News

Jun 19, 2023

Award

They do a great job keeping our heads warm and can lay claim to being a daggy fashion icon, but does the humble beanie belong in an art gallery? Crochet creator and self-confessed "beanieologist"

They do a great job keeping our heads warm and can lay claim to being a daggy fashion icon, but does the humble beanie belong in an art gallery?

Crochet creator and self-confessed "beanieologist" Meggan Jack, from Tyalgum on the New South Wales North Coast, would argue the answer is yes.

The winner of six first-prize awards at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival lives with chronic fatigue syndrome and has been knocking needles for 36 years.

Her latest creation, Emu Stole My Beanie, took out the acquisition award, which could see it touring Australia as part of an exhibition or being put on display at the Alice Springs Airport.

It features an emu with 30 "mini-beanies" and a needle-felt scene of a spot in northern Victoria where the artist saw huge mobs of the birds as a teenager.

"Every year the beanie fest is there with a theme that inspires me," Ms Jack said.

"I get stuck in to create the mad idea that comes to my head."

Speaking of heads, how do people react when they try the beanie on?

"Oh they're in fits of laughter, you know — they're having a great ball," Ms Jack said.

"The emu has big googly eyes sticking out from his beanie and he's got a beanie that he stole in his beak, and a headband sewn inside to make it stay on your head.

"It's quite a mad-looking hat."