Dose # 71:Knits & Nets 3: Tatyana’s Knit Garden

Today, a biologist uses her knitting skills and her intimate knowledge of nature to make anatomically correct renditions of flowering plants…

Dose # 69-75- Knits & Nets

Dose #71:
Knits & Nets 3: Tatyana’s Knit Garden
The Art of Tatyana Yanishevsky

The Idea: artist uses yarn and wire with her masterful knowledge of Biology and crochet to make lovely nature-inspired sculpture

Tiger Lily
by artist Tatyana Yanishevsky
yarn, steel
2011
60” x 60” x 50”
Photo by Karen Philippi

Tatyana Yanishevsky: The Knitting Biologist 

“A Soviet-born artist living in the United States, Tatyana Yanishevsky’s work draws strongly from the natural world and is informed by her training and experience as a biologist. Her main body of work, The Knit Garden, is a collection of anatomically correct botanical forms created out of yarn. Each piece is hand-knitted using a variety of fibers, colors, and stitches to re-create the various organs of the plant, and the knitting process, stitch by stitch, conceptually mimics plant growth. Her sculptures vary in scale and range in form and style from realistic toward abstraction.” Info from BBG

Anatomically Correct Passionflower
by artist Tatyana Yanishevsky
yarn
2004
36” x 36” x 28”
Photo by Megan Jones

DDoA: How did you get into knitting and knitted sculptures? Are you pursuing your art projects alongside your career as a biologist or are you a full-time artist now?
TY: I taught myself how to knit and was studying Botany at that time, so somehow it made sense to start knitting flowers.
I am not a full time artist. I have another job in technology/engineer/science and pursue my creative work part time.

 
DDoA: What do you find similar/different between the practice of science and art?
TY: They are one and the same! Both require a lot of thought, attention to detail, creativity, passion, and troubleshooting.

 
DDoA: What is your message to folks who are contemplating on shifting to art from other professions?
TY: Go for it, though it can be hard. I do not make a living off my artwork, so I may not be the best person to ask, though the plan is to get to that point.

Anatomically Correct Hibiscus
by artist Tatyana Yanishevsky
yarn
2005
45”x 45” x 32”
Photo by Megan Jones

Check out her recent group exhibition “Knit, Purl, Sow” at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Learn more about Tatyana & her art, visit her website

See more of her collection “The Knit Garden”

So do…take inspiration from Tatyana Yanishevsky, the knitting biologist – do not let your passion for nature be limited to pure admiration — express it in creative ways and share your bliss with the world!