The Tempestry Project

{{short description|Arts project promoting climate change awareness}} {{good article}} {{Infobox organization | name = The Tempestry Project | native_name =  | native_name_lang =  | nickname = | named_after = | image = File:Tempestries for Utqiagvik, AK and Death Valley, CA.jpg | image_size = | image_alt =  | caption = Tempestries for Utqiagvik, Alaska (L—R: 1925, 2010, 2016) and Death Valley, California (L—R: 1950, 2016) | formation = 2017   | founders =  | founding_location = | website = {{URL|https://www.tempestryproject.com}} }}

'''The Tempestry Project''' is a collaborative fiber arts project that presents global warming data in visual form through knitted or crocheted artwork. The project is part of a larger "data art" movement and the developing field of climate change art, which seeks to exploit the human tendency to value personal experience over data by creating accessible experiential representations of the data.

Tempestries are made by knitting or crocheting rows in specified colors that represent respective high temperatures each day for a year. Multiple works are typically displayed together to show change over time. The project began in 2017 in Anacortes, Washington, US, and has since spread throughout the country and around the world.

The word "tempestry" is a portmanteau of "temperature" and "tapestry."

==History== The first tempestry was created using 2016 data from the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, Washington.<ref name="millerPI7may2019">{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Zoe |title=Activist crafters at Philly's new 'Tempestry' knitting group are sounding the alarm on global warming |url=https://www.philly.com/news/tempestry-climate-change-temperature-tapestries-philadelphia-schuylkill-center-20190507.html |newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=12 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507152146/https://www.philly.com/news/tempestry-climate-change-temperature-tapestries-philadelphia-schuylkill-center-20190507.html |archive-date=7 May 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Emily McNeil, Marissa Connelly, and Justin Connelly, having read about climatologists trying to preserve climate research data in preparation for anticipated removal of such data from US government websites by the Trump administration, were "joking" that "we should return to more concrete forms of data storage."<ref name="millerPI7may2019" />

In January 2017 McNeil,<ref name="hansenYALE9nov2018" /> Marissa Connelly<ref name="nandiHT6jan2019">{{cite web |last1=Nandi |first1=Jayashree |title=A Knitting Movement of Weather Data to Document Climate Change |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/a-knitting-movement-of-weather-data-to-document-climate-change/story-cHzHw0KuVLEAAaIt1PphjM.html |newspaper=Hindustan Times |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106084924/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/a-knitting-movement-of-weather-data-to-document-climate-change/story-cHzHw0KuVLEAAaIt1PphjM.html |archive-date=6 January 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and Justin Connelly founded the project in Anacortes, Washington<ref name="ASIF">{{cite web |title=Asheville Tempestry Project |url=https://asif.center/home/what-we-do/asheville-tempestry-project/ |publisher=Art + Science In The Field |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=2018-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202042315/https://asif.center/home/what-we-do/asheville-tempestry-project/ |archive-date=2 February 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> to encourage other fiber artists to produce "striking visuals that communicate changes at an intimate, local scale."<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018">{{cite web |last1=Chaisson |first1=Clara |title=Trump Is Trying to Pull the Wool Over Our Eyes About Climate Change—These Knitters Aren't Having It |date=19 December 2018 |url=https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/trump-trying-pull-wool-over-our-eyes-about-climate-change-these-knitters-arent-having-it |publisher=National Resources Defense Council |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220113840/https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/trump-trying-pull-wool-over-our-eyes-about-climate-change-these-knitters-arent-having-it |archive-date=20 December 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> According to Justin Connelly, "The science articles talk about what's happening at the poles. For many people, that's not their experience and so they don't relate to it in a powerful way...but even here [outside Seattle], in a temperate place, you can see stark change over the last 40 years or so. It puts it in their backyard."<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018" /> The project name is a portmanteau of the words "temperature" and "tapestry."<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018" />

The organization offers kits including yarn, instructions, and a data sheet of daily temperatures in a given location. In 2017 they sold 40 kits and in 2018, 500.<ref name="millerPI7may2019" /> The 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown temporarily affected production for the US, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) restricted access to the databases used to provide historical weather data for the United States.<ref name="zambelloNPT3apr2019" />

The concept was inspired by a similar fiberwork concept called a "temperature blanket", an afghan- or bedspread-sized project commemorating a particular year by working stripes or bands of colors representing each day's high or low temperature for a year.<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018" /><ref name="eckertLION">{{cite web |last1=Eckert |first1=Liza |title=What is a temperature blanket? |url=http://www.lionbrand.com/blog/what-is-a-temperature-blanket/ |publisher=Lion Brand |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=2016-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202041834/http://www.lionbrand.com/blog/what-is-a-temperature-blanket/ |archive-date=2 February 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/temperature-knitting-blankets-climate-change_ca_5e450c22c5b671eafe1ee092|title=Well, Here's A Clever And Cosy Way To Track Climate Change|last=D'Sa|first=Premila|date=2020-02-13|website=HuffPost Canada|language=en|access-date=2020-02-21}}</ref>

As of December 2018 projects had been created by fiber artists in nearly every U.S. state and in 20 other countries.<ref name="hansenYALE9nov2018" />

==Production== thumb|left|175px|Color cards for Fahrenheit and Celsius Each tempestry is knitted or crocheted, one row each day,<ref name="zakWAPO24jan2019">{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Dan |title='Everything is not going to be okay': How to live with constant reminders that the Earth is in trouble |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/everything-is-not-going-to-be-okay-how-to-live-with-constant-reminders-that-the-earth-is-in-trouble/2019/01/24/9dd9d6e6-1e53-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=25 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202095242/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/everything-is-not-going-to-be-okay-how-to-live-with-constant-reminders-that-the-earth-is-in-trouble/2019/01/24/9dd9d6e6-1e53-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html |archive-date=2 February 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> in the specified color for each date's high temperature<ref name="nandiHT6jan2019" /> starting on January 1 and ending on December 31 for a given year in a single location to form a banner the size of a scarf<ref name="nandiHT6jan2019" /><ref name="FAQ">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions |date=27 August 2018 |url=https://www.tempestryproject.com/faq/ |publisher=The Tempestry Project |access-date=7 January 2019}}</ref> that graphically represents a year of daily high temperatures in a single location.<ref name="hansenYALE9nov2018">{{cite web |last1=Hansen |first1=Ariel |title=What's a 'tempestry'? Knitters turn temperature data into art |url=https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/11/whats-a-tempestry-knitters-turn-climate-data-into-tapestries/ |publisher=Yale Climate Connections |access-date=7 January 2019|date=2018-11-09 }}</ref><ref name="stoneGIZ22dec2018">{{cite web |last1=Stone |first1=Maddie |title=Meet the Knitters Who Are Turning Climate Change Data Into a Fashion Statement |url=https://earther.gizmodo.com/meet-the-knitters-who-are-turning-climate-change-data-i-1831253754 |website=Gizmodo |access-date=11 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228204038/https://earther.gizmodo.com/meet-the-knitters-who-are-turning-climate-change-data-i-1831253754 |archive-date=28 December 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="ABOUT">{{cite web |title=About |date=26 August 2018 |url=https://www.tempestryproject.com/about/ |publisher=The Tempestry Project |access-date=7 January 2019}}</ref>

Colors for each five-degree temperature range are standardized and temperature data is collected from the NOAA<ref name="NYT27feb201">{{cite news |title=What's Going On in This Graph? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-feb-27-2019.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=21 February 2019 |access-date=4 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306050925/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-feb-27-2019.html |archive-date=6 March 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> so that collected displays of work by different artists working in different locations and on different years can be interpreted as direct comparisons.<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018" />

Because gauge is different between crochet vs. knitting, for different knit stitches, and among different crafters, finished tempestries will vary in length and width depending on whether they're created by the same crafter using the same stitch or are created by different crafters using a variety of stitches. Some crafters' gauge varies, and two works created even by a crafter with a very stable gauge using the same stitch will inevitably vary slightly.<ref name="smithEG">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Mary |title=Understanding knitting gauge |url=http://www.earthguild.com/products/knitcroc/marypat/gauge.htm |publisher=Earth Guild |access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> {{clear}}

==Display== thumb|right|upright=1.7|Tempestries for Deception Pass, WA, USA (L - R: 1950 to 2017) at the Museum of Northwest Art Tempestry banners are typically hung vertically, the first row (representing January 1) at the bottom and the final row (December 31) at the top, in groupings of two or more to show how daily high temperatures have changed year-to-year in a given location.<ref name="hansenYALE9nov2018" /><ref name="ABOUT" />

Project pieces were first publicly displayed in Anacortes, Washington.<ref name="hansenYALE9nov2018" /> In 2018 projects were displayed at the Museum of Northwest Art<ref name="hunterCW28nov2018">{{cite web |last1=Hunter |first1=Stephen |title=A marriage of art and nature |url=http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/cw/currents/a_marriage_of_art_and_nature |newspaper=Cascadia Weekly |access-date=14 January 2019 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603174040/http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/cw/currents/a_marriage_of_art_and_nature |url-status=dead }}</ref> and at the Creative Climate Awards in New York City.<ref name="chaissonNRDC19dec2018" /><ref name="HII CCA2018">{{cite web |title=The Tempestry Project |url=https://www.humanimpactsinstitute.org/product-page/the-tempestry-project |publisher=Human Impacts Institute |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228192133/https://www.humanimpactsinstitute.org/product-page/the-tempestry-project |archive-date=28 February 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In May 2019 a project consisting of 27 tempestries representing 100 years on Orcas Island in 4-year increments was displayed at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiberarts Museum.<ref name="SOUNDER15may2019">{{cite web |title=Island artists' textile work on display in La Conner |date=15 May 2019 |url=https://www.islandssounder.com/life/island-artists-textile-work-on-display-in-la-conner/ |publisher=Island Sounder |access-date=16 May 2019}}</ref>

In 2020 pieces were displayed at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://sanjuanislander.com/news-articles/people/30411/tempestry-project-in-the-san-juans-and-at-sjima|title=Tempestry Project In the San Juans and at SJIMA|website=sanjuanislander.com|language=en-gb|access-date=2020-01-14}}</ref> and at Temple University's Ginsberg Health Sciences Library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://temple-news.com/art-exhibit-shows-global-warming-stitch-by-stitch/|title=Art exhibit shows global warming stitch by stitch|last=Kerr|first=Natalie|date=2020-02-18|website=The Temple News|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-19}}</ref>

==Projects== In 2019 a group of US knitters organized a National Park Tempestry Project, inviting crafters to create a tempestry for 2016 – the year of the National Park Service Centennial – and one for the earliest year for which data was available for each US National Park.<ref name="zambelloNPT3apr2019" /><ref name=":0" />

In 2019 the {{ill|Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education|qid=Q113174705}} near Philadelphia organized a project using data provided by the Franklin Institute to create tempestries for the city, one for every fifth year from 1875 through 2018.<ref name="millerPI7may2019" /> Crafters in Mexico City organized a similar project.<ref name="millerPI7may2019" />

==Similar artworks== According to data journalist David McCandless, tempestries and similar creations are part of a larger data art movement in which data is represented in novel ways.<ref name="huttonMST20feb2019">{{cite news |last1=Hutton |first1=Rachel |title=Twin Cities crafters reflect climate change with 'temperature' blankets and scarves |url=http://www.startribune.com/twin-cities-crafters-reflect-climate-change-with-temperature-blankets-and-scarves/506106022/ |access-date=4 March 2019 |work=Minneapolis Star-Tribune |date=February 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043105/http://www.startribune.com/twin-cities-crafters-reflect-climate-change-with-temperature-blankets-and-scarves/506106022/ |archive-date=6 March 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Grace Ebert, writing for Colossal, calls such projects "part of a larger movement to document micro weather changes that may serve as indicators of broader climate issues."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/02/weather-blankets-climate-crisis/|title=People Are Knitting, Crocheting, and Weaving Tangible Records of Temperature Changes|last=Ebert|first=Grace|date=2020-02-11|website=Colossal|language=en|access-date=2020-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/knitting-enthusiasts-are-using-their-craft-visualize-climate-change-180974231/|title=How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft to Visualize Climate Change|last=Daher|first=Nadine|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-21}}</ref> Electronic literature writer and scholar, Anastasia Salter, uses Tempestry scarves to illustrate the fusion of craft and computation in procedural electronic literature. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salter |first=Anastasia |date=3 May 2020 |title=Electronic Book Review |doi=10.7273/dped-gd56 |url=https://doi.org/10.7273/dped-gd56 }}</ref> ===Works inspired by The Tempestry Project=== Faculty at North Central Michigan College produced a similar exhibit in 2018 inspired by The Tempestry Project.<ref name="millerPN27sep2018">{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Sean |title=Climate change reflected in college fiber art installation |url=https://www.petoskeynews.com/news/local/climate-change-reflected-in-college-fiber-art-installation/article_c13de522-0375-5d93-a620-367adab5349a.html |newspaper=Petoskey News |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926172017/https://www.petoskeynews.com/news/local/climate-change-reflected-in-college-fiber-art-installation/article_c13de522-0375-5d93-a620-367adab5349a.html |archive-date=26 September 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="HLN26sep2018">{{cite web |title=Tempestry Project open house Oct. 5 |date=26 September 2018 |url=https://www.harborlightnews.com/articles/tempestry-project-open-house-oct-5/ |publisher=Harbor Light News |access-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228192445/https://www.harborlightnews.com/articles/tempestry-project-open-house-oct-5/ |archive-date=28 February 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Pennsylvania State University professor Laura Guertin contributed a poster to the American Geophysical Union's 2017 Fall meeting displaying similar works for January through April 1917, 1967, and 2017.<ref name="guertinAGU2017">{{cite journal |last1=Guertin |first1=Laura |title=Utilizing Crochet to Showcase Temporal Patterns in Temperature Records from One Location and to Spark a Climate Conversation |journal=AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts |volume=2017 |pages=PA43A–0315 |url=https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/211193 |access-date=11 January 2019|bibcode=2017AGUFMPA43A0315G |year=2017 }}</ref>

Some fiber artists have created banners similar to tempestries, but using daily low temperatures.<ref name="nandiHT6jan2019" />

===Other climate change art=== Other artists and scientists are experimenting with climate change art as a way to overcome humans' hardwired tendency to value personal experience over data and to disengage from data-based representations<ref name="brookshireSNS5apr2019">{{cite web |last1=Brookshire |first1=Bethany |title=Using art to show the threat of climate change: These seven artists are using climate change concepts in their work |url=https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/using-art-show-climate-change-threat |website=Science News for Students |date=5 April 2019 |access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref> by making the data "vivid and accessible".<ref name="SA">{{cite web |title=Art Makes Environmental Change Real: Experiencing the science of climate change rather than learning about it. |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/art-makes-environmental-change-real/ |website=Scientific American |access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In 2018, artist Xavier Cortada's project ''Underwater Home Owner's Association'' placed signs in front yards throughout Miami, Florida indicating each property's height above sea level to illustrate what sea level rise would flood that property.<ref name="brookshireSNS5apr2019" /><ref name="lescazeNYT22aug2018">{{cite web |last1=Lescaze |first1=Zoe |title=12 Artists On: Climate Change: A dozen artistic responses to one of the greatest threats of our time. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/t-magazine/climate-change-art.html |website=New York Times |date=22 August 2018 |access-date=20 May 2019}}</ref>

[[File:1850- Warming stripes - global average surface temperature.svg |thumb |right |alt=a series of thin vertical stripes in various shades of blue and red, showing more blues at the left end and more reds at the right end to represent global warming |A version of Ed Hawkins' warming stripes, showing more blues at the left and more reds at the right, to represent global warming annually since 1850<ref name=ClimateLabBook_WarmingStripes1850-2018>{{cite web |last1=Hawkins |first1=Ed |title=2018 visualisation update / Warming stripes for 1850-2018 using the WMO annual global temperature dataset. |url=http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/2018-visualisation-update/ |publisher=Climate Lab Book |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417024828/http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2018/2018-visualisation-update/ |archive-date=17 April 2019 |date=4 December 2018 |url-status=live }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20190403013148/http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/files/2018/12/wmo_stripes.png Direct link to image])</ref>]] In 2016, Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the University of Reading, created "climate spirals," an animated series of circular data representations of climate change, and followed in 2018 with "warming stripes", a series of colored stripes representing chronologically ordered temperatures.<ref name="brookshireSNS5apr2019" /><ref name="NCASwarming stripes">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ncas.ac.uk/en/18-news/2935-ed-hawkin-s-warming-stripes-add-colour-to-climate-communication |title=Ed Hawkins' warming stripes add colour to climate communication - National Centre for Atmospheric Science |website=National Centre for Atmospheric Science |date=18 September 2018 |access-date=2019-05-18}}</ref>

In 2015, University of Georgia marine scientist Joan Sheldon produced a scarf illustrating average yearly temperature from the 1600s to the present using one row per year.<ref name="schwabFC11jan2019">{{cite magazine |last1=Schwab |first1=Katharine |title=Crafting takes a dark turn in the age of climate crisis |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90290800/crafting-take-a-dark-turn-in-the-age-of-climate-crisis |magazine=Fast Company |access-date=11 January 2019 |date=2019-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111170955/https://www.fastcompany.com/90290800/crafting-take-a-dark-turn-in-the-age-of-climate-crisis |archive-date=11 January 2019 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2012, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski made ''Chasing Ice'', documenting photographer James Balog's Extreme Ice Survey, which uses time-lapse photography to show the disappearance of glaciers over time.<ref name="SA" />

In 2007, artist Eve Mosher used a sports-field chalk marker to draw a blue "high-water" line around Manhattan and Brooklyn, showing the areas that would be underwater if climate change predictions are realized. Her ''HighWaterLine Project'' has since drawn high-water lines around Bristol, Philadelphia, and two coastal cities in Florida.<ref name="SA" />

===Other fiber data art=== In 2005, the Knitting Map, a European Capital of Culture project in Cork, Ireland, recorded the city's daily temperatures and citizen walking patterns to create a "fiber representation of the city."<ref name="zambelloNPT3apr2019">{{cite web |last1=Zambello |first1=Erika |title=Crafters Work To Create The National Park Tempestry Project |url=https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2019/04/crafters-work-create-national-park-tempestry-project |publisher=National Parks Traveler |access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref>

Sarah-Marie Belcastro uses knitting to explore mathematics, such as knitting a "non-orientable surface of genus 5".<ref name="wardBBC20aug2012">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19208292 |title=Knitting with maths and metal |last=Ward |first=Mark |work=BBC News |date=2012-08-20 |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-05-20}}</ref> Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer call these types of data artists "mathekniticians".<ref name="wooly thoughts about">{{Cite web |url=http://www.woollythoughts.com/aboutus.html |title=About Us |website=www.woollythoughts.com |access-date=2019-05-20}}</ref>

==See also== * Craftivism * Mathematics and art

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.tempestryproject.com}} * [https://www.facebook.com/TempestryProject/ The Tempestry Project on Facebook] * [https://www.ravelry.com/groups/tempestryproject The Tempestry Project on Ravelry]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tempestry Project, The}} Category:Climate change in art Category:Crochet Category:Data and information visualization Category:Knitting