CrochetingTheReef

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
October 13 - December 16, 2007
Chicago Rooms, 2nd floor

The Great Barrier Reef - the world's largest living organism - stretches along the coast of Australia in a riotous profusion of color and form unparalleled on our planet. But global warming and pollutants are devastating this fragile monster. In homage to the Great One, the Institute For Figuring is crocheting a handmade reef--and Chicagoans have joined the effort. During the summer of 2007, Chicagoans from across the city and suburbs gathered in community centers, art studios, living rooms, and cultural institutions to learn about global warming, the problems of plastic consumption and the dissappearing coral reefs. From October 13 through December 16, their collective artistic outcry--the Chicago Reef--will be on display in the Chicago Rooms of the Chicago Cultural Center along side the IFF's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef This woolly testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world, celebrates also the strange "hyperbolic" geometry of the oceanic realm. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs in cooperation with the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Be sure to check out the Chicago Reef—a subreef crocheted and sewed together by over 100 Chicagoans. Over the summer of 2007, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum organized volunteer-lead workshops that informed Chicagoans about the environmental threats of global warming and plastic consumption, the principles and history of hyperbolic geometry, and the crochet technique for making coral forms. Come witness the collective artistic outcry of your fellow Chicagoans and get engaged with the issues!

Crochet Workshops
Thursdays at 12:00
Chicago Rooms
Learn to make your own crocheted coral reef . Members of the Windy City Knitting Guild will lead informal workshops to teach the skills needed to create your own wooly reef . Some materials will be available or bring your own yarn and crochet hook. Workshops are co-sponsored by The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.

October 18 & 25
November 1, 8,15,29 (no workshop on Thanksgiving)
December 6 & 13

The Chicago Reef Project is co-sponsored by the Institute For Figuring, DoubleStitch, the Chicago Humanities Festival, The Windy City Knitting Guild, Arcadia Knitting, Loopy Yarns, Woolly Lamb, and the Center on Halsted.

Thanks to workshop leaders Donna Palicka, Serena Worthington, Lauren Levato, Nina Savar, Sarah Ellis, Cynthia Morgan, Jennie Kimmel, Erika and Monika Simmons, and Pamela Dominguez for all of their hard work and positive energy! We couldn't have done it without you.



Stitches in Time with Margaret Wertheim Saturday, October 27, 10-11:30am Thorne Auditorium, Northwestern School of Law 220 E. Chicago Ave. For tickets, call: 312.494.9509 or visit www.chfestival.org Coral reefs, among the most essential and intricate of the world's ecosystems, are currently under siege due to climate disruption. Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, will focus on the ecology and evolution of coral reef organisms, the threats they face, and what must be done to save them. Margaret Wertheim, a writer and curator whose work focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of science, will offer further testimony to these disappearing wonders as she describes the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" project spearheaded by herself and her twin sister Christine at the Institute For Figuring. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY ASPECT OF THE CHICAGO REEF PROJECT, PLEASE CONTACT CATHERINE AT CATH@UIC.EDU		The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef October 13 - December 16, 2007 Chicago Rooms, 2nd floor The Great Barrier Reef - the world's largest living organism - stretches along the coast of Australia in a riotous profusion of color and form unparalleled on our planet. But global warming and pollutants are devastating this fragile monster. In homage to the Great One, the Institute For Figuring is crocheting a handmade reef--and Chicagoans have joined the effort. During the summer of 2007, Chicagoans from across the city and suburbs gathered in community centers, art studios, living rooms, and cultural institutions to learn about global warming, the problems of plastic consumption and the dissappearing coral reefs. From October 13 through December 16, their collective artistic outcry--the Chicago Reef--will be on display in the Chicago Rooms of the Chicago Cultural Center along side the IFF's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef This woolly testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world, celebrates also the strange "hyperbolic" geometry of the oceanic realm. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs in cooperation with the Chicago Humanities Festival. Be sure to check out the Chicago Reef—a subreef crocheted and sewed together by over 100 Chicagoans. Over the summer of 2007, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum organized volunteer-lead workshops that informed Chicagoans about the environmental threats of global warming and plastic consumption, the principles and history of hyperbolic geometry, and the crochet technique for making coral forms. Come witness the collective artistic outcry of your fellow Chicagoans and get engaged with the issues! Crochet Workshops Thursdays at 12:00 Chicago Rooms Learn to make your own crocheted coral reef . Members of the Windy City Knitting Guild will lead informal workshops to teach the skills needed to create your own wooly reef . Some materials will be available or bring your own yarn and crochet hook. Workshops are co-sponsored by The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. October 18 & 25 November 1, 8,15,29 (no workshop on Thanksgiving) December 6 & 13 The Chicago Reef Project is co-sponsored by the Institute For Figuring, DoubleStitch, the Chicago Humanities Festival, The Windy City Knitting Guild, Arcadia Knitting, Loopy Yarns, Woolly Lamb, and the Center on Halsted. Thanks to workshop leaders Donna Palicka, Serena Worthington, Lauren Levato, Nina Savar, Sarah Ellis, Cynthia Morgan, Jennie Kimmel, Erika and Monika Simmons, and Pamela Dominguez for all of their hard work and positive energy! We couldn't have done it without you. Co-Sponsored by The Institute for Figuring

		Some supplies for this project were generously supplied by Coats & Clark. www.modadea.com www.coatsandclark.com


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