The Tempestry Project: Philadelphia Collection

December 12, 2019 – January 11, 2020

The Tempestry Project ( https://www.tempestryproject.com/about ) is a global climate data visualization project through fiber arts, including knitting, crochet, and cross-stitching. A Tempestry is a wall hanging, or temperature tapestry, that represents the daily high temperature for a given year and location, with January at the bottom and December at the top – think of it like a bar graph. All Tempestries use the same yarn colors and temperature ranges, creating an immediately recognizable and globally comparable mosaic of shifting temperatures over time. The Tempestry Project was founded by Justin Connelly, Marissa Connelly, and Emily McNeil in Anacortes, WA.

During 2019, the Schuylkill Center coordinated a collection of Tempestries that showed Philadelphia’s daily high temperatures from 1875 to 2018, created by 30 volunteer knitters and crocheters. The collection was on long-term display at the Schuylkill Center to educate about how climate change is impacting our region. It was on view starting in December 2019, opening with a reception on December 12, 2019. Details on that event HERE.

We created an additional 7-piece collection which is available for loan to organizations in Philadelphia and the region for events, festivals, exhibitions, or temporary display. Please contact us if you wish to borrow the 7-piece Philadelphia Tempestry collection. For more information, please contact Director of Environmental Art.

Read more about our exhibition in the Inquirer!

Photos courtesy of the Tempestry Project