The Best of Creative Computing Volume 1 (published 1976)
Evelyn Roth (art, canopy, and clothing from used videotape)
EVELYN ROTH
Who is Evelyn Roth you may ask. Born in Mundare, Alberta, Evelyn grew up on a
little "cow-wheat-chicken" farm and attended a one-room school until the age of
fifteen. She then moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where she completed her education
and began working in libraries, taking dance and fencing classes and designing
clothes.
ln 1961, she moved to Vancouver and became part of INTERMEDIA, a group of
artists, musicians, film makers, and dancers who shared both common ideals and
work space. In 1969, Evelyn worked with the University of British Columbia
School of Architecture on a six-month project in Venice.
On her return to Vancouver, she began to channel all her artistic efforts into
sculptural-wearables (multi-functional clothing) and dance-theater events. All
of her sculpture-wearables are loosely knit from soft, flexible materials to
provide both sensuous enjoyment and maximum flexibility to the wearer. Her
ecological and environmental awareness and concern is reflected in her choice of
materials. Working primarily with discarded fabrics, Evelyn Roth transforms
throwaways into objects of fantasy and invention.
Why, you may wonder, is CREATIVE COMPUTING writing about Evelyn Roth? Because
Evelyn has found a new, unique use for both video tape and computer tape. Video
tape can only be used 300 to 500 times before it loses reproductive quality and
must be discarded by TV studios. Evelyn collects this tape from TV stations in
the U. S. and Canada and crochets them into many articles like hats, bags,
slippers, costumes, car cozies, and canopies. During the month of June 1974,
she, with the assistance of Marion Denny, crocheted a giant canopy (1500 sq.
ft.) using over 1 mile of tape to provide a shaded area in the courtyard
adjoining the British Columbia pavilion at EXPO '74.
Evelyn emphasizes that "the material is fireproof and checked by many fire
marshalls. That's a good point, because most people think it burns like film."
Why not try crocheting a sculpture-wearable yourself out of those reels of
computer tape that are starting to drop more bits per inch than they
retain? Send us a photo of your creation, and we will print it in a future issue
of CREATIVE COMPUTING.
[image] Evelyn Roth at the British Columbia pavilion at Expo '74 displaying her
video tape creations.
[image] Have you ever seen a better use for discarded computer tape than a sun
shade canopy?
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