RADICALCROSSSTITCH

Craft Cartel takes on Sydney

Yep still catching up on blog posts..

A few weeks ago the Craft Cartel cruised up to Object Gallery in Sydney for We Craft This City.

And we had a riot!

The opening was delicious with a lovely turnout of people on a sunny Saturday morning.  Might have had something to do with the champagne and yummy treats from the Frankie books on hand. Thanks so much to all the wonderful people who made the treats, seriously nom!

The highlight of the day was the workshops.  Sadly I missed the first one as I had to sneak out for some breakfast.  The second workshop was the Craft Cartel one and we initiated the locals into the joys of handmade ammunition.  It was such fun. I just adored the intense looks of concentration as everyone negotiated the wool, hooks and loo paper rolls.

The next workshop was the Knitty, Gritty, Loopy plarning workshop.  As a recent crochet convert I was pretty keen to get into this one and had fun making my own little crochet bowl.  And I must confess to a couple of little sneaky goes since I’ve got back. It’s addictive!

And of course we had a bunch of stuff exhibited in the gallery.  The Craft Cartel had a stockpile of knitted and crocheted ammunition.

And Casey and Ann had their rad embroideries

And I had the Sampler, the Oh Sorry, Was that your Land? piece, the QR code time series (which I still haven’t really blogged about properly, but you can get the feel for the project by reading these posts) and a new piece, Make Revolution

Some readers may recognise this piece as a Groundswell design.  When I saw the original poster design a couple of years back I just knew I had to stitch it!  It was stitched direct on linen and took me months and months (and almost my eye sight!) to complete but I’m so happy with it.  I was super proud to get some great feedback about this piece during the show.  Massive thanks to David Morgan for giving me permission to use the design!

After the opening day, there was a screening of Making it Handmade at the Mu Meson Archives.  Wow! What an amazing venue! I highly recommend all you Sydney types out there check it out if you haven’t already.  There was a full house and quite an interesting conversation took place at the end of the screening.  The film is certainly provoking debate and I’m planning a Craft Cartel podcast interview with the director, Anna Brownfield real soon so we can get into some of the issues in more depth.

If you still haven’t seen the film, it is available for purchase now on DVD! Perfect present for that crafter in your life. Especially if YOU’RE that crafter in your life.

And yes, Sydney was fabulous to visit.  The highlight for me was definitely checking out the Oh Alfred! fence installation at Alfred Park.  I took far too many photos to post up here so check out the whole gallery on our Facebook Page (may as well Like us while you’re there ).  Do check them all out – such phenomenal work! The installation was on a temporary fence surrounding the park upgrade and was based on the community’s memories and experiences within the park. Truly stunning and overwhelmingly inspirational!!

Thanks for having us Sydney I hope to be back soon!

For the love of craft,

Rayna

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).

Making it Handmade: More Melbourne Screenings!

As promised, there are going to be some more screenings of the fantastic locally made doco Making it Handmade.  So those of you who missed out at MIFF, or did see it and want to see it again, should quickly grab your tickets before they sell out again – and they’re selling quick!  Even better this screening is also going to have a craft market! If you’re a maker and want to be part of the market, check out the submission details.

Tons of people have been asking about where it can be seen elsewhere and rest assured there are plans afoot!  Your best bet is to go like the Facebook Page to keep in the loop.

This screening is a total DIY gig and we’re asking the fabulous Melbourne craft community to help us spread the word about the screening.  Please RSVP to the event here and invite your friends!

Yay!

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