counter craft

‘counter craft’ – promote, empower, reclaim, sustain visit full site: counter-craft.org

[demand-progress]

The NSA “is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world.” (Washington Post)

Join us in protesting the National Security Agency’s wide-ranging invasion of privacy.

Take action →

[mediascape]

Wendy did it first.

[counter-craft]

Admittedly reposting from my other blog, but I think it's relevant enough.

[counter-craft]

Megan Canning

Stumbled across the beautiful embroidery works of Megan Canning. Here is a Q&A with Megan posted at Portrait of a Creative. Megan Canning's website. and her fantastic blog Artist Statement: My work investigates the relationship between science and memory, and is directly informed by neuroscience, immunology, anatomy, and physiology (with particular focus on the five sense organs). The human body is a source of inspiration and fascination, as it is the instrument of our lived experience -- both where and how we collect implicit and explicit memories. Hand-embroidery is my primary medium because sewing literally pierces the 'skin' of the paper or canvas, yielding an orderly, clean surface and a messy, chaotic underbelly -- just like the skin is a calm and placid exterior that masks the messy inner workings of the human body. As human beings, we are in a constant state of becoming, of being made by our emotional and physical experiences -- by what we have smelled or touched, what we have seen or heard, where we have been or what we have eaten. My work attempts to illuminate the intricate relationship between the physical body and the individual emotions and memories it gathers over time, inviting the viewer to contemplate their own understanding of what it is to be human.

[jvettiv]

CRAFTIVISM THE GATHERING

Hello friends! If you are in New York the weekend of July 12th, come check out my installation at Craftivism! This show will feature works of some amazing artists from 10 cities across North America. Here is the Facebook event link for more information.

[counter-craft]

And lots more info about this show here: http://www.coralshort.com/craftivism-the-gathering/

[counter-craft]

Hundreds Sickened in Bangladesh Garment Factory

via abcnews: DHAKA, Bangladesh June 16, 2013 Several hundred garment workers were sickened at their factory outside Bangladesh's capital on Sunday, apparently after drinking water there. Police official Mohammad Jahid said many of the workers were treated at various hospitals after the incident at East West Factory in Gazipur district. Jahid said most of the workers suffered vomiting and stomach problems. None was life-threatening. He said up to 4,000 workers are employed in the factory. Earlier this month, contaminated drinking water sickened 450 workers at Starlight Sweater Factory in the same area. Authorities cleaned the reservoir and reopened the factory a day later. Jahid said there has not been any legal action against that factory. A building collapse near Dhaka in April killed 1,129 workers, injured many others and highlighted hazardous working conditions in the more than 4,000 garment factories in Bangladesh. Bangladesh earns about $20 billion each year from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the country's export earnings.

[counter-craft]

Morwenna Catt, textile artist and designer.

via Brian Sherwin at myartspace: Morwenna Catt uses childhood iconography to examine the roots of our desires and fears. Morwenna is interested in using these fractured displays of youthful innocence in order to explore the disparity between the mythologies of childhood and the reality of our world. She examines our collective relationship to objects and memory, nostalgia and psychosis by presenting the recognizable icons of our infancy in a manner that is sometime alarming and at other times disturbingly charming.

[burnt-porridge]

[nickeyrobo]

Minneapolis May Day! Somewhere half way between a spring holiday and a radical workers’ day.  It was a truly magical day.

[austinkleon]

Andrea Dezsö’s Embroidered “Lessons From My Mother”

I met Andrea in San Diego last year and was immediately floored by her work. (Also, being 1/4 Romanian but still knowing almost nothing about Romania, I’m always fascinated by Romanian artists.)

NYTimes:

From afar, the stitching and calming colors looked like the work of a doting grandmother, but up close there were images of vaginas, fetuses and a study of the myths that mothers told their daughters in Transylvania, Romania, where Ms. Dezsö, 39, was raised…

Working in the city has provided fodder for many of her ideas and for her embroidery series, which she stitched while traveling throughout the city. A woman stitching in public is viewed differently in different neighborhoods, Ms. Dezsö found.

“If I’m in Queens, people think I’m a traditional woman,” Ms. Dezsö said. “If I’m in Manhattan, it’s the hippest thing.”

See more of Andrea’s work here.

[counter-craft]

600 Monsters For Connecticut

via Huffington Post: Published 12/18/12

Using the popular knitting site, Ravelry, they started the group “600 Monsters Strong For Connecticut” dedicated to making stuffed animals to send to every student at the school, according to the group’s Facebook page.

So far the group has just more than 1,100 members [now 2,233], and many have been posting photos of their monster creations on one of the group’s threads. There are a set of guidelines the knitters must follow when it comes to stitch pattern and materials used -- but there’s no limit to the level of creativity.

“This is Francis,” Ravelry user myriadflowers posted on a thread showing a picture of her monster that is grey with hints of turquoise. “I picked the name Francis because it’s my dad’s middle name, and this set of muted colours reminds me of him and the sense of assurance and strength he has always given me.”

From the 600 Monsters Strong Facebook Group: Posted 12/31/12

One of the reasons we're happy to see them arrive is that we're starting our work with other organizations to help out kids affected by gun violence. I'm sure you all saw the sad story of the firefighters shot in Rochester, NY recently. At least one of them had small children. We're in the process of getting some contact information for the families so we can coordinate a monster delivery to those kids. Having monsters on hand will make that so much easier and faster! It means our work can really begin, and the reason for that is because you all hav been so incredibly generous in your monster making. We never dreamed we'd be able to help more than just the kids in Newtown.

We are still on call for Newtown, though, so please don't think we're collecting these monsters under that guise, then passing them on to other people. The town is still recovering from the media circus, the funerals and probably dealing with a very, very hard holiday. Our contacts there are still sending positive messages, but we are respecting their privacy, as we will do for ALL the families we work with. We're hoping to get in touch and start coordinating the delivery process after the new year.

Thank you all so, so much for helping us out, and for helping these kids. Know that every monster you send will go to a good home and help a child know there are good people out there.

[octagon-surgeon]

In the Colour Box Studio alley way as part of Footscray on the Edge. 

[counter-craft]

[earth-defender-deactivated20121]

I am so very proud to call some of these amazing people friends and I just wish I could have been there to help on the day. Im definitely going to visit the garden next time we’re in the hills though.

Despite overwhelming protest from the community of Tecoma against a 24 hour McDonalds being built it is still planned to go ahead. So yesterday they planted a community garden on the proposed site, and sent a clear message to the coporation that they are not welcome in the dandenongs! Seriously amazing stuff.

Dont be fooled into thinking you are powerless as to what goes on in your community. Take the power back.

[counter-craft]

Yarnbomber Ishknits in Philadelphia

[staceythinx]

Cells by Laura Katherine McMillan

McMillan on her project:

I began this series of embroideries as a way to fuse my background studies in anatomy and kinesiology with my passion for textile art. Revisiting old text books brought back not just information I would have to memorize for its function but a wealth of beautiful imagery. I began to see the cells as a series of intricate textures and shapes.

Creating this series made me think about how our view of something as merely functional can overshadow its inherent beauty.

[counter-craft]

Foreclosure Quilts - Kathryn Clark

via Kathryn Clark's website: "My previous work as an urban planner made me acutely aware of how big an impact the foreclosure crisis would have on our cities and towns throughout the United States. However, very little was mentioned in the news. It was important to me to present the whole story in a way that would captivate people’s attention and make a memorable statement. Making map quilts seemed an ironic solution. Quilts act as a functional memory, an historical record of difficult times. It is during times of hardship that people have traditionally made quilts, often resorting to scraps of cloth when so poor they could not afford to waste a single thread of fabric. The neighborhoods shown are not an anomaly; they are a recurring pattern seen from coast to coast, urban to suburban neighborhoods across the US. The problem has not been solved, it is still occurring, just changing shape, affecting more of us." For more information read her blog post about the series and an article from The Atlantic. Kathryn Clark worked as an architectural and urban designer for seven years before becoming a full time artist in 2005. A traditional painter and photographer for twenty years, her studio slowly became full of remnants of yarn, wire and stacks of linen and burlap. One day, she put the paints and paintbrushes away, pulled out the fabrics and began sewing and layering thread. Kathryn’s work revolves around the wabi-sabi principles of simplicity and awareness of time. Sewing and weaving express the time and effort it takes to create each piece while emphasizing the simplicity of needle and thread. She also writes a blog to inspire and inform other artists who work in the unique genre called Articraft: artists who use craft in their work and craftspeople who make art: www.kathrynclark.blogspot.com

[counter-craft]

Agustina Woodgate is an Argentinian-born artist now residing in Miami, FL. For the O, Miami poetry festival Woodgate “poetry bombed” thrift stores by sewing poems into the clothes. I found this to be a lighter take on shop dropping. Both the “traditional” form of shop dropping and Woodgate’s poetry bombing create an unexpected moment for the finder. However, instead of commenting on capitalism and/or production Woodgate’s mission is to displace poetry and create an unexpected and happy moment for the finder.