Ladies Fancywork Society (and their crochet hooks) take over Union Station

After years of planning, Union Station is finally transforming into a modern transit hub -- which means a big chunk of downtown is a fenced-off construction zone. To spruce things up, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs has turned to local yard bombers the Ladies Fancywork Society (LFS) and sound...

By Joel Warner

August 2, 2010

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After years of planning, Union Station is finally transforming into a modern transit hub -- which means a big chunk of downtown is a fenced-off construction zone. To spruce things up, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs has turned to local yard bombers the Ladies Fancywork Society (LFS) and sound artist Jim Green to turn the site into an ode to, of all things, crocheting.

Hence the colorful crocheted flowers currently spreading across the construction fences near the Millennium Bridge at 16th and Wewatta streets. It's the latest undertaking by the LFS, a covert Denver group of crocheting street artists who rose to prominence after they tagged Borofsky's "Dancers" outside of the Denver Performing Arts Complex with a comfy leg warmer. The Union Station work, to be up for six months, is enhanced by a solar-powered sound system playing recordings of the LFS during their crocheting sessions, the brainchild of Jim Green, the sound artist responsible for, among other things, the cheery door chimes on DIA's underground trains.

To hear about the work in the artists' own words, catch Green and the LFS discussing their collaboration at a 6 p.m. lecture tomorrow at the Crossroads Theater, 2590 Washington Street. The event is free, but seating is limited, so RSVP to [email protected].

Knowing the folks involved, things are sure to get fancy.

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner