Crafters are making art and helping the homeless by using these everyday things
Art comes in many forms. And it makes us all better, whether we are creating it or viewing pieces in a museum.
One medium I recently learned about is “plarn,” made from plastic shopping bags that are cut and joined together to create a plastic yarn.
At the Senior LIFT Center in Kendall, a group of crafters is making plarn and crocheting it into mats they will donate to the homeless in our community.
Lindy Leftwich started the plarn-making class, which quickly grew from about five to 17 crafters.
“The mats are made out of plastic bags I got from Dollar Tree, Publix, and Winn-Dixie. When I collect them, everyone stops to look at this woman upside down in the recycling bins,” Leftwich said. “Winn-Dixie told me ‘Have at it.’ The Dollar Tree people said, ‘Do what you do with these.’ ”
Bags from other stores, collected by crafting team members, are also included.
Leftwich said the process involves the bags being flattened, cut crosswise into strips, and then joined together so that each strip is a continuous loop. The strips are then crocheted into squares and sewn together with more plastic to make a kind of tatami mat.
It takes about 50 bags to make one 8 x 8 inch square for the mat. Each mat, comprised of about 800-900 bags, is 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. A volunteer usually plays music nearby while the group crochets, Leftwich said.
The LIFT, for Living, Involvement, Friendship, Togetherness, Center is a volunteer-run and managed nonprofit group serving Miami seniors.
A hub for healthy activity and social gathering, the LIFT Center has been around for more than 30 years. It is dedicated to providing seniors, ages 50 and up, with one-stop educational, recreational, cultural and social activities.
Organizers said the pandemic demonstrated how vital LIFT is to providing a place for meeting and enhancing the lives of seniors. Members can take part in many activities including tap, line and Hula dancing; exercise, yoga and Tai Chi; computer, language, ecology and drama classes; pool and ping-pong; bingo and bunko. They can also learn easy jewelry making, and even wood whittling.
The most recent activities are Belly Dancing, the Writing Group and the Creative Hands craft group, which offers the plarn making.
Daily games such as bridge, canasta, and Rummikub also offer opportunities to socialize and make new friends. And LIFT organizes trips to local museums, theaters and restaurants to persuade seniors to get out of their homes more frequently.
Next month, the Center will be open to all when it hosts its Spring Bazaar, 12-5 p.m., April 28, and 9 a.m.-12 p.m., April 29.
To join, visit https://www.seniorliftcenter.org/ or call 305-235-8855. You can also write to seniorliftcenter@gmail.com LIFT Center is at 12480 SW 127th Ave., on the second floor. (There’s an elevator.) The Center is open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Dress up for tea and croquet
Don your favorite Victorian finery, if you like, and visit the Coral Gables Merrick House for an afternoon of tea, treats, talks, displays, exhibits and rounds of croquet from 2-5 p.m., March 26, at 907 Coral Way. Event proceeds benefit preservation and restoration projects.
Speakers include Biltmore Executive Chef Thomas Russo and British Consul General Residence Manager Stella Drabble.
Beautiful tableware and tea accoutrements will be on display including items that once belonged to Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ mother. Other featured items were owned by Althea Merrick and were given to Helen Muir, the 1930s journalist who wrote “The Biltmore: Beacon for Miami,” by Eunice Merrick.
Buy tickets for $65, and learn more at https://MerrickHouseTeaJubilee.eventbrite.com There will be no sales at the door, and attendance is limited for this special gathering at this special historic house.
Cuba-focused exhibit closes April 30
Be sure to check out Turn the Beat Around, The Wolfsonian–Florida International University exhibition with works including movie posters, rare album covers, music scores, vintage photographs, film clips, and loans of Gloria Estefan and Tito Puente’s performance jackets.
“We are thrilled to be presenting this exhibition celebrating the Afro-Cuban roots of the rumba, conga, Latin jazz, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and salsa,” said chief librarian and exhibition curator Frank Luca.
“Turn the Beat Around examines the visual means by which Afro-Caribbean rhythms were promoted in the U.S., forever transforming our musical landscape.” The exhibit demonstrates how 30 years of cultural interplay between Cuba and the United States profoundly shaped the musical traditions of both nations.
The new materials on view, augmenting earlier gifts also made by Vicki Gold Levi, describe the impact of Afro-Cuban music on the American dance music scene.
“I’ve been taken with Cuba for as long as I can remember — I mamboed my way through high school and never looked back!” Levi said.
The Wolfsonian–Florida International University is at 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Visit www.wolfsonian.org
Write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com with news for this column
