The Crocheted Coral Reef Satellite Project

Jon and I went  to see the Berkshires Satellite  Coral Reef in Williamstown Massachusetts today.  It’s  “part of the worldwide Crocheted Coral Reef Project by artists Christine and Margaret Wertheim.

There is a “Core Collection” of crocheted coral reef art, made by the artists which is traveling around the world to different museums.

Then there is the satellite project, (which we saw today) where the artists hold workshops to teach people to crochet coral.  The finished project is then exhibited in the community where it was made.

The project and exhibit is about climate change and how it is killing the coral reefs.

Plastic is crocheted into the coral, representing the plastic that is found throughout the oceans.

“These artworks reflect the history of handicrafts traditionally done as a means of necessity but now being embraced by the art world as a way of claiming – or rather reclaiming – the aesthetic power of ‘fancywork.’ For of course, handicrafts have always been aesthetic tools rich in symbolism and expressive possibility, and ‘ladies’ doing their embroideries have long been artists, even if they are rarely acknowledged as such.” From Crochet Coral Reef Project

I didn’t know much about the exhibit, except that it was a community project and had to do with the Coral Reefs dying due to climate change,  until I came home and read about it on the Crochet Coral Reef website.

I loved looking at the textures and colors and shapes of the exhibit.  They were intricate and beautiful.  I had to clasp my hands to keep myself from  reaching out and touching them.

It was the kind of art that made me want to know more about it.   And when I did, it found it complex and thoughtful.  It’s a combination of  environment, art, science, time and women.

You can read all about it here.