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Controversial Double-Headed Elephant Heads to Christie’s!

| Betsy

I was sent the following by my friend Carrie Reichardt last night, and really think it’s worth spreading the word about. For more pics (at a larger size, too!) and to contact Carrie, see Carrie’s website.

I love how Carrie and Nick’s work embraces the issues directly, but ultimately allows them both to back off from the creation itself as it (literally) stands in public view for passersby to make their own conclusions. It’s in that self-reflective space where someone views a craftivist work and is allowed to digest and think about a work without interruption where the (positive) revolution and change and real work begins.

Controversial double-headed elephant goes to auction this week at Christie’s in Milan

A leading spokesperson for the ever growing craftivist movement and renegade potter Carrie Reichardt, otherwise known as The Baroness, will this week see her controversial mosaic elephant sold by Christie’s in Milan to raise money for the global elephant parade charity.

The elephant was made in collaboration with Nick Reynolds, harmonic player in the cult activist band Alabama 3 and son of Bruce Reynolds, the master mind behind the great train robbery. It is part of a growing trend, started by the Cow Parade in Zurich in 1998 of getting artists to decorate resin animal sculptures that are exhibited in public places before being auctioned for charity.

Reichardt and Reynolds unique double headed elephant was originally called ‘Bunga Bunga’ – in reference to the then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s alleged sex parties. The name was considered far to political for its organizers so Reichardt was forced to changed the name to Little Miss DMT, (the drug she credits with giving her the vision for the pieces highly intricate mosaic pattern .), It is one of 50 elephants that have been on displayed through out Milan for the last few months. Little Miss DMT has been taking pride of place in front of the Triennial Museum of Modern Art.

The devil they say is in the detail, and as with most of Reichardt work, it is in the detail where the controversy lies.

As Reichardt says; “The only reason, I and Nick take part in these large charity events is because they allow you to make public art that is totally uncensored. You find that when you work for free, rarely anyone actually checks what you are doing, so you end up with total creative freedom.”

This creative freedom, along with Reichardt and Reynolds sheer craftsmanship has allowed them to recently exhibit some extremely contentious work in the public realm. Banksy may boost of getting his ‘subversive’ work into the mainstream galleries , but it is doubtful that even he could pull of such an audacious sited piece as their ‘Trojan Horse’ at Cheltenham Races last week.

As Greg Wood of the Guardian pointed out:
“’Trojan Horse’, by Carrie Reichardt, had a skull for a face and, in Reinhardt’s words, “some pretty hard-hitting facts and pictures about the abuse that the horse has had to endure at the hands of man” presented as mosaics on its body. These included a much-used statistic from the extremist animal rights group Animal Aid on fatal injuries to racehorses, a fact which suggested to some observers that the course should have paid more attention to Classical literature. A Trojan horse, after all, is generally best left outside the walls.”

So it was through craft and altruism that they managed to get their fiercely anti racing and anti blood sport piece on display along with 9 other similar works at Cheltenham National Hunt Festival last week. This life size resin horse was re-sculptured by Reynolds, and then mosaic in ceramic tiles printed by Reichardt. This included gruesome imagery, including a fox being torn apart by hounds and horses hanging in abattoirs with figures explaining that up to 10,000 in the UK will end up as horsemeat. If attacking the racing and hunting fraternity wasn’t enough, both the front two panels of the horse depict mounted police baton charging students from the recent protests, explaining the cruelty involved to the horse in such a situation.

It was not surprising then that this ‘Trojan Horse’ failed to get a single bid, when Cheltenham art museum attempted to auction it from the races last week to raise money for the RLNI.

As Reynolds wryly said, “Its not easy trying to sell a piece of art to people who approve of a sport that abuses horses, when the piece itself is a testimony to all the cruelty the horse has endured by the hands of man.”

Both now hope that some wealthy animal rights supporter will purchase the piece and donate it to a public museum so that the piece can remain in the public domain.

Hopefully in Milan, Christies will have more luck selling their elephant. But following Berlusconi resignation, and scenes of students rioting on the streets, this might prove difficult as they will be attempting to sell an elephant that has ‘La Rivoluzione e’ora (the Revolution is Now) mosaic on to all four ears.

Reichardt remains upbeat though…

“Just my bloody luck, Capitalism collapses, just as my art hits the art market…..– anyway, as a Craftivist I am much more interested in using craft as a way of spreading ideas and social justice that worrying about how much a piece can sell for.”

With their life–size ceramic sculpture of Liverpudlian Mary Bamber, which depicts the radical history of the suffragette movement, recently being purchased by the newly open Museum of Liverpool, there is always hope that both their horse and their elephant will end up where it was created to be – in the public realm.

As Reichardt is keen to point out….for her the ‘Revolution is going to be ceramicised.”


Whats and Whys, and craftivism meets Parliament

| Betsy

And not the band Parliament, either.

This video is from the folks over at the Craftivist Collective and features one of their recent campaigns.

What I like about this video the most is that it shows the softer side of activism. No smashing or yelling or hatred or breaking things, just some honest voices (from both sides) and some stitches and some explaining of just what this bunting is about.

For me, the personal is political, so while the what people feel passionate about and create craftivist projects for varies, the why does not. The what can be whatever you wish, as long as the why is centered on positive change that helps you, the maker, and them, the viewer. Because ideally, there is no us and them, so the positive force that is behind craftivism should run throughout, creating positive change for us all.

And might this positive change be? It could be picking up a needle right there and doing some stitching or listening to what people have to say or questioning the methods and having an open dialogue or taking the experience with you and just letting it in. Sometimes you need to act NOW and sometimes you need to listen and digest what’s going on to really take in someone else’s passionate thoughts before acting on your own. Kind of great, huh?

The caveat? Once those thoughts have been digested, they still might not agree with you or your methods. They may think it’s all a big waste of time or silly or wondering why you stitched some little thing instead of playing football or having a drink or reading the paper or taking a nap. But, that’s not the important part here. The important part is that you made them think about your actions via positive means. Whether for a minute or a year or a second or a week, the message of positive activism was there and present, it’s up to them to do the work.

Turning Crafts Into Teaching Tools

| Betsy

If you’re a refugee in a foreign country and are trying to navigate around town, you might not be aware of local customs, hazards, warning signs. While I could write all day about this (and actually do quite a bit of research on this already on countries with high illiteracy levels), I wanted to share this story before I went to work this morning, so forgive me for relying on quotes from others instead.

In the absence of words, the Hmong used story cloths (see quotes below for more info) to tell their own stories of their experiences in their homeland. Stories that are not generally depicted on a needlepoint pillow like the ones your grandmother has on the couch.

Without written language, they used story clothes to preserve their history. Women sewed images of their devastating stories of crossing the Mekong River to Thailand from Laos, or flying overseas to America for freedom.

Paj ntaub or “flower cloth” is a textile art traditionally practiced by Hmong people. It involves embroidery in applique, reverse applique and batik designs that are used to decorate clothing and accessories. Paj ntaub has also expanded to include “story cloths,” stitched stories often telling of the Hmong exodus from Laos to Thailand and even to the U.S.

So, ingeniously, the staff at the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter (where there is a large Hmong refugee community) found a way to show off these needlepoint skills and help the community navigate their new lives simultaneously.

Create new story cloths as a teaching tool for those in the Hmong community who are illiterate.

Each of the panels in the story cloth shares a different set of safety skills. “The winter weather panel shows images of Minnesota winters, including an icy lake and a car stuck in a snow bank, while the summer safety panel reminds people to wear lightweight clothing instead of traditional layered Hmong dress,” said Chau Vue, Hmong/South East Asian Outreach Coordinator with the Twin Cities Area Chapter, who shares these safety messages with the local Hmong community.

Imagine the possibilities here for countries with high illiteracy rates and taking cultural skills that are already there and transforming them into teaching tools. Perhaps my favorite example of this is the Mapula Embroidery Project in South Africa (more here and here).

And conversely, imagine the possibilities if we discovered more about what story cloths and other tapestries made by highly illiterate communities can teach us about their cultural experiences, cultural memory, histories, hopes, dreams. My favorite example of that are my biggest love, biggest question mark and biggest dream for writing more about, Afghan war rugs.

We often think we’re so advanced and cultured and technologically advanced, and we’re so often focused on moving forward, that I think we forget that there are great lessons to be told and stories to be shared and secrets to be uncovered when we drop our iPhones and laptops and headphones, and take a minute to learn (really learn) what stories are being told with little more than needles and thread, words optional.


Emerge, Plus, Have Not Run Off With Monkeys!

| Betsy

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated here in awhile. That’s been due to two things…


1a. Working on some projects not directly related to craftivism, one of them, some communications work with the amazing non-profit seen in the video above, Emerge, which helps young sexually abused girls in Sri Lanka start their own jewelry businesses.

1b. There are other projects I’ve been working on, too, which will surface publicly soon! Yay!

2. Taking some time off the internet entirely, after being told I was misdiagnosed and given medication that made me worse for fifteen years! Although have been knocked a bit back by some allergy problems, have been enjoying finally having the energy to do things once again… some of them for the first time this century. (Krikey!)




While the time off has been pretty great, it’s also reminded me how much finding craft a decade ago has helped me redirect, reshape (and in many ways) rediscover my own life, so will be back on a more regular basis soon. When I started writing about craftivism, this crazy compound notion I came up with in 2003, I had no idea it was going to grow in so many different directions and mean so many different things to so many different people. It’s been so amazing! But it also means reworking what it means to me now in 2011 now that so many other people have found it has meaning in their own lives too. Now that it’s no longer just me touting a rogue idea, but something that has been written about and practiced by people around the world, this time off has been important to really figure out in what direction I need to go to with craftivism now that it’s come into its own.

So, I guess what I’m saying is, I’m still here, and that I’ll be back soon. I just needed some strict time away to refocus on my life outside craft and technology, in order to figure out the best way to go forward within them.

x



Soldiers, Crafts and Comfort

| Betsy

I know that many of you, as have I, have donated various items of handcraft to soldiers currently in country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ever since World War I, there have been initiatives like Knit Your Bit from the Red Cross. Actually, knitting for soldiers started even earlier than that, but that’s another story for another day.

But here’s a story about quilting and war. It’s about how a mother and daughter started an Iraq quilting bee for soldiers who have since learned various handcrafts. In the video below, there’s also a photo a light blue elephant crocheted by a very manly looking doctor in uniform, and the story of how this was started.





What I like best about this story was that it not only showed how a tiny idea (a soldier in Iraq requesting fabric from her mother) can grow into something bigger, but it also showed how sometimes (religion aside) there’s both a need and an interest in picking up something like crochet or quilting where you least expect it.

Instead of making something for the soldiers to use as comfort, this particular project uses craft itself as the comfort. And this perfectly dovetails with some thoughts I’ve been struck with lately… how sometimes the act/lesson of craft itself can be a more apt gift than the final product and how new valuable (for others not just ourselves!) projects can find us if we’re willing to just listen and be present.

I don’t know about you, but usually when I start something so small I feel like it’s useless, I’m focusing on the wrong end of the stick (the needle? the hook?). I’m focusing on what I think it will give vs. focusing on the joy and excitement and energy the project itself brings.

I forget how letting go of the outcome allows projects the room to fully expand and go where they need to. So today, here, is a little reminder to follow the joy your work brings… and to honor the work itself by giving it the space and the trust to change, move and grow.