activism + protest.

The positive side of things, because after all, activism is not a 4-letter word.

Why To Pay Attention, via War Boutique and Carrie Reichardt

| Betsy

Last December when I was at Carrie Reichardt’s (amazing) house* in London, she showed me some of the pieces of work she had by her friend War Boutique. I was amazed at the way he incorporated his knowledge learned from creating “armour systems for the government,” into his art practice using, as he notes in the video below, Kevlar, ballistic nylon, chain mail, stab vests. There’s more about the origin of his work here.

While you should watch the whole video, as it’s brilliant, one thing he says spoke out to me the most, “In today’s society, there’s so much wrong with society, to me, that’s the role of the artist… to try and keep that highlighted and not let it drift away and become yesterday’s news.”

It’s our (whether you call yourself an artist, crafter or maker) role to make sure people pay attention. Our (collective!) role.

War Boutique Artist Profile from Alex Buckley on Vimeo.



And speaking of Carrie, she currently has a show up at Ink’d in Brighton until April 10, which you can read a review of over at Spindle. The show is called Mad in England, a show about which the Ink’d website notes (click text to read more):

UK renegade potter and leading anarchist Carrie Reichardt will be bringing an eccentric twist to all things British at Ink_d Gallery. As we built up towards the media mania of The Royal Wedding Reichardt has decided she just can’t take it anymore – and this show represents the Great British Empire as ‘Cruel Britannia’ through her unique anarchic vision.”

If you can’t get to the show, you can still own a bit of “Mad in England!”I recently received my specially made mug for the Kate n Wills Royal wedding next month in the mail that Carrie created for the occasion. While it does contain a 4-letter word not suitable for the kitchens of some, it looks quite proper sitting on my kitchen shelf.



*Seriously her house is amazing. They did a 4-page spread on it in The Guardian last year. See the original Guardian article here, and complete with photos over here. (And yes, there is a little blurb about Garth Johnson, Craftivist Collective and I down at the bottom of the article. Way to go, eagle eye!



JR, Women, Strength, Our Own Two Little Hands

| Betsy

The trailer for JR’s Women are Heroes and his TED talk.








There are no words for the beauty, depth, perfect timing, honesty of this work. I dare you to tell me art (craft!) can’t change the world. I dare you.


Your hands, your two little hands, have more power than you may ever even know.


So, today, go challenge yourself. Go find out what changes you can make. For yourself, for your neighbors, for your friends, for the world.


Not sure where to take the first step? Go check out JR’s international (free!) project: Inside Out.




It’s a Railway Adventure!

| Betsy

And who doesn’t like adventure?!

From Sarah over at Craftivist Collective:

Craftivists hold protest stitch-ins at railway stations across the UK- please support them! :)

At 1pm on Saturday 10th April craftivists across the UK will join a nationwide protest to demand a halt to rail fare increases. Currently the coalition Government plans to hike fares by 31% over the next 4 years. This is a huge issue and the Craftivist Collective would love you to support them.

The Craftivist Collective are supporting Climate Rush on the Railway Adventures campaign. Hundreds of craftivists (activists who protest using scissors, thread and fabric) will converge on railway stations across the UK for a super cute kitsch protest picnic and stitch-in. They will be creating 4inch deep x 7inches wide fabric train coaches covered with statistics, facts, quotes and consumer views on our Government’s carbon-friendly transport policy, whilst drinking tea, eating jam sandwiches and talking about the issues. The various panels will be collated into a petition-train which will be taken on a Fair Fare Railway Adventure on Saturday 16th April. It will be delivered to Philip Hammond MP (Minister for Transport) by direct action group: Climate Rush.

So far we have craftivists coordinating stitch-ins in
Brighton, Hastings, Coventry , Birmingham, Dorset,Leeds, Bristol, London, Manchester, Devon andCornwall.
If you want to do coordinate a stitch-in near you please email craftivist-collective [at] hotmail dot com

Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Transport, said:
“Whether we like it or not, the ability to travel point-to-point on an individually-tailored timetable [i.e. in a car] is one of the great quality-of-life gains of the second half of the 20th century.”

Sarah Corbett, Founder of the Craftivist Collective, said:
“As the Craftivist Collective we are passionate about showing our love for local and global neighbours. These unfair fare increases will stop people using trains when we need help keeping our carbon footprints down. The increases will hit people living in poverty the most and stop them getting to their jobs and alienate them even more from society.

“Short-haul flights and cars shouldn’t be the cheapest most convenient option. Philip Hammond MP wants to hike fairs a massive 31% over the term of this Government. We’re here to demand fair fares and a sustainable alternative.”

On Saturday 16th April Craftivists with join Climate Rush on a Railway Adventure. For more information please visit: Railway Adventure.

Hijacking Valentines Day to Love the World

| Betsy

Despite the fact that it’s February 12, and Valentine’s day is in 2 days, I really wanted to share this amazing project that the wonderfully awesome Craftivist Collective is doing this year! So, if you have some extra time this weekend, whip up a batch of cards and participate. Alternatively, all this to your calendar for next year or take some tips on how to do your own rad craftivist acts!

Many people will receive an unexpected Valentine this year, courtesy of crafty activist group Craftivist Collective, who aim to hijack Valentine’s Day. For the third year running, the collective will be hiding alternative Valentine’s letters and gifts in public across the UK including London, waiting to be found by unsuspecting members of the public and provoking them to think about the effects climate change is having on our global neighbours on this special day.

Cult jewelry brand Tatty Devine have donated a design to Craftivist Collective, which the group have crafted into keyrings. Each hidden letter will contain a keyring featuring the design.

Comedian Josie Long is also involved in the project, starring in a video which shows you how to make your own keyring and Valentine letter. “It’s so much fun, it’s so easy, and anyone can do it!” says Josie.

The hidden letter isn’t your usual bland message of love – the Craftivist Collective aim to raise awareness of people around the world affected by climate change despite having contributed the least to the problem. The letter reads:



To my Valentine,

Every year February 14th comes around and provides us with a beautiful opportunity to show someone we care about them: most of the time we direct that love at just one person. This year I want to encourage you not to limit that extraordinary capacity we have to just one person, but to love the world. Join us in hijacking Valentine’s Day and show that the world is your valentine.

I don’t want your box of chocolates, card or flowers. Actions speak louder than those. In return for my love letter and gift to you please show your love by taking action:

In the name of love, brighten up someone’s day and remind them of our global community and inspire them to get stirred up to think about how the poorest people in the world are being affected by climate change, despite having contributed the least to the problem.


You can find the Tatty Devine keyring template, a how-to on making your own keyring, and an alternative Valentines letter template on the Craftivist Collective’s website at www.craftivist-collective.com.

So keep your eyes peeled this February 14th, and you might find love where you least expect it.

Just Whose Craft Is It?

| Betsy

A few slides from my talk in Oslo the other week.

I’m putting them here, because the first slide, to me, is the crux of what craft’s all about. It’s a dividing line of sorts, that makes people argue if craft is this, or if craft is that.

Is craft more populist? Or is it about honed skill?


I vote for the people.


The bottom two slides are a quote and a photo from the Wise Fool Puppet Intervention.






If you happened to be at the talk or just are curious about what aspects of punk and DIY started my interest in DIY craft, it mainly came from Riot Grrrl.

These two videos were ones I was going to show the students, but wasn’t able to. Both clips from the documentary Don’t Need You: The Herstory of Riot GRRRL.

1. Don’t Need You trailer
2. documentary clip



To me, that’s what’s craft is all about. Raw emotion, raw creativity, raw issues transformed into something heartfelt, beautiful and, yes, of the people.