Art on a Limb is here! All the creative installations of our yarn bombing project are ready to view in beautiful Downtown Fairhope.
43 teams knit, wove, quilted, crocheted and needlepointed their tree-art and gave our artsy town one of its’ regular doses of funky charm. Need to go to TCB Coastal Bank? A two story mermaid will give you a hug.
Local businesses, like Stowe’s Jewlers above, sponsored the trees. This octopus featured valuable (fabric) gems on its waving arms.
The police station, yacht club, toy store and all the other BEST STORES AND BUSINESSES IN TOWN got in on the act which will remain on display until September 30th.
I loved this tree, full of yarn-coral. Sponsored by Dr. Katie Penry, it’s in front of Cat’s Meow and has great details.
Lots of brightly colored coral and sea creatures everywhere. All of the tree-art is even better in person.
I walked around town with my husband who took most of these photos for me, and the teams were just finishing up their creations. The unifying theme they all reported was how much fun this project had been and how it brought everyone together for a good cause. (To raise money for the Art Center as well as serve as a gift of fun and whimsy for the community). This town would be so dull without the Eastern Shore Art Center!
Dr. Doug Harrell’s Dentist office and the Hand Arendall Law Firm need to watch out for this guy’s choppers. If you look closely, you can see the team sitting on the porch furiously knitting away to finish a few more details.
I came back later, and this tree, created by The Kiln, was transformed into a beautiful Southern Belle and had little bells dangling in the branches over the ballgown.
This tree from The Brennity at Daphne Senior Center was also one of my favorites. The residents joined together to sew the colorful bands that wrap around the tree trunk,
and they also decorated . . .
a walker!
Everyone has a whimsical sense of joy around here! One of the seamstresses at The Brennity formerly designed and sewed many of the Mardi Gras Queen’s dresses in Mobile, so they had a professional on their team!
The children and teens from Faith Temple said they had so much fun working on this project, they’re busy looking for another way to use crafts to help the community.
And the woman of the day . . . our dear Gaye Lindsey, who came up with the idea of Art on a Limb and totally spearheaded the entire project. (remember the Poppy Project? Gaye did that too!) She’s the new President of the Board of Directors at the Eastern Shore Art Center, so I’m sure there will be more fun community wide projects headed our way in the future!
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There’s more to see, and I purposely saved the Fairhope Library’s display for later, so stay tuned. If you want to see the exhibit yourself, be sure to start at the Eastern Shore Art Center to get a map pinpointing the prettiest trees in town!