The Momentary hosts supersized flag performance for the Fourth
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Dave Cole hard at work on Sunday. Photo: Worth Sparkman/Axios
At least in spirit, artist Dave Cole told the guerrilla knitting movement: Hold my beer.
Driving the news: Cole's installation "The Knitting Machine" has worked to create the self-proclaimed world's largest knitted American flag at The Momentary in Bentonville this weekend.
- Finishing touches are set to be completed tomorrow between 7:30-9pm before the fireworks show at nearby Orchards Park.
The really big picture: Two excavators articulate telephone poles to complete a straight stitch with acrylic felt. Cole stands on a skyjack nearby to provide a little help.
- It will take about 500 stitches to complete, Cole told Axios.
- He expects to make it larger than the first and only, which Cole knitted in 2005 at Mass MoCA. That one measured about 20- by 30-feet.
Context: Cole's other works include "Fiberglass Teddy Bear" made of insulation and "The Music Box" made with a Caterpillar roller-compacter that plays the national anthem.
What he's saying: "I've always believed that art can be for everybody — that it doesn't need to be exclusive or obtuse in order to be sophisticated or worthwhile,”Cole told Axios. “That it can be accessible and it can be fun and it can be whimsical and can still be ambitious and conceptually rich."
- "Knitting for me is a sort of a metaphor for work and I think and this piece takes that to the logical extreme — or the illogical extreme, as the case may be."
The intrigue: Cole wouldn't speculate Friday on a success or failure rate.
- "There is a chance that it won't work … it's art with high stakes," he said.
See it: The completed flag will remain on view at The Momentary through July 16.
- An installation of Cole's work dubbed "Sideshow" also will be on exhibit inside the museum.
What's next: Cole is working with a friend to develop a piece called "The Truckmobile" that will hang eight full-sized pickup trucks from a mobile.
- A scale model of the project is included in "Sideshow."