craftivist collective

Help Fund the Little Book of Craftivism!

| Betsy

So, the wonderful Craftivist Collective needs your help in writing their book! I’ve given money to this project and fully support and believe in it, and hope you will, too.

To learn more, check out the video below and their words about the book:

What We Need & What You Get

We need £6,000 to produce a small book of craftivism. It sounds like a lot but we want a high quality beautiful thing people will keep and share. It will

explain the and benefit of craftivism for maker, viewer and reciever
have a gallery of things we’ve done for people to do or be inspired to do their own stuff
and a selection of how-to projects
We’ve got all the contents of the book pretty much sorted, and, in the spirit of Craftivism, are dreaming of putting something out in the world that is beautiful, cherished, shared, and inspires people to do something similar. If you have any suggestions of content and style, send us an email.

Cicada Books, the publishing company, are supporting us, by putting up half of the money. That gives us the chance to grow this little book from the roots up. We want your support, and we would be proud to have your name in a list of Craftivists and supporters at the back of the book. Craftivism is a movement, for anyone to be part of.

Cicada specialise in high-end art, craft, and design books. They create quirky, alternative books that reflect the unique voices of the artists. They’re a perfect fit for our small but ambitious project.

Cicada focuses on collaborations with new and emerging design talents from all over the world. the books have a quirky, alternative edge that reflects the individual voices of the artists and writers involved. Cicada captures the essence of movements and scenes in the artworld that are happening right now.

Cicada Books will then put the book together (we’ve already been dreaming about paper stock!), and distribute into bookshops worldwide with the help of Thames & Hudson Publishers.

The Impact

Currently there are no little accessible introductory books to craftivism.

We want to create something that you can leave next to the toilet, give as a cheap gift to a friend, or pick up at the till of an art bookshop. We want people to be able to make their own project, and think about global issues of justice in while putting something beautiful out there in the world.

In the words of the collective ‘A spoonful of craft helps the activism go down’.

We’d like you to help us administer this rather delightful medicine! :)

To see the full campaign and/or fund the book, go here: www.indiegogo.com/littlebookofcraftivism

How What Needs You Finds You, via Side by Side and Stitched Stories!

| Betsy

I have two videos to share with you today!

The first is an interview over at the always brilliant Craftypod with Tsia Carson and her daughter Cedar on their new book, Side by Side. From the interview:

Sister Diane: “In the craft book market for kids, what things did you see missing?”

Tsia: Well, a lot of things, because most craft books for kids are built on the idea of keeping your kid very busy while you go and do something more fun than hanging out with your kid. And there are very few books that are actually about hanging out with your kid and having that be a lot of fun.”

How great is it to have a craft book that is ALL ABOUT hanging with your (or someone else’s) kiddos and making fun stuff?! I love that the book involves stuff on both skill levels so both adults and kiddos can have fun making stuff that they both enjoy making! Yay!

And, speaking of making stuff… Here’s a lovely video called Stitched Stories: A Tale of Subversive Stitchers that weaves together the stories of Sarah Corbett’s work with the Craftivist Collective and the work of Fine Cell Work.

Sarah’s comment that, “I felt like a lot of people were looking at me like I didn’t fit into their activism group” was very poignant to me because we all feel like we need to belong somewhere… but what if that “somewhere” doesn’t exist? You have to create it yourself, no? And by using craftivism, she allowed people to find her, vs. the other way around. “…People have to come up to us, we’re stitching, so we’re not scary.”

Neil, a Fine Cell Work stitcher, speaks to how he found stitching:

When I arrived at prison, I saw a poster up saying “Tapestry,” and I was conscious that I wanted something to do, because there’s a lot of time locked up in the cell with nothing to do. So I thought, “Well, that’s something I’m sure I could have a go at. I often watched my wife doing cross stitch and thought, “Well, tapestry, it’s similar,” and that’s how I got started.

What I like about these two videos is that they are perfect examples of how if you keep your mind and your heart open and your curiosity keen, what you need will find you. You’ll discover what you need to do, where you need to be, what needs to be created in this world, instead of feeling helpless because you don’t know where you belong or should be.

And that’s perhaps what I’m most thankful for regarding craft and craftivism, for it finding me, when I wasn’t sure where I need to be.

What about you? Has anything made any particular resonance with you and found you along the way?

Craftivism, Angela Davis and Craft as Therapy

| Betsy

This lovely image was sent to me by a lovely Swedish woman named Julia who is working on a film about craftivism and DIY. If you have any projects you’d like to share with her, or have ideas on who she could contact in Europe, you can contact her here.

I love this image of Angela Davis that she sent because not only is it beautiful, but it also speaks to the many different ways that people see craftivism. In a word, it’s a celebration. A crafty one, if you will.

Lately I’ve been tooling around with the idea of craftivism for the self, a sort of activism for the self, wherein one can right themselves with creativity and work through various problems, crises, episodes, occasions, etc. etc. I’ve mentioned it over on Twitter a several times and there has been quite popular response to more exploration of healing yourself through craft. (If activism is bettering a cause that you care about, why can’t it not be about yourself? Because in order to best help those -issues and people- that you care about you have to be your best self, no?)

I’ve even wondered about what to call such a thing. Cinnamon suggested perhaps CraftEsteem on Twitter yesterday, which I thought was quite lovely? And I had an idea that I’ve talked with Carrie about regarding depression and solitary confinement in prisons, which is still in a thinky think stage. Maybe you have some good ideas on this, or are interested in hearing more, or just dig the idea that one can do a piece of work featuring Angela Davis and include it in the realm of “craftivism.”

No matter which, I’m glad you’re along with the ride with me after I’ve popped out, cleared my head, and decided about where I want to move forward. Because there are so many people championing craftivism (to name a few with craftivism in the name: Craftivist Collective, Wellington Craftivist Collective, Project Craftivism, Craftivist! AMAZING!) these days (which is mindblowingly awesome) that I needed to take some time out to think about how I can best help this little -ism move forward in the world on the Good Ship Craftivism and I’m thinking that delving more into the therapeutic, psychological, mental health side of things is where I need to go next.

Perhaps you’ll see it fit to join me and/or tell like-minded others?

Love,
Betsy

Craftivism in the News This Week… Suh-weet!

| Betsy

Text from here. Photo from here.

On Monday I got an email, followed by a phone call with Bill Harris who works for the city.

He was very nice, and said the city’s hands were tied and they tried to find a way to keep them — but they have to go.

Councilmember Lorie Zapf is collecting emails of support at loriezapf@sandiego.gov to show community backing and find a way to keep them in Clairemont. Send her your story, and let her know how much you like them!

Bill Harris gave me this statement to post:

The City is forced to announce that the Stop Sign Flowers must come down. Even with the great community spirit this effort has generated, there are just too many restrictions to overcome. City staff looked through state law and local policies trying to find some way of allowing the flowers to remain in place. Unfortunately, particularly with traffic control signs and including all other City assets, there is just no way to retain the works where they now are.

We hope that the flower-makers will work with other site owners – private businesses, other agencies, business improvement districts and community groups – to find new homes for the flowers. This is a fun program that should easily capture the imagination of our communities in other, less restricted, locations.

City crews will not remove any of the installations for the next ten days unless they become a hazard. It is hoped that those who originally installed the flowers will take that time to remove and preserve the work. Following the ten day period, City crews will be instructed to remove and dispose of anything affixed to City assets as it is seen or reported. The yarn and leaf structures cannot be saved when removed by City staff.

I will be available to answer specific questions about the City’s direction via email from billharris@sandiego.gov

For a map of San Diego street flowers go here.

See how you can make more here.

One of the sweetest things about this project is that the self-proclaimed “knitting guy” started to learn to knit “to teach my daughter. She received a “learn to knit” craft kit as a present, but the instructions were sparse and hard to understand. So, I decided to learn how in order to show her. I had thought about learning for a few years, so this was just the push I needed. That was about four years ago, and we have both been knitting off and on since.”

Also, there have been several awesome articles online about craftivism lately:

*Stir to Action piece from the Wellington Craftivism Collective
*Crafting the Future We Want over at Tck Tck Tck
*A lovely interview with the lovely Craftivist Collective over at HUCK magazine

And if that isn’t enough, and you’re STILL feeling crafty, go check out the the Blood Bag Project. Click the pic to see the gallery of submitted blood bags. You can also follow the project’s progress here

Now go and make somethin’ now, won’t ya?

x

Craftivism is starting a conversation

| Betsy

The quote below was written by Sarah Corbett regarding the work of the always inspiring Craftivist Collective, which she posted on her Facebook page yesterday.

Just heard that one of the Craftivist Collective prints was bought for a banker and the banker emailed the giver to say thanks providing a good discussion starter with his wife. Hopefully, those discussions will turn into action and challenging the bank system from within.

This is the heart of craftivism.

Changing the thoughts of those against you, moving outside of preaching to the choir.

In keeping with a metaphor: When you’re preaching to the choir, no one new gets to heaven. I.e., you may be working, but not working hard enough.

As Craftivists, crafters, artists, one of our roles is to make people think. All kinds of people, especially those that disagree with us. As the CC quote mentions above, our pieces can work as “conversation starters,” meaning it allows both sides to enter a conversation, not a shouting match.