Read about Day Nursery here. Oh, how it warms my heart to know that our piano will be able to bring joy to the children, families, and the staff there!
There are certain features of our yarnbombed piano that will only really be enjoyed once she reaches a forever home at a Women's Fund grantee organization - but that does not make them any less fabulous! In fact, these wonderful knits are two of my very favorite parts:
If you've visited any of the pianos out in public, you've seen that they
have uniform, gray, custom-made benches, equipped with GO Ahead &
Play information and maps, tethered to them. Here is Claire's gorgeous piece that covers the seat of the "permanent bench" (the one that came with the piano - bench and piano will be reunited when she retires to her indoor life of luxury).
We lined the inside of the permanent bench, leaving some of the music books and a notebook of the child (Emily) who once learned to play on our Betsy Ross Spinnet. See that bright pink book on top? That "sheet music" was knitted by Wenchciara, who transcribed the notes of "You Are My Sunshine" on one of the pages! (She's also responsible for making all the lovely treble clefs that we've attached to the piano!)
Indianapolis, you've only got a few more days (until August 18th) to head down to Monument Circle and find "Tickled Pink, Tickling the Ivories" - GO Ahead & Play!
Wow, what a whirlwind the GO Ahead & Play 'opening weekend' was! I've seen so many tweets and videos and facebook posts and news stories about our "pink piano on The Circle" (and her 19 piano friends)! It's heartwarming to know that people are enjoying this. Friday I took a day off work. First, I drove around to see several of the other artists' nearby pianos (I've been to see 12 of them but only got pics of 11 so far!)
Then Kevin and I headed downtown to take some pictures and see if we saw anyone playing ours... well, we did! But first we removed the vase that had been designed to tip over for when/if she needs to be covered to protect her from rain, but it turns out no matter how many 'florist marbles' you have in a vase, Monument Circle is windier than you think, so the thing tipped over a lot! Then Kevin attached this small felted bowl from my pal Sandi, and filled that with the flowers - it's very pretty, and low-slung, so no wind will tip it!
We talked to several people, encouraged them to play, took pics for them so their whole group could be in their photos! Our friend Josh and his boyfriend Jonathan came down from their offices on The Circle to take a look (and play).
We also met our piano's "Buddy" - the person who'll apply her custom-made cover if it rains. He came down to make sure there were enough maps in her bench pocket!
After all the delightful piano hubbub, I headed to the south side, where I volunteer for a local animal rescue group. Earlier volunteers had already cleaned all the cages and fed and watered everyone, so my "job" for the day turned out be petting, hugging, and playing with bunnies. I guess I took 'socializing' literally; I kissed this sweet rabbit right on the head! Merino and I also went to a movie, and had delicious fried chicken and local corn at my brother- and sister-in-law's, and I finally finished the baby blanket I'm knitting for our nephew-to-be, but I don't have pics of any of that stuff, so here's another video of Kevin playing our piano, because I still want to know what you're going to GO Ahead & Play.
As I write this, the volunteers from Jay's Moving are placing (or have placed) the last of the pianos out around Indianapolis!
When telling people about yarnbombing a piano, I've had several say, "Oh, I can't play!" as if that's a valid reason not to experience pop-up art. I can't play either, but I can appreciate finding something beautiful in an unexpected place. So, I'm not asking you to only go see the pianos if you can play Beethoven from memory - I'm saying, go, and see if you can remember how to play "Chopsticks," or want to take a picture with an original work of art, or if you want to take a seat on a sturdy bench and look at our lovely City from a unique perspective.
Today's video features a Women's Fund staffer's son... his song isn't long, but he played it for me - and you - and it's wonderful!
