craft + activism = craftivism. » on the road.

Hello Again, World.

Betsy — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:28:01 +0000

Some days are awesome. Yet some days you break your blog. And then OTHER days.. you FINALLY figure out how to fix it. Today is such a day!!

Last week I had the pleasure of giving a talk about craftivism in Norway! Above is a photo of the new facilities at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, which were AMAZING! So much space and resources for screen printing, textiles (including an entire room for looms!), graphics and more! Am so flattered I had the opportunity to speak and would love to go back and check out some of their amazing textile and printing equipment… Which the community can use as well. So if you’re in Oslo, go check it out!

Have much to share about my trip along with some experimentations in audio, as the crunch-thwick-crunch sound the snow made as I walked through it was too awesome not to capture!

Also, NOT awesome. The sidebar plug-in showing up on the blog, despite being de-activated. :(

Packing. (With four-legged help.)

Betsy — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:07:23 +0000

Bobbin’s been an excellent packing partner. So helpful, in fact, she actually packed herself. I think she looks quite pleased with her efforts, no? Move into my new apartment next weekend, while working a few hundred miles north during the week. Excited to have everything in its right (new!) place. Also quite excited to be added to the most awesome list of all time regarding environmental change over here.

So, in the spirit of new adventures, here’s a lovely quote via Marimello’s Tumblr. Thanks, Marie! I think it’s the perfectest (sic) quote for moving in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Here’s to letting go, stepping up to meet the sun, and feeling the earth solid and warm beneath your feet.

She let go She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go. She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go. She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go. She didn’t search the scriptures. She just let go. She let go of all of the memories that held her back. She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right. She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it. She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go. She didn’t analyze whether she should let go. She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn’t call the prayer line. She didn’t utter one word. She just let go. No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go. There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was what it was, and it is just that. In the space of letting go, she let it all be. A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…”

-Ernest Holmes

[And, I apologize for all the emails I haven't answered recently that aren't specifically time sensitive. I still love you the most, just swamped and want to reply when I have proper time to answer. And when I do, then you can write back tell me what you've been up to and we can continue like normal and still be friends forever, ok? I am, however, posting sporadically to online things that take less than a minute or 140 characters (and start with T) as I go a little stir crazy when I don't write at all: Tumblr, Twitter]

On the Road: Craftivism in Chicago!

Betsy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:48:27 +0000

This Thursday come join me and Faythe Levine for a discussion on craftivism and a screening of her documentary, Handmade Nation!

Thursday, March 4, 3.30pm
Columbia College
600 S. Michigan Ave, Room 921

Also, if you read Portuguese or just want to see a weird photo of my creepy red bathroom, there’s an interview with me about craftivism in the current issue of Brazil’s Vida Simples magazine over here. Faythe is interviewed about Handmade Nation on the next page over, which you can see here!

Home Again.

Betsy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:59:45 +0000

Back home from Guatemala. Can still feel tiny hands clutching mine. The giant smiles on tiny faces looking up at me and the rapid Spanish? Miss those, too.

As for craftivism, have you seen the article about it in The Observer? It’s about the awesomeness of Carrie Reichardt and her house. Will put up the whole article later as the pics don’t show online… either does the sidebar about the work of Garth Johnson, Sarah Corbett and me! Yay!

P.S. This is also the only photo I will ever upload online of me from the back. I have better ones of the children, but given the rate of child kidnapping in Guatemala (for adoption, sex trade and organs), am not going to put them online. Those mothers have enough to worry about, I’m not going to broadcast their children’s faces on the internet.

Finding Ground.

Betsy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:53:39 +0000

I’m grounded by history.

I’ve been reminded of this many times over the past few weeks as I discover Washington, DC. Passing signs to my father’s old high school, waving to my great-grandmother in Arlington Cemetery (she has a great view of the Pentagon, where her husband worked), hearing stories about my grandfather’s grandparents farm (now a park), hearing about how my grandfather would walk their pony to Tyson’s Corner to be reshod as there was a blacksmith there.

Lately the photo above has been a touchstone. When I was a kid, my grandmother used to tell me about how we were related to the sculptor Daniel Chester French. This photo reminds me of big dreams and creativity and a smidge of hope that it will all look as magical as conceived once fully constructed. I still haven’t found the building that housed the bakery my grandfather’s grandmother owned, but my grandmother has a map.

There’s something about knowing all of this that allows me to sink into the city more, wondering about how our genes and journeys will mix as I wander around eying old buildings and time-tested construction. After moving so often and taking so many trips far and wide, it’s nice to find a spot of ground that feels firm and real and solid under my feet. In thinking about the hopes and dreams and fears and loves and first crushes in my family’s lives as they strolled along these streets to the market, to work, to the doctor, to school, a sense of magic surrounds me. It may seem silly or impossible or mawkish to some, but after feeling so temporary and transient, here, for a moment, this sense of being grounded comforts me deep and true and completely.

****

And for some crafty and otherwise creative links:
*Textile Encyclopedia
*How to hem jeans in 3 easy steps
*The Newly Redesigned Mr. Xstitch! (Great job, Jamie!)
*Guide to Reading Japanese Crochet & Knitting Patterns
*Find where your clothes come from with the Baacode
*The Art of Manliness (Ok, not so crafty as interesting)
*Copenhagen Cyclic Chic (see how to bike in high heels)
*National Museum of African Art archives
*Make softies? How about making a few for Softies for Mirabel
*Awista Ayub’s However Tall the Mountain (what happens when young Afghan girls learn about soccer… and more)