Welcome House 101: Eugenie Perret makes like a caterpillar and knits, Wednesday, October 7

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Welcome House 101: Eugenie Perret makes like a caterpillar and knits, Wednesday, October 7

POSTED: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 6:30 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Arts Events Welcome House 101

In conjunction with Design Philadelphia (which we covered in last week's City Paper), First Person Arts and InLiquid present the Welcome House, a 10-foot cube in which artists of all stripes settle in for a day and create. It's open-ended, inventive and often pretty wacky (we're talking knit-yourself-into-a-cocoon wacky). Our intrepid reporter Cristina Perachio will be swinging by the House all week, observing, taking photos and maybe ' just maybe ' getting in on the action herself.

One of the strangest things I have ever seen in a public space '

Photo | Cristina Perachio

People have hobbies. Some people play the saxophone or paint by numbers. Some read comics, build model cars, bird watch or decoupage. Eugenie Perret knits. She knits like nobody's busines. Yesterday Perret and Candy Depew spent the day in LOVE Park's Welcome House, knitting a giant cocoon.

I'll let that sit for a minute.

Wild, right? Perret, while Depew decorated the cube's walls, knitted herself into a fluffy, powdery-looking cocoon made from sheep's wool. "Knitting is a powerful medium for self-expression, communication and cultural preconceptions," reads the note posted on the cube from the human-cocoon knitters. "Looking to nature for ideas is allowing us to create solutions on sustainability and healing with low environmental impact." I don't know about all that, but it sure did look snuggly in there.

Photo | Cristina Perachio

By 5:30 p.m., Depew ' Perret's stand-in ' had her legs and lower torso tucked neatly inside the cozy wrap of the cocoon. Her arms were tucked inside, and the cocoon was draped around her shoulders; I watched as it began to lace up the front of her upper body. A giant knitted pincushion with large knitting needles were displayed in the front of the cube along with a large ball of sheep's-wool yarn that would have made any housecat swoon. Though they had access to giant knitting needles, the women seemed to be knitting the cocoon by hand, twisting and looping the wool to sew up the front of the cocoon.

"My weaving process without spinning increases the strength of low-cost yarn," writes Perret. The women use wool from free-grazing sheep (who have been "treated ethically"), and feel this represents the kind of industry that American once thrived on.

Folks in the park and people walking by seemed to be much more inquisitive of this edition of Welcome House than previous ones. Maybe it was because the action was constant and you could see the progress right before your eyes ' or perhaps because it is truly one of the strangest things I have ever seen in a public space. Regardless, it seemed to generate a lot of buzz, which, I think, is the whole point of this project.

I just wonder what happened after Perret knitted Depew all the way in. Did she curl up and take a nap and emerge as a butterfly a few hours later? I'd like to think so.

candy

Posted 2009-10-08 13:59:34

hi there!

Thanks so much!  Nice article but the facts are not correct.



These are the facts;

Eugenie Perret knit the cocoon, Candy Depew did the wall vinyls on the cube while Eugenie knit. At the end- 5:30 it was Candy who was in the cocoon while Eugenie knitted it closed.  



Candy did not knit at all (she doesnt know how), she decorated the walls (which she really knows how to do) of the cube and was the butterfly inside the cocoon at the end.  



Thanks- feel free to call me to verify and fact check 215.498.2153.



Thank you- I hope there is a correction made.



PS- I did emerge as a butterfly : )



Sincerely,

Candy Depew

Carolyn Huckabay

Posted 2009-10-09 12:13:35

Thanks, Candy, we made your changes. You can email carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net if you have any further questions.

Posted by Cristina Perachio @ 6:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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