There was a wave of this in my area a few years back. As a trained textile artist (MFA), I refrained from critical comments on it because folks were SO delighted with themselves forcovering all the poles holding parking meters in one lot, and random small tree trunk & branches with knit and crochet coverings in the same retail area. This was done with indestructible acrylic yarn in a few bright colors, in bands of color, put together in seemingly random ways, with some dreadful juxtapositions of colors.

I thought it was a sort of cool idea, but poorly executed. The point seemed to be inclusive and not requiring any particular talent. For public art, some modicum of oversight by a person with decent aesthetic judgement to direct and plan seems like it ought to be part of this, to make it attractive. But like poor singers in a group sing, the point seemed to be open participation rather than product.

When I first saw it, I thought of a number of other textile techniques that would make more handsome coverings, including lace techniques, braids made around an object, and I remembered some large-scale beadwork I'd seen Joyce Scott do in a sculptural park. Would love to see some where people took it to heart as an art installation.

Joanne in Cleveland (being a curmudgeon on Mudcat)