Crochet Coral Reef Project
Community Crochet Coral Reef Project!
WHAT IS IT?
Part art & craft, part mathematics & science, and part environmentalism the Crochet Coral Reef Project is a community art project to raise awareness about climate change, current threats to marine life, and environmental sustainability.
Known for their beauty, coral reefs are one of the most diverse environments on the planet. Home to sponges, fish, crustaceans, and more, they are the oldest ecosystem on the planet. Today, our coral reefs are suffering not only from rising ocean temperatures but also pollution and over fishing.
Coral reefs are vital to the world’s future. They provide homes for up to a quarter of marine life at some point during their lives and help protect homes and shorelines from storms. While bleached corals can survive and recover, continual bleaching events will weaken and destroy many of them.
HOW IT WORKS!
- Attend an introductory crochet event and learn the basic of crochet
- Supplies and patterns will be available
- Already know how to crochet/ knit and want to make something for our reef? Pick up a Take & Make kit (yarn, hook & pattern included!)
- Drop off completed items by SATURDAY, MAY 31 to be added to our coral reef display!
- MFL Coral Reef will be on display JUNE 3 – AUGUST 30
ALL AGES AND SKILL LEVELS ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE IN CREATING ITEMS FOR THE REEF!
WHY CROCHET?
Crochet is a unique way to replicate the frilly forms of reef creatures and in doing so raise awareness of coral reef sustainability. Crochet can also represent the mathematical theories of “hyperbolic” geometry, an alternative to “Euclidean” geometry we learn in Mathematics. Living things have had millions of years to develop forms that represent hyperbolic surfaces and mathematicians have spent time over the last few centuries, trying to prove these surfaces could not exist. A Mathematician Dr. Daina Taimina at Cornell University showed they do and she used crochet to model her proof!
The Monson Free Library Reef will be a collaborative effort done with members of the community.
Information on the origins of the
Crochet Coral Reef Project
Margaret Wertheim’s TED Talk on the Crochet Coral Reef Project
