Learn how to crochet a coral reef. The Downtown Youth Department has a brilliant, and hands-on crocheted coral reef for little children to play with that was created by local crafter, Beth Battey. Beth will teach the technique of hyperbolic crochet originally developed by Dr Daina Taimina, a mathematician at Cornell. In 1997 Dr Taimina discovered how to make models of the geometry known as "hyperbolic space" using the art of crochet. It turns out that many marine organisms embody hyperbolic geometry in their anatomies - among them kelps, corals, sponges, sea slugs and nudibranchs. Thus the Crochet Reef not only looks like a coral reef, it draws on the same underlying geometry in the oceanic realm. This class is recommended for those with intermediate crochet ability.