radio show on WNYC. It seems that knitting and crocheting has emerged again in the 21st century from the antiquated classification as mostly female activity, and a craft rather than art. It is now often perceived as a feminist, subversive act, or as a political activity, as a form or art, and of course as a lot of fun. Internet has helped in connecting the international knitting community. One of the exhibit pieces invited the audience to sit and knit and engage in a dialogue about war, another is a video installation about sweetshop labor, and then there are those tiny weenie little gloves, probably less than a quarter inch in size, and gigantic installations made with industrial equipment. <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/slideshows/knit" rel="nofollow">Check it out.</a> I must make a plug here for a Polish artist <a href="http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/" rel="nofollow">Magdalena Abakanowicz</a>, who is well know as a pioneer of working with texture, sculpture, fabric and yarn and art made out of “organic” materials. She worked with fibers long before artists ventured into this territory and apparently her work inspired some of the international artists featured in the exhibit mentioned above. There is a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, titled Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. The pictures at their website look amazing (www.madmuseum.org) and this morning Leonard Lopate interviewed the curator and one of the artists on this radio show on WNYC.

It seems that knitting and crocheting has emerged again in the 21st century from the antiquated classification as mostly female activity, and a craft rather than art. It is now often perceived as a feminist, subversive act, or as a political activity, as a form or art, and of course as a lot of fun. Internet has helped in connecting the international knitting community. One of the exhibit pieces invited the audience to sit and knit and engage in a dialogue about war, another is a video installation about sweetshop labor, and then there are those tiny weenie little gloves, probably less than a quarter inch in size, and gigantic installations made with industrial equipment.

Check it out.

I must make a plug here for a Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, who is well know as a pioneer of working with texture, sculpture, fabric and yarn and art made out of “organic” materials. She worked with fibers long before artists ventured into this territory and apparently her work inspired some of the international artists featured in the exhibit mentioned above.

]]> By: James Drogan http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/comment-page-1/#comment-13922 James Drogan Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:01:06 +0000 http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/#comment-13922 How would a teacher react to classroom containing a knitter or knitters? Would the teacher consciously or subconsciously change his or her style and deliver a lower quality learning experience? Why would a teacher react any differently to a knitter than to a student with an open laptop or one fiddling around with a cellphone? This is a more practical matter in my classrooms and frankly, I don't like it. Communication is always bidirectional and I believe we need to consider the situation from the point of view of the teacher. Teachers need positive reenforcement no less than anyone else. Laptops, cellphones, knitters, those nodding off or otherwise lost in some nontopical fantasy do not, it seems to me, provide this encouragement. Turn it around. Suppose you went to a lecture where the teacher sat in a rocker knitting while delivering the lecture. How would you feel? How would a teacher react to classroom containing a knitter or knitters? Would the teacher consciously or subconsciously change his or her style and deliver a lower quality learning experience?

Why would a teacher react any differently to a knitter than to a student with an open laptop or one fiddling around with a cellphone? This is a more practical matter in my classrooms and frankly, I don’t like it.

Communication is always bidirectional and I believe we need to consider the situation from the point of view of the teacher. Teachers need positive reenforcement no less than anyone else. Laptops, cellphones, knitters, those nodding off or otherwise lost in some nontopical fantasy do not, it seems to me, provide this encouragement.

Turn it around. Suppose you went to a lecture where the teacher sat in a rocker knitting while delivering the lecture. How would you feel?

]]> By: Agnieszka http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/comment-page-1/#comment-13714 Agnieszka Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:24:02 +0000 http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/#comment-13714 Wow, I want those socks. As a non-knitter coming from a long line of Serious Knitters, I must admit that even though I grew up around yarn, it took me a while to understand how someone could knit and still pay attention. I think the problems with knitting in a classroom setting might have to do with something else. Don’t you think that it may be the non-knitters in the class who will be distracted and in turn, distracting, because they will be curious and interested in paying attention to the knitting going on around them? Wow, I want those socks.
As a non-knitter coming from a long line of Serious Knitters, I must admit that even though I grew up around yarn, it took me a while to understand how someone could knit and still pay attention. I think the problems with knitting in a classroom setting might have to do with something else. Don’t you think that it may be the non-knitters in the class who will be
distracted and in turn, distracting, because they will be curious and interested in paying attention to the knitting going on around them?

]]> By: Mikhail http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/comment-page-1/#comment-13692 Mikhail Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:02:16 +0000 http://cac.ophony.org/2007/04/19/listening-as-communication-or-why-id-rather-be-knitting/#comment-13692 Great post, Jody. I remember bristling when I first saw people knitting during a presentation. It does make sense -- knitting as davening. Great post, Jody. I remember bristling when I first saw people knitting during a presentation. It does make sense — knitting as davening.

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