French Knitting - Castaways Sculpture Awards 2013
Artist Statement – French Knitting – Patricia Hines :
I remember my time at State School when both boys and girls spent hours doing ‘French Knitting’ using an old timber cotton reel with four nails in the top and some leftover wool. These little playthings come from a very ancient source the medieval Lucut, some names used for them have been ‘Knitting Nancies’, ‘Bizzie Lizzy’s’ or ‘Knitting Nobbys’ and they kept little fingers busy and minds concentrated. Sometimes we sewed them into little mats or our mothers stitched them together into a colorful beanie for us to wear.
The installation which is a series of totem poles representing these ‘Knitting Nancies’, uses a collection of brightly coloured plastic, electrical cable tubes, aluminium uprights (representing the four nails) and knitted binder twine.
The Physical - including health and fine motor skills.
The Social –eemotional, community and family values.
The Cognitive – intelligence andeunderstanding.
Language – communications skills.
The tubes, twine andealuminium will all be recycled materials
Castaways Sculpture Awards 2013
Helpers- Martin and Dennis