The First Glimpse of the PNW Community Coral Reef

Well, we have had pieces of the reef at various fiber festivals for the past year but for the first time, we have put up a serious glimpse of what it could be when we install it in Lincoln City this September.

If you are anywhere near Corvallis, Oregon this month, stop by the Footwise window and take a peek. We were unsure if we had enough corals and creatures to fill the space and we had Plan B and C if we ran shy of corals but unbelievably, we didn’t use all the corals and creatures BECAUSE WE RAN OUT OF ROOM!

Renting the van and packing it with 17 bins and 8 coral structures was a big job but I met Shanna at Footwise and she brought her 6 bins and we got busy putting it all together.

Our chosen plan to make vignettes was a lifesaver and certainly is the way forward. We still have many more vignettes to make as more donations come in but it allows for the reef to be put together like an ever changing jigsaw puzzle.

We really feel that this window will be the most challenging space as we were so restricted in how we could put things together but perhaps it’s best to do the difficult thing first so that we can learn for next time.

The bleached area is looking great but we definitely can use a lot more bleached pieces. It would also be great to have pieces with height as that adds a lot if interest.

The fabric background was also touch and go as we weren’t sure the clips I had would actually hold it up but thankfully it did.

The kelp, fish and jellyfish add so much to the reef! We have many hanging pieces that we weren’t able to fit into this small space so look for even more hangables in Lincoln City.

As a fiber person, I am drawn to color and texture and just looking at the variety offered by the reef makes me very happy. The biggest things that I appreciate are sometimes the smallest things. I love that our healthy reef is populated with such a variety of creatures and I love that our bleached reef contrasts that with its plastic anemones, plastic jelly fish and garbage that has started to become encrusted from being in the sea.

The one thing that I have been asked repeatedly since people have seen the reef in the window is whether we are still collecting corals and creatures. The answer is YES! This is just one window. We have a ROOM to fill!

Help! I am Buried Under a Coral Reef!

I only have myself to blame.

I should be more wealthy and live in a bigger apartment, or better yet, I should have a huge studio, or better yet, I should run a storage facility as my side gig and have ALL THE SPACE I NEED.

Well, those things are not happening. So I sit in my apartment, creating the coral vignettes, getting ready for the upcoming window installation at Footwise in Corvallis on March 1st, and having no space to exist that isn’t covered with corals or critters.

And the upside of this? I am not in possession of all of the corals and critters. It is even bigger than all I survey.

The big difference, from what I can tell, compared to other fiber art coral reefs is that this one is being built piece by piece with vignettes that we are going to slot together once we are building the reef. I have seen other reefs that are built in situ with chicken wire and large forms and have a large group of volunteers over many days to put it all together. These aren’t the conditions that we are operating under. We need to be much more economical with our time and the amount of hands that will be helping.

All that to say, here is a little taste of the vignettes from the past few weeks.

And a New Year Was Born

How did that happen?!

As someone who is frequently surprised by how fast time flies, the fact that it is already 2023 and this is the year that we will be doing two installations of the PNW Community Coral Reef has me just a little stunned. Our big display is in September but we will be doing a practice run in the Footwise front window in Corvallis in March. We have had mini displays at the library in Springfield and this month we will have a display in the window of Cozy yarn shop in Eugene.

For folks who have been making and holding onto their corals, I encourage you to get ahold of me and see if we can’t collect what you have so far in order to include it in the Footwise window display. My next few weeks will be unpacking and re-packing bins of corals and critters to have them in some semblance of order that will allow us to put up our display in Footwise in the allotted two hours. It just might be an adventure!

After getting the display up, I will be heading out on one of my drives halfway across the country as I go back to the Midwest to be with family for a bit. In the past I have driven like a mad woman and slept in the car when I get tired. I’m taking two weeks off work this time to allow a little more breathing room. It will be nice to be able to navigate across the country using yarn stores as my ports of call.

So, here’s to a new year filled with more adventures. Onward!

Heading to Port Townsend and Port Angeles

In eight short days I will be heading out to Port Townsend to do an artist residency. It’s funny how the PNW Community Coral Reef Project has taken over my creative process but quite a long time ago, I applied for a residency on my own artistic merit with a project that has lain dormant for many months. Of course, the reef is creeping into my residency time as I am going to do an interview about the reef and spend a day crafting at the Feiro Marine Education Center on November 19th from 10-4.

My mountain landscape that has been ignored for so long is going to get the majority of attention when I have an entire week to do nothing but art. I didn’t even have the background done a week ago and was feeling as if it wouldn’t be done by the time I left. It was important to get it finished as it is the initial step for any of my canvases. I end up adding many layers afterwards and getting the background done before I left seemed like a fundamental necessity.

I managed to finish the last of the background this weekend and got it sewn down. I have even managed to add a couple of trees. Since the inspiration for this canvas is the Olympic Peninsula, I have settled on the name Olympic and now I am puzzling out the best way to create the moss on my trees. I created the first tree and added some lovely mohair locks dyed to the color named “foliage”. My tree looked like one of the Midwestern trees of my childhood after being infested with army worms.

The all encompassing moss of the Hoh Rain Forest is what I am trying to accomplish. Needless to say, I thinned and trimmed the moss down to a negligible amount but I need to figure out what I am going to do. In the meantime, I am making trees and undergrowth, which will be the focus of my residency.

Pack The Reef/Unpack The Reef

Last weekend at the fiber festival in Port Angeles was wonderful. The PNW Exposition was a great event, well run and well attended especially for it being the first year.

I was able to connect with many fiber folks and pass out info regarding our crafting day at Feiro Marine Center on November 19th. I was even able to do a little Finders Keepers with some baby corals around Port Angeles, hiding one of them at Feiro. I also saw some whale vertebrae at Feiro and it gave me an idea to create a vertebrae for the reef, nestled among some bleached corals.

My aim for the crafting day at Feiro will be to invite people to sit and craft corals, bring examples of different corals and creatures that they could create, and provide yarn and patterns for folks that stop by. I don’t think I will be able to bring as much of the reef with me as I did for the expo because I am going to be in Port Townsend for the previous week at an artist residency working on my own art, alongside the reefy business.

Recently I received this bleached coral in the mail which I thought was absolutely great.

Whenever anyone asks what corals we need, I am encouraging bleached corals and corals that stand upright to give us some height. We can certainly take whatever you choose to make but if you asking, those qualities are certainly welcomed.

Another benefit from being in Port Angeles last weekend was getting two more yarn shops as donation points for corals and critters. 8th Street Emporium in Port Angeles and Northwest Yarns in Bellingham are now on board for taking in your reefy creations.

Gearing Up for Port Angeles!

I’m looking forward to next weekend as I will be traveling to the PNW Fiber Exposition in Port Angeles, WA. I will be bringing a display of the reef along with information about our upcoming crafting weekend in Port Angeles at the Feiro Marine Life Center on November 19th from 10-4. If you are planning on coming, you can sign up and let me know here.

Recently, I have been working with some materials I found at a local resale shop to create another coral vignette. I was incredibly happy when I stumbled upon this little find

I am really trying to stress corals that have height for the reef now. I am incredibly aware that there is so much dimensional space on a coral reef and the last thing I want is for our reef to look flat. The red curlicues really peaked my interest. I immediately sourced a foam hemisphere and crocheted a cozy to cover it.

I love looking down at the pattern

Since I have many spikes from the curlicues sticking though the hemisphere, I do plan to get some putty or play doh to put on the underside to make everything a little more secure but now I am working on covering the rest with corals.

I really like these little plate corals, made with a crocheted circle and a little crocheted tube underneath which I sewed to the circle and lightly stuffed. Sometimes I make these circular, sometimes I make them more freeform but if you do make them and are planning on putting several together to cover some real estate on your reef, make sure to make them all slightly different heights so you can overlap them. I also think that putting a contrast on the edges helps to highlight their individual parts.

I also crocheted something that could be a sponge or a barrel coral or simply a delightful puff beneath the sea. I had some neon green roving with some metallic glittery thread that I added to give it a bit of a sparkle. The green and blue corals were created a few weeks ago and were looking for the right home. I will continue to cover the sphere until the surface is no longer visible.

I’ve also taken a trip down the video tape rabbit hole and created a jelly fish out of Apollo 13. I lightly wired the inner rim of the jellyfish to give it a little structure and I need to make a few more tentacles. I also have a box of audio cassettes that I need to start playing around with.

Another vignette I am working on is for the staghorn corals that I have created. This piece has hyperbolics from many different reefers (my favorite name for our reef crafters) and I think it is coming along nicely.

When I was at the Eugene Textile Center yesterday for our crafting day, I brought a small selection of bleached corals to go with my wired reef and they looked so nice together. If you are looking for your next idea for what to make for the reef, I would encourage you to consider more bleached corals that have a little height to them.

It is now exactly one year until we will have our reef up at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. It seems both fantastic and frightening. Keep crafting your corals everyone!