Over a year ago New Craft Artists in Action team captain launched MOLTENi Net Works in Boston. Bringing together makers and players in collaborative exchange, the project aims to create functional, hand-crafted basketball nets for neglected public hoops.

Dr. James Naismith created the game of basketball in Springfield, MA in 1891. He posed a recycled peach basket as the first hoop. Now nets help break a ball’s fall, give players a sense of depth for good aim, and allow refs to see that a basket was made. Beyond these functions, nets add to the audio, kinetic, and aesthetic experience that leave players striving for “Nothin But Net”.

This project is inspired by a mapping process and DIY form of slow production, utilizing abandoned space as a venue. The process aims to build a pro-active relationships between artists, athletes, and neighbors, collaborating on a cure for Empty-Net-Syndrome.

Our nets have since spread as far as South Africa and we've gained increasing interest via workshops, exhibitions, pick-up games, and the internet. Help us bring this structure back to its woven roots and expand the potential for creative expression. We encourage you to initiate Net Works in your city or participate via our google map by logging the lacking courts that you see round town.

Players in the NCAA Division:

- YarnOverTime: Dream team of fiber artists Maria Molteni, Andrea Sherrill Evans, Taylor McVay-Tynes, and Lizzie Curran

- Golden Arrows: goldenarrows.us
Graphic design duo Nerissa Cooney and Alexander Hage

- Publication Studio Boston: publicationstudioboston.tumblr.com
Independent press- Leah Craig, Nate Grossman

- Portable Utopia: portableutopia.org
Kevin Clancy's mobile resource library and social space

- Lily Sheng: lilyjuesheng.com
Video artist

A little about Maria:

Maria Molteni grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, a parochial-school misfit in the bible belt, where Protestants and Catholics settle their differences on the field or court. Aware of her mother’s childhood dismissal from tryouts on account of being “too skinny”, Maria felt fortunate to spend ten years swallowed by team jerseys bearing Air Jordan’s lucky number 23. When asked of future plans, she swore to become an “Art and Basketball Star”. Her neighbors who knew of her love for the game expressed their support, offering one of their own MOLTEN - the official olympic brand- basketballs with a bold black “i” painted on the end.

Upon receiving a Painting BFA from Boston University in 2006, these formative experiences became a source of new inspiration. This anecdote recounting an altered MOLTEN ball  conveniently illustrates the processes and concepts imbedded in what has become an art-informed-by-athletic practice. Maria is interested in Art as an act of gift giving, reassessment of authorship via appropriation, social spectacle, and expression of support/protest by way of DIY, graffiti, and/or hand-made techniques.