RADICALCROSSSTITCH

Crafting a new community

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a guest post for the in.cube8r blog. Here it is reposted in case you didn’t see it. And please go check out their site. And even better, please go visit one of their lovely shops!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does” Margaret Mead

In this time of global environmental and economic crisis, the looming challenges can sometimes seem insurmountable, especially considering Australia is one of the biggest carbon consuming countries per capita on our lovely planet.

While the challenge to turn this around may seem enormous, it’s not impossible to meet. One of the most important and effective changes we need to take on is our relationship with stuff. Indeed it is our obsession with material things that is such a massive contributor to our environmental excesses.

While the mainstream media might still be consumed with the debate as to whether climate change is a human-created problem, or even exists in the first place, most Australians are getting on with the job and working towards solutions. From the direct action activists placing themselves between the trees and the chainsaws, to the vast hordes of cyber campaigns, to the school kitchen gardens, to earthships, the solutions are as diverse and inspiring as the communities working on them.

The craft community is no exception. While the same capitalist consumerist pressures exist within the craft world, you would be hard pressed to find a crafter who hadn’t spent some time thinking about the social and environmental ramifications of their making. In fact, many centre their crafting around finding different ways to reuse old materials or to make statements about their vision of the way the world could be.

As a community we are fantastic at cheering each other on. Of all the different worlds I interact with, none is so happy and enthusiastic as the crafters. What we aren’t too hot at is calling each other out on our naughty stuff. What I really don’t see enough in the craft world is crafters questioning the world around them, and their craft within the context of that. Craft does not exist in a vacuum. Issues of sustainability, economics, sexism, racism and cultural appropriation, homophobia and all the other phobias do impact our making. Identifying and challenging those issues need not be scary or dramatic, but it is important to do.

Sustainability is one of the easiest ways to check out our attitudes. For makers, we can firstly ask if we are really makers or are we just consumers and hoarders? We’re all a little bit guilty of stashing, but it’s good to check in every now and then and make sure your stash isn’t requiring a whole house of its own. If it is, the time has definitely come to start being an actual maker again! And of course, it’s important to check out where your supplies actually come from. No point making your own stuff in protest at the sweatshop industry when all your supplies come from sweatshops. Buying less supplies but making sure it’s locally made not only has a big impact environmentally but also makes a significant difference to the local craft community.

One of the harder challenges for those of us makers is to ask ourselves if the world really needs the things we make. There I said it. Yes, there can only be so many fabric covered button badges, beaded bracelets and wall decals. What there isn’t enough of is shoes for school children, menstrual pads for school girls and warm clothes for homeless people. I’m not saying that we have to use our craft to save the world all the time. But we should ask if our craft is directly unsaving the world. I used to make cross stitch kits. But one day I realized I was sending the majority of them to America and it seemed to be a pretty big waste. You can already buy cross stitch fabric, embroidery thread and needles in America so why post them there? Now I sell electronic copies of my patterns instead. It’s a lot less resource intensive and my customers get the design instantly. Not only am I now using less transport miles and packaging, I am providing a better service to my customers. Proving the point of environmental campaigners that doing business sustainably is not only better for the environment, but it’s a smarter way of doing things.

What our world really needs is less stuff. Not in a minimalist, bland boring kind of way. But a surround yourself in brilliant, useful, locally made inspiring stuff way. Crafters and makers have such a brilliant long history of leading the way when it comes to adapting to new environments and demands for better ways of doing things. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see the craft scene leading the way as role models in the environment movement?

However uncertain our future is, one thing we can be sure of is our survival as a species relies on our capacity to get truly creative and embrace the challenges of a post-carbon future. Can’t get much craftier than that!

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Rayna Fahey is a local craft artist. She co-founded the Craft Cartel with Casey Jenkins and runs radicalcrossstitch.com Rayna is a self-described craft evangelist and loves nothing more than finding new ways to combine her love of craft, hanging outside, gardening and subverting the dominant paradigm.

Iramoo!

Tomorrow is the first day of my exciting new adventure, a three month artist residency at the Iramoo Community Centre in Wyndham Vale.  For those of you not terribly familiar with Wyndham Vale it’s right next to Werribee on Melbourne’s South-Western most border.  In fact the community centre looks right out over some classic western basalt plains.

It’s an interesting little suburb.  Some parts old and some parts new, both in houses and in people.  It’s a quiet wee spot but has a really interesting and engaged little community.  It’s very much like my suburb.  One of those spots surrounded in busy bustlingness so often gets overlooked and as a result has a little village feel.

For my residency I’m going to be based in the local environment centre which is tucked away in a quiet street overlooking the delightfully tranquil Lollipop Creek.  I’m going to be up to all sorts of lovely mischief involving different groups within the community and using all sorts of materials from local natural materials through to industrial offcuts from local businesses.  And whatever else I stumble across along the way.

Alongside the environment centre is a giant heavily laden apple tree.  So to kick start the residency I’m going to host a apple sauce making day with locals and anyone else interested in coming.  Details about that soon.

In the meantime, I’d love to ear if any of my readers are out that way.  Or if you know anyone who lives nearby who’d be interested in some craft workshops or just plain ol play time, please pass this on.  I’ll be sending out email newsletters about this project so if you want to be on it, drop me a line.

Radical Craft Intervenes

Sorry for the lack of updates round here. I’ve been busy preparing for an upcoming artist residency! Rest assured there will be regular updates once I get going. In the meantime, I was a featured artist in the latest Creative Spaces enews.

Check it out:

Rayna Fahey took up craft to ease the boredom of being confined to the house during a difficult pregnancy five years ago. Cross stitch was the most tedious activity she could think of to get her through nine long months. A political activist, Rayna had recently finished three years working for the New Zealand Parliament, which meant “it was never going to be long before the stitches got radical.”  Using her existing website Rayna added a page for her radical cross stitch work, and very soon visits to the page sky-rocketed, demonstrating “there was clearly an audience for craft with a message.”

Rayna saw an opportunity to inject some radicalism into crafting circles, as well as to communicate revolutionary ideas to new audiences, and Radical Cross Stitch was born. Defined as radical due to the materials used or the message conveyed, traditional perceptions of craft are challenged, and many contemporary artists are now pushing the boundaries using the varied form.

Rayna’s craft mainly takes two forms: Traditional framed cross stitch embroidery with a radical political message, or outdoor pieces which make use of the environment such as weaving cross stitch into chain link fences. These outdoor pieces make “political statements specifically about the space they’re in.” As an elder once said to Rayna “if you’re going to talk about the environment talk about it IN the environment.”

In 2008 Rayna coordinated a “loose-knit band of revolutionaries” known as the ‘Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle’ to create a piece on a fence around a vacant corner block in Footscray. “I WANNA LIVE HERE” was cross-stitched into the fence as a response to the issue of housing affordability and lack of land supply when here was an example of the under-utilised land around the city. This work was made into a short film and featured in a full length documentary as well as appearing in various publications around the world.

In the coming weeks Rayna will commence a three-month artist residency at the Imaroo Community Centre in Wyndham Vale. Working with the various groups that use the centre to create local outdoor installations, Rayna will also be creating a major new piece of her own. Excited to get started, Rayna is the first artist in residence at the centre, which is located in an area “not normally associated with a thriving arts scene”. Her main mission will be to take her radical craft to the streets, and also to produce some ‘how-to’ guides whilst in residency, so others can get radical with their craft long after she has left her mark.

“My work really tries to get people thinking about the issues of land rights, homelessness, urban planning, sustainability and public/private divides…I try to use my outdoor craft to stimulate debate and thought.” Rayna explains. “What’s been most inspiring for me is discovering after an installation how many people in the community are passionate about similar issues…Who needs the press when you’ve got radical craft?”

Bra Bug Gardens – the tutorial you’ve all been waiting for!

Our household just held a massive cleanse. We decided we just had FAR TOO MUCH STUFF! So we’ve been through every cupboard, drawer and shelf cleansing out the excess stuff. The pile is immense and I’m very much looking forward to our Garage Sale this weekend to help raise funds for the Christchurch Women’s Refuge.  I’m also donating 100% of pattern sales, so please pop over to the shop and pick one up.

But there’s some stuff you can’t sell too easily. And I’ve managed to filter a whole big bag of old knickers socks and bras out of the drawer (which I can now close! hurrah!). Rather than biff them in the bin, since textile production is one of the most wasteful industries on the planet, I’ve been seeking out ideas for reusing.

I’ve also set myself a wee mission this year to see how many different ways I can come up with the grow plants on fences. Long time readers will know I’m not the worlds biggest fence fan. But while it’s not possible to completely do away with them, I’m interested in finding ways to make the ones we have to have more functional. Canvases and gardens have been my two areas of experimentation.

So with that in mind I had a cheeky yet cunning idea to reuse my old bras. I’ve recently finished breastfeeding and I’m certainly not planning on doing that again so I’ve got a heap of maternity bras. They’re pretty solid so I thought they might make awesome plant pots!

PRESENTING: Possibly the worlds first Bra Bug fence pot tutorial!!

Materials:
old bras
scissors
needle and thread
stuff to decorate with (buttons, glitter, embroidery thread etc)
dirt
sand
little plants – succulent cuttings are ideal

 

STEP ONE

Grab a big pile of bras

STEP TWO

Cut off the back strap and shoulder straps

STEP THREE

Decorate!! There is absolutely no instruction here. Go nuts. Make your bras whatever you can possibly imagine them to be.  I made bugs because these were heading for the fence at our community garden where our Permaculture Playgroup is held.  Each week we have a theme and bugs was it this week.

Don’t laugh at my dorky bugs!

STEP FOUR

Fence time! This is of course the most fun bit. Find yourself a chain link fence and slip one half of the bra through and fold it back on itself so the two cups are joined.  Then stitch along the side and the bottom so it holds together.  You can stitch however you like just try not to leave gaps or the dirt will just fall through.

TIP 1: Use a fat long needle.  It’s quite tricky pushing the needle through since the fabric is usually quite thick.  Especially if you have a padded bra.

TIP 2: Get a friend to help with this bit and have a person on each side.  It’s a wee bit tricky to push the needle through from the opposite side of the fence you’re standing on.  It’s possible but annoying.  Also, it’s more fun making stuff with friends

STEP FIVE:

Gardening time!  Fill your bug up with dirt and then plant.  I was planting succulents and put 3/4 dirt and 1/4 sand so it looked pretty.

TIP: when you’re putting in the first bit of dirt make sure you stuff it in to fill the cups out, especially if you aren’t using padded bras.  It’ll help it hold its shape.

And that’s it!

These ones were very much an experiment and I am quite sure I will perfect the art of upcycling old bras into spectacular mini fence gardens and I’ll try and update this post with any great lessons learned.  In the meantime, have a go! I for one think the world is finally ready for the next great thing in organic, sustainable street art.

xox

All we are saying…

And the award for the most fun sounding craftivist project of the year award goes to…

To celebrate the 70th birthday of John Lennon, the Craftivist Collective, a bunch of rad types over in England have organised a brilliant creative venture to get you thinking and talking about what global peace and justice means and would actually look like. Participants have been invited to create an embroidered quilt piece which will become part of a giant peace protest duvet. Radical and cosy, doesn’t get much better.

World peace sometimes sounds a bit cliché. In these days of greater global awareness and communication about the worlds ills, sometimes I reckon we make things just a bit too complicated and get a bit niche in our focus on issues. I know it certainly helps me in my activism to stop and take a breather every now and then and remember the big picture. Certainly thinking about vision and imagining how we want the world to be, rather than just focussing on what’s wrong with it is a very useful process to help avoid the ol’ activist burnout.

You can check out all the details here and sign up here to get involved.

Sadly, I’m going to have to give this one a miss. One of my best ways to keep me focussed and motivated on making the world a better place is hanging out with my kids. The last few months have been pretty madcap and I’m quickly realising my babies aren’t going to be babies much longer. So I’m downing tools project-wise for a couple of months to hang out in the sun in the garden.

But you have no excuse, get stitching.

peace

Sydney, here we come

When I first moved to Australia, Sydney was my first stop. I have an aunty there who’s always been a great friend and at the time some old buddies were based there. I wasn’t there long but it sure was a crazy time. And while Sydney is probably not the kind of place I would chose to live in, it’s definitely a place I like to visit.

Sydney always invokes memories of sunny days, tropical storms, plenty of trees and fabulous bird life. It’s definitely one of those big cities that is so diverse geographically that it’s not hard to find a spot where you feel like you’re in a small town.

So I was pretty excited when Casey and I were contacted early in the year to see if we’d bring some work up for an exhibition. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here!

This Saturday Object Gallery is opening We Craft This City. The Craft Cartel will be there displaying our stockpile of knitted ammunition for the Stop the Pulp Mill campaign. We’ll also be holding a workshop so you can join in and make your own. No experience necessary of course!

We’ll also have some work on the wall. Casey has a couple of pieces in the show and I’m showing three of my larger pieces, including a brand new one, and a series of small pieces.  I’ll do a full write up with pictures after the opening.

Also in the show and holding workshops are the awesome Ebony Bizys and Knitty Gritty and Loopy.

And then! On Saturday night is a screening of Making it Handmade in Annandale. There’s not many tickets left so if you want to come you should get yours quick smart! After the screening, there’ll be a short Q&A with the Director, Anna and Casey and I. Do hope you can make it to see this awesomely inspiring film.

xox
Rayna

p.s. apologies on the lack of blogging recently. If you haven’t heard, we were broken into and had our laptops stolen. I’m still waiting on our insurance company to replace them! In the meantime I’m using a dreadfully slow computer that HATES the internet. It’s hard I tells ya.. Normal sporadic service should resume shortly (I hope).

SITE: Digital Embroidered Commons at Sculpture Now!?!

Righto! Who’s up for a stitch-a-long?

Radical Cross Stitch is teaming up with Public Assembly to create a contribution to the Digital Embroidered Commons project that’s being facilitated by the amazing Ele Carpenter. We will be stitching the term SITE and we want you to help!

We’re creating an installation piece as part of the Sculpture Now!?! exhibition at the Yarra Sculpture Gallery and we are creating a craft room inside the gallery for the purposes of stitching the term together.  And we’d love you to join us.

We will be in the gallery for three making sessions.  Each session complete with cups of tea, baked goods and of course, radical discussion.

“SITE: Location, both as in the fact of being somewhere, and also, as in the answer to the question of “where”, that “somewhere” is. Hence, situation.”

Step into our craft room, make yourself a cuppa and pick up a needle.  All welcome, no experience necessary. Join us as we embrace the radical political and artistic spirit of centuries of craft circles to unpick the big issues of the day.

xxxxx

Public sessions:
Friday 27th August 5-8pm (open session – this is the official opening of the show so will be a tad busy..)
Thursday 2nd September 1-4 (limited spaces, RSVP kids welcome)
Sunday 5th September 1-4 (limited spaces, RSVP kids welcome)

The installation is viewable as a snapshot of a work in progress at all other times

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Sculpture Now!?! will deliver a snapshot of the current thematic and conceptual influences that inform contemporary sculptural practice in Australia. The artists range from emerging to established with an emphasis on innovation and experimentation. The exhibition aspires to shed some light on the myriad of diverse trajectories in which sculptural practice is heading.

Other artists participating: Stelarc, Hannah Bertram, Rod McRae, Karleena Mitchell, Petra Svoboda, Junky Projects, Eliza-Jane Gilchrist, Linelle Septo, Lucie Hallenstein

Making it Handmade

I’m sorry folks, I’ve not really been quite up with the play with the blogging thing recently.  But I’m trying to get better I promise! One really super important thing that I let slip was the fact that I’M IN A FILM! And so is Casey, and Gemma and Pip! And even better, Anna made it (mostly) all by herself!

Making it Handmade is a documentary about:

A seditious and subversive subculture is gaining momentum in Melbourne. But rather than wielding megaphones and placards, they’re cross-stitching slogans on hurricane wire and constructing plush female genitalia from craft supplies.

Following four local women who’ve taken a seemingly staid past-time and injected it with a youthful, modern aesthetic, filmmaker Anna Brownfield shows a side of craft more closely aligned with punk DIY culture than with Martha Stewart and ‘home sweet home’ tapestries.

“I wanted to show that craft was no longer daggy but had moved into a new era and was being reclaimed by women who had been brought up as feminists.” – filmmaker Anna Brownfield

And it’s AWESOME!  Making it Handmade just had its premiere screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival and was insanely popular.  There was only one screening and it was one of the first to sell out.  And there was so many people sad they missed out.  But don’t fret, there are more screenings being planned as I type.  There’s also plans afoot to take the film to other centres so those of you in far off places can see the awesomeness too.

After the screening there was a short panel with Anna, Casey, Pip, Gemma and myself and there was some nice interesting questions asked.  I’ve had some amazing feedback from people since the screening. Friends have told me they had their horizons shifted once again and strangers have got in touch with overwhelming levels of inspiration bubbling out of them!

So were you there? What did you think? What was your favourite bit? My favourite bit was watching all the happy people making stuff and seeing my now three and a half year old looking little and cute as a one year old!  It was exciting for her too.  It was the first time Tara had ever been to the movies and she was in it! Not many kids can say THAT.

For more information and to keep up with future screening news check out Anna’s blog http://www.annabrownfield.blogspot.com I’ll try let you know too. But yeah, bit slack on the blogging..

xox

Love Is…

2010.

Such a futuristic sounding year isn’t it? Brings to mind images of spaceship looking cars, whiz bang robots, intergalactic councils of funny looking folk with tentacles sticking out of their cheeks. Possibly not? How bout a time where people use renewable energy, recycle and reuse materials as much as possible, public transport is quick, clean and efficient, our food is organically grown by local producers, and all peoples are free from oppression and discrimination. One would think that sounds more likely, but sadly it doesn’t seem to be the case.

The upcoming Australian elections seem to be about the least important things. Politicians looks and appearances, shady backroom dealings, gimmicks and media trickery. Anyone who saw the leaders debate will be astutely aware that vision is sorely lacking in this election and rather than striving to demonstrate who might be the better leader, both major party leaders seem to be stuck in the great race to the ideological bottom.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the politics of love. Elections should be a chance for the community to declare their aspirations, visions and ideals. Rather than spend time dwelling on what makes us afraid and angry. Our elected representatives make daily decisions on an amazing range of issues. They take the time to think about the stuff most of us would never be bothered to think about. And our lives flow so much more smoothly because behind the scenes our politicians work very hard on what can sometimes be insanely mundane matters.

When we chose who we want to represent us, it’s not just about where they stand on one or two issues. Just as important, it’s about how they see the future of our world and how they approach decision making as a skill.

Sadly I can’t vote in this election, but if I could, the main factor I would use for my decision making would be the candidates’ commitment to basic levels of social and environmental justice.  This election is about far more than tax breaks and ‘border’ ‘security’.  This election we need to elect a group of people adequately prepared to put aside the silly tricks and take responsibility for some true leadership.  If we don’t, it’s our grandchildren we need to answer to.

What qualities do you look for in a leader?

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On that note, how frickin ridiculous is it that we still have to have conversations about legal equality?  When we look for candidates who have sound decision making practice, a very easy indicator is if they believe it’s ok to withold basic legal rights based on a persons sexuality. And even more importantly, are prepared to stand up, be a leader, and help change the laws that discriminate.  Sadly it seems too many of our ‘leaders’ have decided it’s politically safer to pander to fear and hate than to take the just path and stand up for what is right.

So when the gorgeous Ali got hold of me last year and said ‘hey I found some old patterns that need subverting and you’re just the person to do it’, I took one look at what she sent and knew exactly what needed to be done.

I had such a lovely time stitching what became affectionately known as ‘my boys’. And you can too.  The pattern is for sale in our store and 50% of all sales will go to the equallove.info campaign.  Because after all, love knows no borders, no religions, and most importantly, no discrimination.

xox
Rayna

p.s. you might notice things look a bit different round here. Yip, in the middle of redecorating. Click on one of the images in this post. See that? Clever huh? I got that going all by myself There’s more to come, keep an eye out.  And please let me know if you have any feedback, I’d love to hear it.

Talking Craft and Crafting Craft

Hi folks

How are ya? Things are cruising along rather nicely in Radical Cross Stitch land; projects slowly coming to completion, babies growing nicely, plenty of baking going on. Goodness this winter is a bit chilly isn’t it? Really can’t wait for Spring and Summer to brighten our lives again.

In the meantime, there’s a couple of events coming up you should know about.

Firstly, as part of the State of Design Festival, the Craft Cartel is going to be part of a panel discussion during the Counter Point project at Melbourne Central.  Together with Citizens of Elysium, Clothing Exchange and The Social Studio, we’ll be chatting about the social and environmental realities of consumerist culture and what the alternatives are.  I’m really looking forward to this event, there’s some great people on the panel and it’s part of a really interesting and subversive larger project.  I do hope you can come along!

(click on images for larger view)

Next up on the events calendar is SUPER TOP SECRET and I truly can’t tell you about it yet.  But it is ACE!!!!!! and it’s about craft and it has some other super people involved and it’s in Melbourne on August 1st. So put that day in your diary, I swear I’ll tell you all the details as soon as I can. One word though. SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! Ok one more word, POPCORN.

Flicking over in the calendar a bit the Craft Cartel are heading to Sydney in October to participate in We Craft This City at Object Gallery.  We’re pretty super excited about this one! We may even be heading up a bit earlier to do some sunny, spring time crafting in the park to get people ready and excited about the show.  Will let you know if that happens.  But what’s definitely happening is some hard core Craft Cartel knitted dynamite action.  And you can be part of the fun! Just pop over to the tutorial and grab yourself some wool.  We’re trying to get the worlds largest knitted ammunition cache together.  We’d LOVE you to help!

Finally 3CR subscribers would have already got your copy (I think..) but the theme of this years Radiothon was ‘Handmade Radio’ and the lovely Nicole asked me to help her make a handmade radio tutorial.  Nicole did some ace instructions for a plushie radio and I contributed some patterns for some speech bubbles to come out of the radio.  Pretty darn fun!

And to help with the super important efforts of keeping community radio on air, I will pledge $20 for anyone who sends me photos of their completed hand made radio.  G’arn!

(click on images for larger view)