Photo by PaulSteinJC, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Olek strikes again! Polish-born crochet artist Agata Oleksiak added some color to Lower East Siders’ commute this morning by hanging two pairs of pink camouflage yarn-covered sneakers alongside the many old shoes dangling from wires above the intersection of Broome and Eldridge Streets.

Olek’s knitted street art is a downtown staple by now. In the past two years, the New York transplant has fully adorned shopping carts to cars with her elaborate crocheted designs. The public displays often promote her larger scale gallery projects – such as her an entire apartment covered in crochet patterns, furniture, appliances and all  – but they have also occasionally become large scale projects of their own: in January 2011 she covered Wall Street’s massive Charging Bull sculpture, and in October 2011 she crochet-bombed the Astor Place Cube.

Olek in her crocheted apartment. Photo by HAPPYFAMOUSARTISTS, courtesy of Flickr Commons.

Olek’s street pieces usually don’t stick around for long, so take the time to enjoy them when they pop up. And don’t worry that you’ve missed your chance, because today’s colorful hanging shoes hint that another spree of public works might be on the way this summer to generate hype for her upcoming exhibit at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. Check out the chronological list below of where her work has appeared on the city’s streets and what it has covered in the past few years, and see if you can find out where and what she will strike next!

OLEK’S CROCHET BOMBS

2010

• Intersection of Suffolk and Rivington Streets: bicycle, locked to a post –
  

  Photo by easy mo drew, courtesy of Flickr Commons

  Olek’s crochet street art debut! Later moved to the entrance of Essex Street Market, where the artist had an exhibit.

• Elizabeth Street: car and another bicycle, both parked outside the Christopher Henry Gallery.

• Intersection of Bowery and Delancey Street: children’s bicycle, chained to a street sign.

• Wall Street : Charging Bull Sculpture.

2011

• Stanton Street: bicycle, across from Olek’s exhibit at the NY Studio Gallery.

• 358 Broome Street: image on the side of the building of a girl holding balloons, a tribute to iconic street artist Bansky.

• Northwest corner of Chrystie and Delancey Streets: another girl with balloons image on the side of the building.

• Petrosino Square just off Lafayette Street: children’s tricycle locked to a post.

• Tompkins Square Park: sculpture of a life-sized “walk” crosswalk signal
  

  Olek likes to cover people, too. Photo by See-ming Li, courtesy of Flickr Commons.

  man, created by Scott Taylor.

• Astor Place: “The Alamo,” the Astor Place Cube.

• Rivington and Suffolk Streets: shopping cart, chained to scaffolding at the Clemente Soto Velez Center.

• 147 Orchard Street: another shopping cart, chained to the Volang boutique.

• East First Street and the Bowery: a third shopping cart, chained to a tree.

2012

• Jersey Street between Lafayette and Crosby Streets: four strollers locked to street signs with the combined message “Love and stop lights can be cruel.”

• Broome and Eldridge Streets: two pairs of shoes hanging from the wires over the intersection.

– Paul Bisceglio

As part of their effort to improve pedestrian safety, the DOT has responded to the urgings of Soho residents, community advocates, and government officials and will add “Don’t Block the Box” markings and signage for Broome Street to its 2012 contracts.

The “Don’t Block the Box” campaign, which will encompass Broome Street along the intersections of Mercer, Greene, Wooster, and West Broadway, is a combination of signs and conspicuous “zebra-stripe” pavement designs inside pedestrian crosswalk “boxes.” The area has long be cited as a dangerous thoroughfare during peak traffic hours, due to its access to the Holland Tunnel, and cars are lined up along the street often blocking pedestrian crossings.

(Photo courtesy of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office.)

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was among the politicians who, along with the SoHo Alliance and other community advocates, were intricate in drawing the attention and action of the DOT. At a Jan. 23 rally, President Stringer proposed a three-point plan aimed at simultaneously raising public awareness, and encouraging action from DOT. “When traffic congestion occurs and cars ‘block the box,’ they basically slow down an entire community,” Stringer said.

Additionally, the DOT has confirmed that street crews will begin fixing the broken crosswalks at the intersections of Broome and Green Streets, as well as Broome and Mercer Streets this spring.

While the “Don’t Block the Box” contracts won’t commence immediately (it usually takes about a year to fulfill a contract after it has been added), and the DOT cautioned that not every broken cross-walk may be repaired during this cycle, SoHo Alliance members see these steps as welcome early signs of progress after “nearly two decades of neglect.”

“This neighborhood, which is so vibrant and so exciting, is also being victimized by a traffic situation that is now out of control,” Stringer said. And it seems that the DOT was listening. Although Stringer’s final suggestion (traffic cameras) is still pending approval in Albany, residents of Soho now have reason to feel cautiously optimistic. The coming improvements should afford a clearer path for pedestrians as they venture across Broome Street.