Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lost Coral Reef

Our Nature Gathered theme this month is the sea. I've always been captivated by the Institute for Figuring hyperbolic crocheted coral reef exhibits. Margaret Wertheim from Australia started the project to make others aware of how fast the earth is losing its coral reefs. When a coral reef dies, it loses all of its color. I crocheted one of these bleached coral reefs. The branched coral is machine felted with wool roving on Lutradur. Everything else is crocheted.
Here is a close up view from the side .
I keep a sketchbook with ideas and inspiration for projects and here is one of the pages I used to design the "Lost Coral Reef".

8 comments:

HeartFire said...

Oh Paula, that is just SO lovely, and it really captures the feel of coral. I haven't crocheted for a while, I think 2 or 3 months ago, I was busily trying out all sorts of stitches to make flowers. Delorse

Gwen said...

Wow, Paula, this is just great! It is even better than I imagined it. I love how you mounted it, too. I didn't realize it was going to be a dead reef, it is a powerful image. Including the sketchbook notes is a nice touch, too.

edina said...

Paula, that is gorgeous! And I love seeing the evolution from sketchbook to reality.

Martha Sparks said...

Paula,your crocheted coral reef is FANTASTIC! I love it. You did a beautiful job with your hyperbolic crochet and use of "bleached" colors. Also enjoyed looking at your work sketchbook.

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful. Amazing work. It makes me want to get back to working with fiber.

Ruth said...

Paula - what a lovely piece! Here's the website about color I mentioned at Play http://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/random?time=30

Jo Reimer said...

Paula, this is absolutely WONDERFUL. I'm looking forward to more of these incredible forms. Years ago my other art group visited the studio of a fiberartist in Vancouver, WA. She does similar things though not necessarily coral reefs. If I ever remember her name I'll let you know because you two should know each other. Fantasy crochet. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

Paula! You've captured the feeling of the great barrier reef wonderfully! I didn't even know one could create something so realistic and 3-dimensional out of fiber. I so appreciate your doing this. I've been there and it is such a dramatic change when they die. I love seeing your sketchbook too! So lovely-all those textures. Thank you so much for sharing this! Liesel