Melissa Maddonni Haims a fiber artist based in Philadelphia. She uses alternative — mostly recycled, reclaimed + rescued — materials, specifically vintage fabrics and yarn, to create large scale crochet + knit installations. While the majority of her work shows in galleries, she has a passion for public art and graffiti. She has been yarn bombing since early 2010.  Her art career began in New York City in the 1990’s, and life led her back home to Philadelphia in 2004, where she lives with her husband and their daughter.

This month, Melissa will be exhibiting a performance installation entitled “Offering” at 3rd Street Gallery. Her show will consist of hundreds of stones covered with crochet, reminiscent of the offerings of rocks and stones left at the feet of deities and on headstones at Jewish cemeteries. As she has explored religious offerings made to the dead in several cultures, she has found that different societies have diverse traditions to celebrate the end of life. While Haims has responded to a death before with her work, this time she takes a new approach by including herself as part of the exhibit. Each day of the show, she will sit and crochet within the exhibition, continuing to add to the pile of stones. Every day the exhibit and offering will grow and change.

Many of the pieces are actual stones, but the majority of the individual rocks are made of recycled materials, most sourced from The Resource Exchange. Much of the yarn as well as the stuffing, which is scrap fabric and foam, was purchased from RE over the last seven months.

Also in May, Haims will install a series of cakes at the Philadelphia International Airport, Terminal D. This exhibit, cake!, will remain in the terminal through the end of the year. The cakes, pictured above, are best described as Dr. Suess meets the Cake Boss. Exciting, fun, and unlike her regular work, these pieces feature precariously placed layer upon colorful layer, piped with crocheted frosting and roses. The cakes are stuffed with recycled fabric and foam from The Resource Exchange, and are created with yarn rescued from thrift shops up and down the east coast. To see more of Melissa’s work, including yarnbombing at Mount Pleasant in Fairmount Park and in Westport, Connecticut throughout May and June, visit her online at melissamaddonnihaims.com.