Street art: Yarnbombers hit Washington Park

We've taken admiring notice before of the local knitting fiends, such as the Ladies Fancywork Society, who are brightening up our cityscape with tags of public art and that burst of wildflowers along the tedious fencing of the Union Station project. Now the mayhem has extended to sculptor George Carlson's...

By Alan Prendergast

January 20, 2011

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We've taken admiring notice before of the local knitting fiends, such as the Ladies Fancywork Society, who are brightening up our cityscape with tags of public art and that burst of wildflowers along the tedious fencing of the Union Station project. Now the mayhem has extended to sculptor George Carlson's heroic figure in Washington Park, Early Day Miner -- which, in turn, has inspired anonymous terrorists in these parts to heights of poetic rapture.

For a larger view of the yarnbombing of Carlson's work, see below. But first you have to get through the poem:

I think that I shall never see An historic statue as lovely as a tree But if I were a miner, armed with pick, I never could look more slick Or have a life quite so rosy As when I'm sporting my pick cozy.

The yarnbombing guerillas of Wash Park Have rescued me from eternal dark Added color to my bare palette And femmed up my rock-bustin' mallet. I'm ready now for the bitterest snow day My manly tool swathed in crochet.

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Alan Prendergast is a former staff writer at Westword and is now a senior contributor. He writes about various topics but primarily focuses on news. He’s contributed to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Outside, USA Today, Men's Journal and other publications and is the author of two nonfiction books, Gangbuster: One Man's Battle Against Crime and The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge. He’s earned numerous accolades for his work including the Eugene Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award and two national feature writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Contact: Alan Prendergast

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