In the aftermath of this summer's UK riots some grabbed their brooms, some shook their heads and one woman picked up her yarn.
Lorna Hamilton-Brown, an artist from the South of England, wanted to challenge people's perception of knitting and of the youth of today. She created her piece 'Out of the Blue' for the 2011 Coastal Currents Festival .
Lorna comments on showing her work to a group of 13-year-olds at a local secondary school, "When I told them I was going to show them my knitting, you can imagine the comments. Especially from the boys. But when I showed them 'Out of the Blue' they just said "That's sick" (meaning good)".
Lorna has also designed and knit an intarsia jumper based on an illustration by artist Jon Burgerman, worked with Kaffe Fassett, and has had her work featured on BBC TV's 'The Clothes Show'. She also works with illustration and dabbles in digital art.
She says "I'm a good hand knitter but my first love is machine knitting. There is a lot of snobbery towards machine knitters - people think you just push a button and ten minutes later it's finished and no skills was required. Which is not true!"
The technical and artistic skills that go into machine knitting the pieces is evident from her beautiful work. Lorna, who is also the Secretary of the forward-thinking Wonky WI of St. Leonards and Hastings, is currently working on a piece that deals with the subject of domestic violence. Well worth keeping an eye on her fabulous fibre art.
