Lantern Road Elementary Art Teacher 'Yarnbombs' Hometown

From Hamilton Southeastern Schools:

September 28, 2020

Back in August, the City of Rushville, Indiana was splattered with color as the entire community got together to “yarnbomb” buildings, an activity that is meant to bring people together in a weary time. You may be wondering, what is yarnbombing? Yarnbombing is knitting, crocheting, and weaving colorful designs to hang and drape around different locations within a community. While it is an art-related activity, it is so open-ended that anyone can be involved, which is why Carrie Billman, the art teacher at Lantern Road Elementary, is so drawn to the activity.

Billman has been teaching art at Lantern Road for 25 years and loves what she does, which is why she was ecstatic to be working with the Arts and Cultural Council of Rush County. Because they received a grant for the project and it is her hometown, the Arts and Cultural Council chose her to be the guest artist for when they yarnbombed the location. Billman helped make many of the yarn creations that were hung on the trees, buildings, and other structures in the location. She even made tutorials on YouTube on multiple different types of weaving.

As the guest artist, Billman wanted to make sure that everyone in the community could be involved. This meant that there needed to be preplanning and spontaneity both at once. People who were able to weave could watch her tutorials and weave pieces to be brought to yarnbomb and, if they couldn’t weave, they could bring yarn and drape it around the town or have someone provide them with items that were already weaved. Billman believes that, if everyone in the community was able to be involved, it would make the experience much more valuable. As the entire community worked together to create something memorable, the power and importance of art was highlighted in Rushville.

This press release was produced by Hamilton Southeastern Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.