Knitch Magazine

For many knitters, it’s a comforting routine: an armful of knitting and a lapful of purring warmth. The feel of a skein, that delicate click of needles, lure cats almost as much as a tidbit of tuna.

One sturdy tuxedo cat from Bangor, Maine, has turned his deep fondness for fiber into a nationally recognized career. Henry, seven, who lives with artist Anita McCormick, transforms pieces of carpet and upholstery-covered furniture into his own interpretations of very modern art. Clawing the fiber into place, shaping it until the result meets his approval, Henry deftly crafts roughly-textured wall-hangings that rival those soft sculptures you’ve seen in fancy offices and downtown lobbies.

“Cats like fabric because it is something they can get their claws into,” said McCormick, who chose Henry, then a pet shop kitten, as a playmate for her resident cat Alice. “I’ve always felt that cats like string and yarn because at some unconscious level, it reminds them of a mouse’s tail. When you knit or crochet, the yarn moves, adding excitement to the game. I’ve seen both my cats’ eyes become wide as they imagine a moving piece of yarn is alive, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and ‘capture’ it.”

McCormick noticed that even as a youngster, Henry was a vigorous scratcher, adding texture to a living room chair and quickly outgrowing a purchased scratching post. But when she began providing Henry with his own materials to work with, whether discarded furniture or strips of carpet nailed to the wall, Henry’s creative streak blossomed. Busily clawing, fluffing and shredding the pieces, Henry took a standard feline talent---testing human furniture and flooring for scratch-ability—and made it an artistic endeavor.

The Bangor public library displayed some of his works last summer, making Henry the first cat artist to hold such an exhibit. He’s been featured in the local newspaper and starred on Animal Planet’s “Cats 101.” McCormick is contemplating a children’s book about Henry, who has his own Facebook page and Twitter account. Henry’s blog includes the gentle admonition to “Save a Paw, Don’t Declaw,” a reminder that cats’ scratching is natural behavior, not something to be cruelly denied. (Henry’s beloved roommate Alice was declawed before she was adopted, and while she avidly watches him at work, Henry laments that she’s unable to create designs like his.)

Henry’s finished wall-hangings can take months to complete, McCormick said. “He only works a few minutes at a time. He really likes looped carpet because it’s easy for him to get his claws into.” Wielding pristine paws that resemble white gloves, Henry swipes into the fabric, creating his signature long loops and whirls, and fashioning 70s era shag carpet into trendy accents.

How does Henry begin his projects? In his own words, Henry admitted that when a new strip of carpet goes up on the wall, he’s all over it. “I like to break it in, first by scratching the entire surface, and then my attention is drawn to some areas more than others. While some humans view scratching as destructive, I see it like the human art of carving wood or stone: when you’re destroying the original surface, you’re creating something exciting and new in the process.”

Like Henry? Become a fan on his Facebook fan page.