The Wooly Woods is Now Open!

If you're in Berlin, please stop by smallspace gallery through this Sunday (April 14th) to see my new solo show, The Wooly Woods.

This was a huge project for me, and I'm so happy with how it turned out (not to mention the fact that all these branches arrived intact). My thanks to Anna Hahn at smallspace and the awesome people of Pictoplasma for making it happen! 

There are many more fun character art shows going on for the Pictoplasma Festival, all free and open to everyone. 

And join me this Saturday (April 13th) at Platoon for a monster knitting workshop. Bring yarn of any kind and a set of double-pointed needles. All experienced knitters are welcome! 

(These guys are also available for purchase at the Pictoplasma shop at Platoon.)

 

More photos from the show coming soon!

Knit a Monster with me in Berlin April 13

All knitters in Berlin are invited to join me for a monster knitting session on April 13th! 

Bring some yarn (any kind) and a set of double-pointed needles (sized a bit smaller than you'd normally use with the yarn), and we'll get our toy knitting on! Copies of the patten will be provided, but you can download the PDF pattern right now and start knitting! 

Please note that this workshop is for knitters with experience using double-pointed needles. I'll be demonstrating some of the techniques used in the pattern, but won't be teaching how to knit. 

See you in Berlin! (And be sure to check out all the other fun Pictoplasma happenings.)

New Mailing List

Photo by Brandi Simons

I've finally started a mailing list just for my art-related stuff. It's an occasional email about shows, special projects, and new artwork for sale. Sign up here! 

The Wooly Woods Comes to Berlin April 10-14

I'm thrilled to be returning to Berlin next month with a new show at smallspace, in conjuntion with the Pictoplasma Conference. 

Here's the official description: 

The Wooly Woods

Fiber artist Anna Hrachovec brings to life a candy-colored forest crawling with curious fauna. Continuing her study of the imaginary realm Mochimochi Land, Anna combines found wood with brightly-hued yarn to create miniature landscapes where snails, butterflies, and birds interact with an exploding population of native wood-dwelling mammals called twiggins. The tiny dramas that play out in the branches are inspired by the fortuitous bends and twists of the wood, leading viewers to notice the beauty in the smallest bits of nature. 

The Wooly Woods

April 10-14

smallspace gallery

Brunnenstrasse 178-179

10119 Berlin

noon-8pm

Opening reception: Wednesday, April 10th, 7-9pm

The concept for the show developed out what I saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in NYC. The number of trees and branches that came down was astounding—in Prospect Park alone (my favorite place in Brooklyn), more than 300 trees came down and more than 1,000 large branches fell. The scene was sad and awe-inspiring in its scale, and still lingers nearly 5 months later. 

I was inspired by this natural destruction to create something playful and magical out of the waste. 

This has been an intense project, with 30 pieces ranging in size from 4 inches to 4 feet, and I can't wait to share it with the people of Berlin and the Pictoplasma festival-goers. 

 

More Pictoplasma goings-on: I will be giving a talk open to conference attendees on April 13th at 1-2:30pm, which will be followed by a monster-knitting workshop open to all experienced knitters!

Huge Toys on Exhibit at Cappellini in NYC

Anyone walking down Wooster Street in Soho this spring can spot two of my jumbo-sized toys in the window of the furniture/design store Cappellini. 

 

The toys are on exhibit as part of the group show that opened in January in conjunction with the Pictoplasma Festival. The show was officially running through the end of February, but Cappellini is nice enough to continue displaying the toys through May. 

The toys are projects that will appear in my upcoming pattern book, Huge & Huggable Mochimochi, to be published by Potter Craft this fall. 

 Speaking of Pictoplasma, I'm headed to Berlin next month, where I'll have a solo show as part of their annual festival there. I'll also be giving a talk and doing a yeti knitting workshop. More on all that soon!

Pictoplasma NYC Festival Recap

After a hurricane delay and then a snow delay, the 2012 (now 2013) Pictoplasma NYC Festival finally happened earlier this month as a condensed, one-day program on Sunday, February 10th. 

I was thrilled to share a podium with Julia Pott, Gemma Correll, Sonni, David OReilly, Andy Rementer, Buff Monster, and Jason Freeny. It was an excellent mix of styles and approaches to character art, and the one-day program meant that I didn't miss anyone's presentation. 

I was a huge ball of nerves before my talk, but I think it went well enough. I shared my story of how I came to knit miniature worlds, how my pattern designing and artwork overlap and support each other, and what it means to me to design a character for other people to recreate as their own. 

The multiple screens were a nice touch. And I got to talk with so many nice people afterward, including a nice guy who had brought tiny gnomes knitted by his mom! That was an unexpected surprise, and I just had to get a picture.

A big thank-you to Lars and Peter of Pictoplasma! And exciting news: I'll be giving this talk again at Pictoplasma's Berlin Conference and Festival in April, and I'll also have a show in conjunctuntion with the festival. More details soon! 

Free Download: Luvbots Valentines

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the newest citizens of Mochimochi Land are spreading the love of knitted robots and bad puns. It's a free sheet of downloadable Luvbots valentines! 

 

Just download the PDF, print it out (preferably on coverstock or cardstock), cut along the dotted lines, and give them to your favorite humanoids!

The Luvbots are also a new knitting pattern available from Mochimochi Land. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Rescheduled Pictoplasma NYC Talk Feb 8

In November I was scheduled to give a talk at the Pictoplasma NYC character art festival, then Hurricane Sandy hit the weekend before and the whole festival had to be postponed while the city recovered from the damage. Now the city is back up and running, the festival is back on, the talk is now happening February 8th! 

My talk, which is open to people who have registered for the festival, will be an overview of my journey into Mochimochi Land, and what it means to create character designs in the form of knitting patterns that others can recreate as their own. 

In conjuntion with the festival, three of my knitted characters will be in a group show at Cappellini in Soho throughout the weekend. You can expect to find this big guy there! 

Photo by Brandi Simons 

2012 Animation Supercut

My new favorite thing to do last year was make animated GIFs, which turned out to be a fun way to make my tiny mochi friends come alive. I made tons of mini stop-motion animations last year, and I thought it would be neat to put my favorites together in a video, complete with an original score by yours truly. (I also recently taught myself how to use GarageBand, so 2013 might be the year of annoying songs.)

I’m looking forward to continuing the mochi motion madness in 2013!

Merry Christmas!