Poster Power
Power to the Poster is this ace new site that has heaps of fantastically designed posters on global issues that you can download for free and print in your hood. Heaps of them would make good stickers too.
And the best bit is that you can submit your own posters to the project. So you crazy conscious designers our there should go check out the submit section.
Yay for open source creativity!
We W.A.N.T. No More War
Sorry things have been a bit quiet round here of recent. I had this crazy election thing going on and then as soon as that was over we skipped over to Vanuatu to spend 10 days working with the local community on economic sustainability issues. More on that later when I’ve edited up video and photos! I have some serious craft loveliness from my trip to share!
We’ve also been pretty busy with the Craft Cartel summer market series. We had the first market (in the cold!) on Sunday at the Bicycle Film Festival B.est F.riends F.orever Street Party and it was an extreme amount of fun! Great to meet some new cartel members and awesome to see some mad bike fun going on. The Craft Cartel was sponsoring the market, Art Jam, the Bike Beauty Pageant (which I got to judge!) and the Bicycle Mating Project. Here’s some pics:
This is Dan from Nearly Road Kill with his best bad-ass face on. His belts made from old bike tyres were a serious hit with the BMX kids. This market was made for Dan!
My lovely wee stall set up on a plastic kids table which we grabbed from Savers on the way there!
They had Bike Polo too. It was mental. I actually thought it could be a bit more violent. But they tried their best. And I did admire the sticker on the bike in the foreground of this pic which read ‘One Less Horse’. Nice. If you find the thought of riding around on a bike while chasing a plastic ball to be your ultimate idea of thrillseeking, check their website for training and playing times.
(note the blue skies in that photo for all you who stayed home ’cause of the ‘rain’)
Some of the Craft Cartel crew have been busy over the last couple of weeks attaching gorgeous crafty valentines to bikes all over town. If you found one on your bike and also managed to find it’s matching pair, you could come claim a prize. These two bikes found each other and decided to come to the street party on a date. It got a bit risque…
There’s more pics on our Facewank group if you’re wanting more.
So while the cool kids of Melbourne have been celebrating all the different fossil fuel-free ways to get around and have fun, some crafty Iraq War vets have been bringing attention to the human costs of filling up your car. Called Operation W.A.N.T. (We Are Not Toys), this ace crew went and did an installation at their local gas station to show people just how many US soldiers have been buried during this state sponsored corporate resource grab.
Awesome pics by Jonas Lara
Props Groundswell
So now all my winter business has passed and my summer business is beginning I should be posting a lot more stuff on here. And we’ll be doing more work on the Craft Cartel site so you should get on the mailing list!
Four more sleeps!
For those of you people like me, living overseas, you probably should’ve voted by now. If you haven’t, get on to it quick smart!! I dare say it’s too late to post your vote and faxing is pretty damn expensive I hear. So you might want to check and find your closest voting place. All you aussie-based kiwis can get the voting locations here or check the elections website for the full list. I went and voted in Melbourne last week and I was in and out in less than 3 minutes.
And when all that fun stuff is out of the way, you can come party with us on Saturday at Horse Bazaar, featuring The Nomad! And the best news is that we’ve scrapped the door charge. So yes the rumours are true, this gig will be FREE.
Still not sure who to vote for?
FREE LEX WOTTON
National Day of Action – Emergency Rally
FREE LEX WOTTON!
Free all political prisoners!
Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody!
Jail Hurley and all killer cops!
Rally and March
12 noon
Saturday 1st November, 2008
Old GPO, Bourke St Mall
For more information:
Tel: 03 9388 0062
0419 53 84 25 or 0401 806 331
Initiated by the Indigenous Social Justice Association, Melbourne
If you don’t know about this case I urge you to visit the facebook camapign page and read more about these gross injustices.
Wear it with pride
This is quite a timely post given all the elections flying around at the moment. Typically when one thinks of a rosette, the image comes to mind of a slightly greying man in a grey suit, bad glasses and a slightly worn brown suitcase. He’s just knocked at your door and is trying to convince you that he deserves your vote (power, baubles, junkets) to do absolutely nothing different from the other guy.
Well politics has changed a little bit but the rosette is still a time-honoured tradition of all political parties. A rosette is designed to proudly declare your political view. It says ‘hey look I support this party and I’m a good person so it’s ok for you to support them too’.
A rosette is also used a prize. I’m sure you’ve all got memories of a country fair or a horse show or something similar. The shiny blue ribbon rosette which declares a winner is always worn on a puffed out chest, especially if it’s a first time winner.
Which is why I absolutely adore the new rosettes from Zoe (see podcast episode 5). She has taken a selection of colloquial terms for menstruation and turned them into rosettes so you can wear your moon on your chest!
Zoe has been pretty busy recently ’cause she also co-presented a Pecha Kucha night with Jared Davidson from the Garage Collective. They did 20 seconds each on 20 slides about art and activism. I was hugely inspired listening to this and I totally recommend anyone who is into conscious practice to take 10 and have a listen.
Clever People Rule
Especially clever people that like to hack the crazy world we live in.
Like Evan Roth who has created very thin laser cut stainless steel plates designed to slip in your luggage and cheer up your friendly local customs agent. Getting there is indeed half the fun. I’m wondering if we should get some ‘not a property developer’ plates for our upcoming Vanuatu trip..
The amusing part of this project for me was discovering that the TSA actually has their own blog. And this project did indeed pop up on there, prompting an extremely long and amusing converstion, I recommend a read!
I found a link to Evans project on Wooster, where I also found this nice project:
Genius.
Return of the Ninja
In my last post I promised that I would return back to the radical stitching from the nerdiness. And so I did!
This is what I’ve been working on for the last six weeks:
I loved making the Youth house cross stitch last year, so i wanted to explore the theme a little more.
This one is 32 x 37 cm big and made on 20 stitch/inch Aida.
And lots of other things have happened too, but for some reason or another I haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it. I was invited to the group exhibition Strich und faden in Germany. I wasn’t able to go see it, so it still feels kind of unreal, but it’s been so exciting anyway!
The exhibition itself has ended, but it will be a part of the Berliner Kunstsalon too. So if you’re on your way past Berlin, make sure to check it out!
On a personal note I’ve been in a bad mood lately despite everything good that’s happened, but things are looking up. I’m finally going back to school after thinking about it for years, and I’ve got a new apartment that I love, so it feels like this winter is going to turn out good after all!
Economics without the spin
If you’ve been watching any of the news about the global economic crisis recently you’re probably wondering why all the ‘expert commentators’ are bankers, traders and politicians aka the people that got us into this mess. But if you wany to learn about what this economic crisis is really about and learn about the real solutions to use the economic system to put us on a true path to sustainability, Economics for Activists is the course for you!
Hosted by Karl Fitzgerald who you all know as the host of the Renegade Economist on 3CR, this four-week course is designed for activists keen to get to the root causes of many of the social and environmental injustices we face today.
It’s a four week course starting next Tuesday and registrations are limited and essential. It’s only gold coin so anyone can afford it. Get on over to the Earthsharing Australia website and register your bad ass self today.
xox
Corporate Assistance
Not only are the big banks getting free handouts from the state but petrol stations in LA are getting free PR help!
Genius
props: Wooster Collective
Counting down til Suffrage Day
Anyone who’s been within air shot of me recently would have heard me going on about Suffragettes. I’ve been doing a ton of research into the Suffrage Movement in the context of creative resistance. And I’ve been reminding myself how militant the movement was. And it makes me wonder what fabulous ideas we’re missing out on hearing due to the fear based panic our world seems to be operating on. If the suffragettes were doing their campaign today, the majority of them would be locked up indefinitely as terrorists because they dared to question the state and how the state defines participation in democracy.
You wouldn’t think that exercising your opinion is a crime these days. But try telling that to the 400-odd people, including journalists, that got locked up during the Republican Convention. It is unbelievable that in the supposed land of the free, the government would spend US$50 Million on policing to prevent people from getting out and voicing their opinion. Most of the people arrested were on pre-emptive charges. So they hadn’t even committed a crime, the police just thought they might. And many people were arrested just for attending a concert. Brilliant. In the real world, we call that fascism.
So in the spirit of free speech and celebrating true heroes, let’s all take some time to remember all the freedom fighters in our history that dedicated their lives to ridding the world of injustice. And those who put their bodies on the line to demand equal rights and liberation for all on this lovely planet that we share.
Cat has taken a lead with the awesome pattern of American Suffragette Lucretia Mott at the top of this post. You can download the pattern here. Thanks Cat, legendary!
And if you’re in London, go see this.