I’d like to share with you a craftivist project my sister Luisa recently completed. Luisa is new to craftivism. She was formally introduced to it at my first craftivism related workshop, “Stitching with Purpose,” that I delivered at Vancouver’s Mini Maker Faire in June. She had no idea what she wanted to stitch—to help with this I had brought several magazines to help participants “jog their memories”. We all have something we care about but sometimes we can come up blank at a workshop. Luisa was immediately drawn to National Geographic—she loves animals—and flipping through the pages she found some sentences that spoke to her and with Donna (my friend and helper at the event) they distilled one of the sentences down to two powerful words:
animals feel
These two words are full of meaning, feeling, and heartbreak as the mistreatment of cattle in one of Canada’s largest dairy farms (in Chilliwack, very close to Vancouver) had recently hit the news. You can read about it here, but I warn you, it is pretty depressing to hear (and see) the despicable acts that human beings are capable of.
Craftivist piece by Luisa Bucci.
Luisa combined her cross-stitched piece with her skills in quilting and appliqué to create a small hanging. The piece is about 7 by 9 inches and has a slot through which you can place a dowel for hanging.
What makes a craft piece a craftivist piece also?
This is an important question. Had Luisa hung her piece at home, it would simply be a craft piece. What she did instead is mail the piece to the owner of the dairy farm in Chilliwack. This is now a craftivist piece. The message is the most important thing and the tool (craft) acts as a mediator that gets you to look at the piece for it’s beauty but is really trying to communicate a message and change something in you.
If you took the Stitching with Purpose workshop I led at Artful Sundays on August 24th and have finished your piece, please send me a picture so I can share it on my blog. Email me at laura [at] laurabucci [dot] com.