Yarn Bombed!

It’s official. Arts Benicia has been yarn bombed by BSIK – the Benicia Sisters in Knitting.  We don’t know just who they are, or where they’ll strike next, but these guerrilla knitters have given us a great gift.

If you’re like us and had never heard of yarn bombing before today, here’s the low down.  Yarn bombing (also known as  yarnbombing, graffiti knitting or yarnstorming ) is a type of temporary street installation that utilizes crocheted or knitted materials thought to have originated in Houston, TX. While yarn bombing is often interpreted as an attempt to reclaim a or personalize a space, we feel this  speaks to the tightly woven arts community not just in the arsenal district, but in Benicia as well.

While some places get a door handle cozy or a an exploding tube of color slinking down a pole in the neighborhood, we discovered over 70 individual little knit bombs draped from the railing outside the gallery door when we came in to work today. They sway and tinker in the breeze, beckoning the passersby  into the gallery like a stream of renegade secular prayer flags adorning a temple, and we love them.

We don’t  know how long these  little bombs will be with us.  A day? A week? A month? Until the rain comes? We suspect they’ll vanish in the dead of night, as quietly as they came. But they’re here now, and they are beautiful.