Oh OK then
I didn’t post a picture of the piece going into the Explosive Expression show ’cause it’s not framed yet and photographing two different shiny materials is really freakin hard. But I just pulled these off the camera and they’re not too bad.
It was stitched with silver metallic embroidery thread on black satin and is very shiny!
I really don’t think I was able to capture the true look of it with these shots but you do get the idea. Hopefully once it’s framed and up nice on a wall there’ll be better ones to share with you all.
This was definitely a patience tester to stitch up as metallic thread is SUPER fragile. I think I threw away as much as I used due to all the broken bits. But the overall effect is very much worth the effort. I hope they can show the piece under lots of bright lights so it’s extra super duper shiny!
Extra special thanks to Groundswell Collective for providing the original image and the inspiration!
Not one, but three (and a half..)
It’s been a bit quiet on the ol’ RCS blog as of late. Partly due to the never ending joys of pregnancy (promise not to bore you with the details..) but also partly due to the busyness of preparing for some upcoming exhibitions. And it’s about time our lovely readers got to hear the details!
Firstly, opening next week in Jönköpings, Sweden, is “Craftwerk 2.0: New Household Tactics for the Popular Crafts”.
Craftwerk 2.0 is an exhibition that explores the new “updated” textile crafts that are developed by a new generation of serious amateurs, innovative craftsmen, engaged entrepreneurs and political practitioners.
This is one of the biggest craft exhibitions on the calendar this year and the RCS crew is most excited to be a part of it! Both I and the Ninja have pieces in the show including ‘Oh Sorry, was that your land?’, ‘Homes for All’, Mario map, and an as yet unseen series of QR codes. There’s some really interesting events running with the show and I urge anyone anywhere near Sweden to put this show in your diary! The exhibition runs from September 19 until January 16 2010.
The next exhibition on the agenda is Explosive Expression, an Art Auction and Exhibition in commemoration of the second anniversary of the State Terror Raids in New Zealand of October 15th, 2007. For more info on the Exhibition and the Auction (online bids are welcome for those not able to be in Wellington) check out the website and the Facebook event.
I was most honoured to be asked to contribute to this show. As readers will probably know, I am friends with a number of the defendants so have paid close attention to the developments of the cases. But aside from that I am appalled at the massive amounts of money being spent by the NZ counter terrorism unit investigating activists. As the Greens warned when this legislation was first introduced, it’s about giving massive powers to Police which encroach on civil liberties. And they warned from day one, due to the complete lack of domestic terrorism the legislation would inevitably be used to monitor and stifle dissent.
Whether or not the defendants are found guilty on the charges they all face is quite irrelevant to the overall issue that the Police spent over $10million investigating, using intensely intrusive surveillance techniques, a significant proportion of the NZ activist community in the name of counter-terrorism. They executed warrants on homes across the country and literally terrorised entire communities and homes containing small children.
The small group of people now facing relatively minor charges in comparison to the hype created around the initial raids now have to face the ‘justice’ system and receive a fair trial. To do this they need massive contributions towards their defence. Not just to cover the legal costs but also the costs of travel for the defendants and their families every time they need to be in court.
I urge anyone out there with an interest in collecting art, particularly political art to check out the works on the website and consider making a bid. Especially those of you in countries with strong currencies! The NZ Dollar is buying about 70 US cents at the mo’ so money coming in from overseas will go further 
The piece I have contributed is called ‘Security Glam’ and is based on this image that came out of a collaboration between our friends at the Groundswell Collective and Artists at War
I will post an image of the completed piece once it’s on the Oct 15th Solidarity site.
Thirdly, I was asked a while back to participate in a Melbourne show (finally!!) and there was no way I was going to say no to this one! Curated by the super inspiring Lynda Roberts from Public Assembly, the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne is a group show of work by artists who focus their work in engaging with the urban fabric.
The show is both gallery and street based with the Platform Gallery being transformed into a virtual map of Melbourne revealing sites for individuals and groups to creatively and temporarily intervene within the existing urban fabric.
Each artist will contribute work in various mediums but each will be editing a zine guide as to how to go out and ‘do’ their form of intervention. The works will inspire members of the public to go out and do their own interventions which can be documented and will add to the show.
My work is very much focussed around challenging notions of space, particularly around issues of ownership, construction and access. I’ll be sharing the skills for three types of craft based intervention and am pleased to say none of it involves yarn bombing..
The opening is on October the 2nd at Platform (FB event here) and continues until the 30th. Contributing artists will also be out on the street on Oct 16-18 intervening! Keep an eye on the website for more details.
Finally – and this is the half – I’ve been working on a page for the 2010 3CR Calendar. It’s one of the major fundraising activities for Melbourne’s best grassroots community, activist radio station. And I was super honoured to be asked to contribute. So it’s not really an exhibition as such, but a group show appearing on a wall near you! I understand the calendar is about to go to the printers and I think the launch is in November some time. Will let you know details when I know them.
The piece I contributed is an antique inspired sampler with an anti-consumerist theme. Reckon you old skool cross stitchers out there will love it. I’m also going to release the pattern as a fundraiser for 3CR, it’ll be available in the Radical Rags store sometime later this year.
So I reckon there’s been about 80,000 or so stitches over the last few months which hopefully explains the lack of blog words! I’ll update this site over the next few weeks with more images and details as they come to hand.
Thanks for stopping in to make sure we’re still here
xox
OutdoorKnit HEARTS you!
I couple of weeks back I posted about the OutdoorKnit mission to Love up the Bute Street fence in Wellington. Well, they went back out last weekend, and invited a whole heap of people to join them. And the results are simply gorgeous!
The results are simply stunning! I am so inspired by this work. And given the lovely spring that appears to finally be knocking at our door here in Melbourne, I’m amping up to get out and do some more fence stuff. More info on the OutdoorKnit day and a link to more photos on their blog (and Fan them Facebook peeps!)
Also, The Sidestrip did a short film piece on the day with a lovely wee interview with Nikki
Awesome!
Craft Cartel Podcast Episode 9: Faythe Levine
Hooray it’s Episode #9 of the Craft Cartel podcast, and we talk to Faythe Levine about her brand new documentary film “Handmade Nation”
by Sublime Stitching.
Rayna has a great chat with Faythe about the film, making zines, the GFC, and yes, Paris Hilton comes up again! Check out the Handmade Nation website and blog and Flickr site to see pics of the Aussie tour and of course, the Paris Hilton pics. A MASSIVE big thanks to the awesome people at in.cube8r Gallery in Smith Street for helping to make this interview happen!
The track off the podcast is Craft Talk by Leslie Hall. It’s Craft-tastic! Check the video:
Next up we bring back the zine review section and review:
The Thrity Crafter from Apartment Cat
Sharp and Pointy – a craft zine by mir UPDATE – you can buy it here!
Outdoor Knit: the graffiti knit kit from Outdoor Knit
And a bit of an update on the Craft Cartel. Check out the Fashion Jam pics here, read about Trash Bag Rehab here, and the Melbourne Social Forum here, and the City Press workshop here!
Phew!
And as always we’d love to hear from you, comment below or drop us a line. And don’t forget to check out the archive if you’re new round here.
The best way to listen to the podcast is to subscribe and download today!
If that doesn’t work you can download the file directly from here.
We really don’t like advertising very much round these parts, so if you like what you hear, please make a donation to help support future episodes. It’s what an add-free world sounds like.
Handcrafting a new society
One of the biggest highlights of my trip was a super inspiring but way too short trip to Hamilton.
As soon as we arrived, I arranged to meet up with Dr Joyce Stalker whom people might remember from her talk in Melbourne last year. We met Joyce at the school of education where some of her work is on display in the foyer (text from the show).
Nice Women II
70 used tea filters, 70 beading clusters, brown cotton thread
60x95cm
2008Each year, the [NZ] Police receive 70,000 call outs for domestic violence, an average of one every 7 1/2 minutes. It is estimated that five times as many people acknowledge family violence as call out the police. Meanwhile, nice women sip their tea.
Money Down The Drain
My Mother’s (green) quilt remnants gifted to me on her death, PVC drain pipe, glue, bucket.
50x200cm
2008Once the quintessential example of recycling acumen, today quilting is a highly commercialised activity. Most quilters, already committed to a search for perfection, now search for the perfect palette, pattern and shading among fabrics manufactured specifically for quilts. We have every right to spend money on or hobbies, but when second hand clothing stores overflow with 100% cotton items, when drains in developing nations run with the colour of toxic textile dyes, I can’t help but wonder if we have too easily let our world of fabric craft be taken over by commercial interests.
My Heritage is Bigger than “I Am”
heritage quilt made by my Grandmother, canvas, embroidery thread
122x175cm
2008Seventeen years after emigrating to New Zealand Aotearoa, I feel more sharply than ever the loss of my Canadian heritage. I have read that McCahon is this country’s greatest artist and been told that all artists here reference him. I remain stubbornly unmoved by his dark and complex works and deeply stirred by the fabric of my family’s lives.
Night Sounds on Pitcairn Island
used zippers, embroidery thread
80x240cm
2008Like quilts, zippers can carry many messages. They can be sensual and suggestive, but stories from Pitcairn Island remind us that they can carry darker messages. Romanticized as the windswept refuge of The Bounty’s mutineers, Pitcairn’s history is now tied to the reality of generations of islanders who tolerated the systemic abuse and rape of the island’s young girls.
BACKGROUND
These fabric works originally were part of Threadbare: An exhibition of unruly quilts held at Artspost, Hamilton, 29 August to 22 September, 2008.
Threadbare was a collaborative project between D Wood (a studio furniture artist lecturing at the School of Media Design, Wintec) and Joyce Stalker (an associate Professor lecturing in adult education at the School of Education, Univerty of Waikato).
The purpose of the Threadbare exhibition was to explore what happens when orthodox quilt processes and messages were challenged or eliminated completely – in other words, when quilters and quilts became unruly. We played with the traditional elements of quilt design: repetition (duplication of a predetermined module), pattern (arrangement of the module), layering (front, filling and back), and fixing (method of holding elements together).
I really enjoyed taking some time to see this work. I was particularly impacted by the Pitcairn piece as I was working in Parliament at the time that story was prominent in the news. There was quite a process trying to figure out between the various governments involved, the Islanders and the victims what would be an appropriate way to trial the offenders. I remember the universal horror at the story. I remember how everyone just stopped dead in their tracks trying to imagine how ingrained and systemic the abuse was for something so awful to go on for so long.
The Pitcairn piece sits nicely with the Tea piece in connecting up quite how universal the systemic violence against women and children in our society really is. And also how universal the culture of silence and denial is.
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After catching up with Joyce, we heading down to the Migrant Resource Centre (which is an AWESOME venue for a talk) for the talk I was giving about radical craft history.
Despite being 4pm on a Tuesday, there was a great turnout and everyone there was involved in actively creating craft or change in the community. We had a fantastic discussion after my presentation and it was so inspiring to see so many active thinkers on the issues surrounding craft, women’s knowledge and activist theory.
Even better is that the group decided to meet again soon! Here’s the callout:
To all Hamilton craftivists, anarcho-embroiderers, eco-crocheters, knitta-street-artists, radical quilters, indy needleworkers, contemporary textile artists, Luddite lacemakers, evolutionary creators, creative evolutionists, stitching saboteurs, etc etc
You are cordially invited to the Vicarage to foment revolution over your needlework.
Whether you are looking for a crafty political collaboration or just some interesting company and conversation while you finish the project that’s starting to drag, this gathering will be more interesting than anything on TV. If we have enough fun we might want to do this regularly.
Forward this invitation and bring your crafty friends along too.
Where: The Vicarage, 25 Thames St, Claudelands (the house with the wooden fence next to the carpark on the corner of Thames and Heaphy)
When: Tuesday 17 March, 7.30pm
What to bring: A handcraft project to work on, your crafty friends
RSVP Meliors
I look forward to hearing reports of what this group gets up to!
Thanks tons to Joyce for organising the talk and all those who helped spread the word. And thanks to Meliors for picking up the needle and getting the group going!
Finally, I did record the talk so I’ll put up a link when it’s online.
It’s in the blood
Nearing the end of a wonderful three week trip in Aotearoa and I’m taking some time to look back and remember all the good bits so they’re ingrained in my memory. I’ve met some super inspiring people and seen some amazing craft!
This is the first of a hopefully few posts about wonderful creative stuff I’ve seen. And this post is all about the Melbourne of New Zealand; Wellington.
As previously mentioned I did a talk about radical craft history in Wellington. But I couldn’t do the talk until I’d visited a very distant relative I’d been trying to track down for a long time. I have an ancestor whom I always knew was politically active. When I first got involved in politics I had a picture of her on my wall to inspire my activism.
Lucy Lyall was active in local politics in Wellington in the 1850s and 1860s. This was a long time before women were able to vote so it was hardly a pro woman space to be working in. Nonetheless, Lucy was right amongst it with the boys. Notably, Lucy was very involved in the 1856 Wellington Provincial election between Featherston and Wakefield. An obituary after Lucy died mentions a procession of boats she lead around Wellington Harbour visiting all the wee settlements to campaign for Featherston. At the conclusion of the tour Lucy pulled out an effigy of Wakefield, which while she tolled a bell, proceeded to drown. Hardly what you’d call an example of positive politics, but I do admire the creativity.
About a year ago I was going through some of my old papers and I stumbled across my Lucy papers. I stopped for a wee read and then I turned a page to see a banner Lucy had made. I remember seeing the image before. It was pretty common place in those days for women to craft small tokens of political affiliation. But I hadn’t seen this in a long time. And you know what?
It was cross stitch.
I am sure you can imagine my joy! So knowing I was visiting Wellington, I arranged through my wonderful grandmother to visit the house of the women who had this cross stitch in her possession.
And here it is.
The flag is in the colours of Featherston’s campaign and is hand sewn. And the text is from the Featherston campaign song
As you can see it is a very old piece! While it has been looked after very well over the years – I understand it spent quite a few decades flat between papers in a cupboard – it is definitely starting to show signs of wear. So I will be helping to find the best person to advise on how to protect it for the future. I’m hoping it will end up in a museum somewhere but I do share the concern that it would be a shame to see it end up in the basement of Te Papa where noone will see it.
But yes super exciting to finally see the piece in person!
And even more exciting was the surprise to find out that not only is this stitch in the family still but so is the sampler of Lucy’s daughter Rachel, which was started (but not completed) when she was just six years old.
This piece was just so delightful to look at. The stitching is tiny – much smaller than the sort of stitches us cross stitchers use today. And it must have been hours of work for such a young girl. Having spent quite a bit of time recently looking at old samplers it seems most young girls started their samplers at 8 or 9 so this is quite unusual. This piece is also in very good condition for its age and is showing a lot less deterioration than the other piece so hopefully this can get properly framed soon too.
Needless to say Lucy’s cross stitch has definitely gone into the powerpoint show. I’ve updated it a bit recently so I’ll put a new version online soon.
The talk in Wellington was fantastic. We had an awesome turn out and raised over $200 for the Oct 15th Solidarity fund. And I met so many inspiring creative women there. Hopefully some of the relationships that began that night will continue for a long time! Thanks a bajillion to the womyn who worked really hard to bring the talk together.
More stories from Wellington and other parts of the country to come next!
Reminder: Wellington Talk Tomorrow!
See you there!
RCS in Wellington!
Announcing my next talk!
I hope to see all our Wellington readers there. And if anyone wants to come and have a stall selling crafts or homemade food, please get in touch with me asap.
RSVP on Facebook and invite your friends
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?
Craft Cartel Podcast Episode #7
This episode of the Craft Cartel podcast is a recording of a recent event we hosted in Melbourne called ‘The Revolution is Handmade’.
The first half of the ‘cast is a talk by Rayna and it’s titled ‘The Fabric of Resistance’. This podcast is kinda like Radio With Pictures ’cause you can follow along with the talk with the slideshow below
The musical interlude is a track called ‘Memories’ by Shorti RV (whom I can’t find anything about online, I’m guessing she’s Sydney-based, if anyone knows anything about her can you leave a comment? xox)
The second part of the show is the talk by Dr Joyce Stalker from the University of Waikato, Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. Dr Stalker talks about fabric crafts and political change. Don’t have the slideshow online sorry, but hopefully will in the future so we’ll update this when happens.
And as always we’d love to hear from you, comment below or drop us a line. And don’t forget to check out the archive if you’re new round here.
The best way to listen to the podcast is to subscribe and download today!
We really don’t like advertising very much round these parts, so if you like what you hear, please make a donation to help support future episodes. It’s what an add-free world sounds like.
p.s. we’re having some serious issues with the plugin that manages our podcast so if you have any problems downloading this please let me know.
Ace.