RELATED EVENTS

• Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting

Nano-knitter Althea Crome is the sole Hoosier artist in the Indiana State Museum's new fiber-arts exhibit. (Michelle Pemberton / The Star)

Ed Mayer used coated steel shelving, found objects, vinyl tape and wood for "Drawing Over." (Photo provided by the Indiana State Museum) (Indiana State Museum for The Star)

Piper Shepard's "Lace Meander" is made of mulin, gesso, graphite, brass and aluminum. (Photo provided by the Indiana State Museum)

Hiuldur Bjarnadottir's "Untitled (skulls)" consists of crocheted cotton yarn on a wood table. (Photos provided by the Indiana State Museum) (Photo provided by the Indiana St for The Star)

Althea Crome knits one of her tiny designs, each of which takes between three and six months to create, with price tags of up to $8,000. (Michelle Pemberton / The Star)

A miniature kimono and sweater by Althea Crome, who has made tiny clothing for seven years. (Michelle Pemberton / The Star)

Knit happens.

And with a phenomenal rise in popularity over the past decade, knit has been happening a lot, all over the country and all over the world.

"Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting," opening today at the Indiana State Museum, takes fiber arts off the needles and puts the genre into a museum setting, proving that these traditional crafts have always been just a knit and a purl away from high art.

The exhibit, curated and circulated by the Museum of Arts and Design, in New York, features about 40 pieces by 27 artists, male and female, from nine countries. The pieces -- doily lace-cut shovels, a 6-foot-tall teddy bear, tiny sweaters -- tweak different elements of tradition.

"It's really not about knitting," says Jennifer Spitzer, the Indiana State Museum's director of exhibits. "It's more of an art show."

Organized under the umbrella of "fiber arts," the pieces needle and confront issues of politics, gender and ethics. The exhibit is broken down into six themes: corporeal constructions that reference the body, matters of scale, light constructions, interconnections, creative deconstructions and the beauty of complexity.

"People always think of things you never thought of. I think this is one spin on it," Spitzer says.

Bloomington resident Althea Crome, the exhibit's sole Indiana artist, will show three of her nano-knit pieces, aka "Bug Knits."

The tiny, richly detailed pieces are made of silk thread, knitted on medical wires. Crome made her first pair of tiny gloves in 2001, and has been perfecting her techniques since then. Finished sweaters are 2 and a half inches tall and 1 and a quarter inches wide; gloves measure three-quarters of an inch.

"Every garment is conceptual, from the design that is knitted into it and the shape of the sweater itself," says Crome, whose works are treasured by collectors of miniatures. "I'm driven to challenge myself. What happens is this kind of freakish 'How-in-the world-can-you-do-that?' kind of thing; it becomes this enigma in a way, but also art."

Internationally acclaimed artists Janet Echelman, Shane Waltener, Sheila Pepe and Edward Mayer will travel to Indianapolis to create custom installations for the museum's lobby and gallery. Echelman's circular woven pieces, which play on wind and environment, will hover over museum-goers' heads, while Mayer's white found-object installations will hulk in the corners.

The artists use fiber and fiber-arts techniques to explore line and space, marrying traditional methods with new technologies. Materials are as varied as rubber, lead, glass, industrial wire shelving and found objects.

Expect to get a new view of knitters, as well. Rhode Island-based Dave Cole knits with backhoes and telephone poles, and has a video in the show -- in which he knits an American flag using telephone poles manipulated by giant cranes.

Sporting a hard hat and a commanding construction worker's presence, Cole questions the traditional stereotypes of knitters. No longer is the image of a knitting circle a clutch of women clucking over needles.

Cole's other exhibited works include a dress made of money and a 6-foot-tall fiber-glass teddy bear, made of unsnuggly pink insulation.

Crome saw the exhibit in New York, and some of the images have stayed with her -- words knit out of human hair or a burned-out car covered in an etched lace pattern.

"It's surprising in a delightful way," Crome says. "It boggles my mind. It will be great to see it in Indiana."

Along with the pieces, Spitzer hopes she'll see a new sight: inspired knitters working away in corners of the museum.

"It seems like it is a very personal, intimate thing that you do by yourself, but it is also very social," she says. "It's a unifier that crosses ages."

Pick up the stitch

There's a way to get into the act at "Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting."

All you have to do is work on a communal project organized by Susan Brennan, owner of Mass Ave. Knit Shop.

In one of the exhibit's rooms, volunteers will stitch strips that will later be put together into a blanket and donated. Brennan has not yet settled on a recipient, but she pictures the blanket going to an orphanage.

Knitters may end up picking up and finishing a piece that someone else has started, Brennan said. From 10 a.m. to noon, and noon to 2 p.m. every day of the exhibit, knitters can come solo or in groups; Brennan asks that participants call her shop at (317) 638-1833 to reserve their times.

"This is how we can give to those who are in need," she says. "I really like the fact that you don't know who is working on it before, and you don't have to be a perfect knitter. We'll take anybody."

Fiber-arts books will change your pattern

Knitting, crocheting and sewing are no longer considered staid and frumpy. If the new "Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting" exhibit inspires you to look for some radical and subversive fiber-art projects, here are a few starting points:

"Subversive Cross Stitch," by Julie Jackson ($14.95, Chronicle Books): Cross stitch that bears sentiments such as "This Place Sucks."

"Amigurumi Animals: 15 Patterns and Dozens of Techniques for Creating Cute Crochet Creatures," by Annie Obaachan ($21.95, St. Martin's Griffin): The popular Japanese craft of making stuffed crocheted animals comes to the United States.

"Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista," by Melissa Rannels, Melissa Alvarado and Hope Meng ($14.95, Taunton): This book will help you re-imagine your wardrobe and refashion your clothes.

"The Art of Knitting: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces," by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne ($44.95, Thames & Hudson): Break out of your usual stockinette with new stitches and new perspectives.

'Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting'

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St.

When: Through Aug. 24.

Cost: Free for members or included with general museum admission: $7 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and $4 for children ages 3-12.

Info: (317) 232-1637 or indianamuseum.org