“NASA’s ‘Extreme Planet Makeover’; Crochet Coral Reef at the Smithsonian”

By Rachel Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 7, 2011; 2:44 PM
Art and science

And the rest of us just knit scarves . . . Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, National Museum of Natural History

An impressive exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History ties together art and science with yards and yards of sparkly yarn. The “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef” is, amazingly, just what it sounds like: an enormous crocheted coral reef created by hundreds of local crafters, a spinoff from the worldwide Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project. (“Hyperbolic” refers to a kind of geometry that appears in some natural forms, including corals and sponges.) Sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim launched the project in 2005 in their Los Angeles living room to promote ecological awareness and highlight the need for conservation. There are miniature beaded-crochet sea anemones, woolen jellyfish and a plastic portion of the reef, created to bring attention to ocean pollution. Sound weird? It’s magnificent. The exhibit runs through April 24.

(You can go visit the page to read about NASA – I quoted the whole section about the coral because it was a difficult article to find online in the first place).

I’m a docent at the reef and I’m usually there on Tuesdays but I won’t be there today, unfortunately.