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#YarnbombQC

#YarnBombQC tree
Detail of the #YarnBombQC tree at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. (Photo by Claire Kovacs)

#YarnbombQC

After months of planning, crocheting and assembling, Augustana College unveiled its public art project, known as #YarnbombQC, on Sunday, Oct. 29. This project brought renowned sculptor Carol Hummel to the Quad Cities to create site-specific, community-based public art on trees in three locations: Augustana College, Figge Art Museum and Longfellow Liberal Arts School.

“This project, like much of the art by Carol Hummel, drew diverse sectors of communities together in a positive, celebratory way to help create major pieces of art for the people, by the people,” said Claire Kovacs, director of the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art.

Over 100 community members participated by creating crocheted circles, which the artist and her assistants stitched together and installed on the trees. Participants included students from Augustana College, the Creative Arts Academy, and Longfellow Liberal Arts, as well as community members of all ages.

Carol Hummel’s collaborative public art installations can be found throughout the world, including Switzerland, Norway, India, Mexico, and at multiple venues across the United States: her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Long Island, New York, Morgantown, West Virginia, and now the Quad Cities.

Yarn Bomb Artist Carol Hummel
Artist Carol Hummel in front of the tree on Augustana's campus

This project was organized by the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art, and is supported in part by an ArtWorks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as by the Augustana Department of Art and Graphic Design, Augustana Humanities Fund, Augustana Institute for Leadership and Service, the Creative Arts Academy of the Quad Cities, the Figge Art Museum and Sunbelt Rentals. Media sponsor is WVIK.