It doesn’t cost anything to make someone smile. That’s the goal of an unusual art installation in the Bishop Arts District. It’s not often you can use the words ‘bomb’ and ‘joy’ in the same sentence but our Noelle Walker takes a closer look.
It's still hot in North Texas, but in Dallas' Bishop Arts neighborhood, you'll find sweaters.
A stretch of 8th Street at Bishop is covered in yarn— from trees to benches to bike racks.
"For me, it brings joy," Sally Ackerman of Dallas Yarn Bombers said. "People walk up to it, they hug a tree if for no other reason than it's wearing a sweater."
Ackerman spends much of her time knitting and crocheting the art installations, which have been all over North Texas; from Downtown Dallas to McKinney to her own backyard.
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"Yeah, my house is pretty fun," Ackerman said with a twinkle in her eye.
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Ackerman has been knitting and crocheting most of her life. She's a blue ribbon winner from the State Fair. Ackerman said her family didn't need any more handmade sweaters, so she started yarn bombing years ago, uncover.
"I started doing these random acts of art," Ackerman explained. "The first time I went out, I made 10-yarn bombs, and my husband said, 'let me drive you, honey, in case you get arrested!'"
Ackerman did not get arrested. Her yarn bomb installations are temporary and reusable. She said there's nothing she can't cover in yarn.
"We did an entire village one time," Ackerman said, referring to Heritage Village in Dallas. "We did a golf cart." That was for the State Fair.
"It is fiber. It is yarn. But it is joy," Ackerman said. "As long as I'm creating, I'm happy."
When Ackerman is done, the trees look like something out of Willy Wonka's factory.
"Well, I want them to smile. I want to bring just a pop of joy into their day," Ackerman said of those who see the yarn bombing. "It's more important than ever to express joy and share joy in the world, and have people just having a bad day just look up and go, wow!"
If you are interested in a Dallas Yarn Bombers installation or would like to help with installations, you can contact them on Facebook or Instagram.
