england.

After living in Norwich, Watford, London and Sussex and visiting often since 1995, it deserved its own category.

Lionhearted.

| Betsy

So the 2012 Olympics will be held in London. And there is concern about it ruining parts of Hackney, a shame as Hackney has been on the uptick and it needs help in ways other than what the Olympics can provide. Derelict London offers some pics of the areas in question in Hackney, along with some pretty interesting photos of the non-pretty non-touristy side of London, which most touristy people don’t see. More on this controversy from Hackney locals here and here.

Regardless of that, however, the United Kingdom has run a contest for artists in 9 areas of England (East, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands, Yorkshire) 1 in Scotland, 1 in Northern Ireland and 1 in Wales called Artists Taking the Lead.

About from Realm Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

From the Artists Taking the Lead website:
Artists taking the lead is one of the major projects of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and is being developed by Arts Council England in partnership with London 2012 and the arts councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Twelve commissions of up to £500,000 will be awarded to create 12 new works of art across the country; one in each of the nine English regions, and in the nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The project was launched in March 2009 with a call to artists to submit their big ideas in just 400 words. Over 2,000 artists applied, spanning a huge range of artforms and incorporating some spectacular ideas.

The submissions were judged by panels of artists and producers in each of the nations and regions, to decide the shortlist.

I’m especially excited about the project, Lionheart by “crochetdermy” artist Shauna Richardson. You can see more of her work here and some of her projects here. (For the curious, yes, this is a project related to King Richard I, Richard the Lionheart! You can read more about the connection to him here on the righthand side column of the page.)

East Midlands from Realm Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

All of the projects are brilliant, you can check out the winners plus those who were shortlisted here. For more about Shauna, go check out her lovely website. There is also a post with lots of pics of her over at Crochet Creative.

Thanks for the heads up, Mary via her friend Maggie!

Way to go, crochet!

And completely unrelated, but because I LOVE koalas, and will one day get to pet one and see if they are actually soft, did you know they might be extinct in 30 years? As it may take me 30 years to get to Australia, go learn about how they can be saved, therefore helping them live and me achieve my dream!

Fine Cell Work Selling Exhibition This Thursday!

| Betsy

In or near East London this Thursday (the 19th) between the hours of 1pm and 6pm? Go check out Fine Cell Work’s selling exhibition of their wares! Their new film (below) will also be shown at the event, so hop to it!

Leathersellers’ Hall
15 St. Helen’s Place,
London
EC3A 6DQ

Having seen their work in person before, I definitely recommend going! This charity is one of my favorites the world over. The quilt shown in the video will be part of the V & A Museum’s exhibit Quilts 1700-2010, which will be from March 20 – July 4 2010.

There was a video here but it seems to have disappeared? Keeping the link in case it miraculously goes back up.

Want more?

*A Stitch Doing Time
*Doing Time: Patchwork as a Tool of Social Rehabilitation in British Prisons

Knittin,’ ‘Innit?

| Betsy

Last weekend there was a lovely piece in The Guardian about “yarn storming,” written by a reporter who had seemingly never knitted anything in his life, but was along to see what all the fuss was about with a knitter from Knit The City. After you check out the article, here are some lovely videos of the Knit The City ladies yarn storming around London.





Surely you’re familiar with the US knit graffiti crew Knitta, but what about people that are yarn bombing (storming?) farther afield? Many of the groups knit-tagging all over the world can be found in Yarn Bombing the book, which was released earlier this fall…a book I’ll be reviewing later on this week. (Meanwhile, check out the Yarn bombing Flickr pool!)


Speaking of public acts of craft, as of last Friday 6 of my cross-stitch pieces will be shown throughout November at Cafe Helios in downtown Raleigh, NC!

“Freight Train, Freight Train, Run So Fast.”

| Betsy

After writing about craft since 2003, I’ve found my interests shift dramatically as of late. The crafty cozies and tutes I used to care about, I’m now just “meh” about. To be quite honest, I was really upset about it…as in, What the crap am I going to do NOW? Seeing that it’s been my focus for 6 years, what’s my next step? I’ve been exploring the boundaries and theories and kissing cousins of what I used to love, which has taken me deeper into the reasons why we create what we do, and what bothers us to even pick up a pencil when we could just turn on the tv and stare at it. I’m excited to continue on with this journey with new projects on the go, and looking forward to what new things there are to discover and jump into. This space of exploration is cozy and warm and full of surprises.

Part of this new exploration means making some sense out of the past, so I’ve added a craftivism definition page to things, which I’m hoping may shed more light on this little -ism that’s grown so mighty!

The pictures in this post have been two more of the touchstones I mentioned last week. One of life in early London with the sweaters, the ropes, the boats, the wood upon the Thames. All handmade, all beautiful. And the other a glossary which was included in Harry Gibson’s 1944 album, Boogie Woogie in Blue How words are diffused and scattered into our lexicon, like “hipsters: characters who like hot jazz.” How words evoke a timeline of our histories.

Lately:
*The work of Morwenna Catt
*Top tips from Africa’s entrepreneurs
*The mixed media work of Lauren Porter
*Phillip Toledano’s “America the Gift Shop”
*The loveliness of Elizabeth Cotten’s voice (especially Freight Train)
*Photos from the upcoming Frou Frou exhibition in Weston-super-Mare curated by the lovely and talented Camilla Stacey