Tuesday, June 29, 2010

microRevolution

Every now and then I see something on the internet that makes me very, very happy. microRevolt was one of them. Mixing activism, feminism, and art, they really take the cake.
Mission Statement
"microRevolt projects investigate the dawn of sweatshops in early industrial capitalism to inform the current crisis of global expansion and the feminization of labor."
They made this really awesome software called knitPro, in which you can upload image files to be translated into patterns! Check out their site for a knitted Nike protest, knitted videos, and other interesting tidbits.

I couldn't have found this without Steve Rand, local new media artist and street art enthusiast.

MEETING ON WEDNESDAY. 7PM RAW.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Meeting Canceled!

Sorry guys, we all seem to have had our own emergencies this evening!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Feeling less Amish today...

Man, I missed you guys. I've been computer free for a couple of weeks. So I haven't been able to share what I've been up to. Here's a tag I put up near Vegas Blvd.



Then, I did a piece for Creative Cocktail Hour (Camus Knitty asked me too!). Unfortunately it's not there anymore, but keep your eye peeled around the area, that sucker is too cool not to be up somewhere! Take a gander!



I love that tag!

Y'all should come out and tag with us! It's so much fun, and we'd love to see you!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Plan B: Bomb Capitol

Plan A was quite different. I was all set for Real Ride hARTford (Click for pictures!). I finished pimping my ride (pictures soon!) Alas, I get a flat tire a mile in!!! Oh well, I made the best of it. I brought some tags and threaded needles with me on the ride for water stops! I must have gotten four up by the time I made it back. We'll have to go for a walk and get some pictures. It may also be a great idea to take more walks during our meetings to take pictures, scope out locations, and get some work up.

I know another little lady who recently got a tag up...only to have it removed days later! It was a beaut, but I was nicely "given back" the tag so it can go up somewhere else. Post that picture!

***We  have had a request to bomb the fantastic West End Hartford Farmer's Market!***
I'm going to scope it out tomorrow and  take some measurements and try to have something done in 2 weeks or less!

MEETING IS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23rd 7PM at Real Art Ways.

See you there!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Radical Grannies!

How proud I was when I read this article from the San Francisco Chronicle by Carolyn Jones. A band of "rogue knitters" had knit around a public sculpture. (There's one thing I really can't stand though.... I just wish there was a better term used than "tea cosy." ) Not only are they making an artistic statement, they are protesting an unfair rap on a great city.
Berkeley hosted its own version of a tea party protest Sunday afternoon, complete with pots of tea and a heavy dollop of civic disobedience.
Rogue knitters encamped along the Berkeley-Oakland border with lawn chairs, tea cakes and knitting projects to protest the city of Berkeley's order that they remove an 8-foot knitted tea cozy they sewed over the T in a public sculpture they believe insults Oakland.
"Berkeley always thinks it's the best and gives Oakland a bad rap. Berkeley always feels so entitled," said protest knitter Kate Freeman, a recent nursing school graduate who was raised in Oakland but now lives in Berkeley. "I wasn't surprised when they told us to take down the tea cozy."
The sculpture depicts two 8-foot-tall steel words, "Here" and "There," facing each other near the BART tracks at Adeline Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way just north of the Oakland border. The work is a riff on writer Gertrude Stein's famous description of Oakland, her hometown, as having "no there there."
Stein's comment referred to the bittersweet knowledge that one can never return home again, but generations of Oakland bashers have interpreted it as a pithy slam on the Bay Area's most underappreciated city. As a response, proud Oaklanders have dotted the city over the years with signs and flags proclaiming "There."
The "Herethere" sculpture was commissioned by Berkeley's civic arts commission in 2002 at a cost of $50,000, apparently with advance notice given to Oakland's cultural arts commission, according to Berkeley's office of economic development.
The sculpture, installed in 2005, is by artists Steve Gillman and Katherine Keefer, who, at the time, lived in Oakland. On its Web site, Berkeley described the artwork as "a whimsical and literary welcome to those entering Berkeley ... poetic message of hello and goodbye (to) provide a sense of place."

Sculpture called divisive

But Oaklanders never quite took to it, perceiving the "There" as patronizing and insulting, many said Sunday.
"It seemed kind of surprising for a city supposedly as progressive as Berkeley to put up a sculpture as divisive as 'Here' and 'There,' " said protester Emily Jan, a graduate student in art who lives in Oakland. "A lot of us from Oakland look at that sign and think, 'For real? We're 'There'? OK, fine."
Finally, last month, the knitters who frequent the Knit One One shop across the street from the sculpture (in Berkeley), decided they'd had enough.
About 20 knitters gathered their leftover yarn and created a giant tea cozy to pull over the "T" in "There," so both halves of the artwork would read, "Here."
Wearing masks and working at night, they stitched the multicolored cozy over the T and awaited the response. The public seemed to like it - many stopped by the yarn shop to say thanks, said owner Sile Convery.

Subversive, creative fun

"It brings a smile to people's faces," she said. "People seem to love the slightly subversive, fun, creative quality to it. It seems to bring people together."
The city of Berkeley did not look so kindly at the knitters' handiwork. Last week, a city employee visited the yarn shop and ordered the knitters to remove the cozy because tampering with public art is against the law.
Berkeley officials, as well as the artists, did not return phone calls Sunday.
The rogue knitters refuse to remove the cozy. Eventually, the sun and rain will disintegrate the wool, cotton and acrylic yarn, but meanwhile, they plan to guard it from authorities.
Neighbors had mixed reactions. Irv Staats, who lives in Berkeley, stopped by to take a picture for his wife.
"It gives the sculpture a little spice," he said. "But if you're a purist about art, it should be taken down. Berkeley's become more and more conservative than it used to be, especially about art."
Janie Gardner, a retired licensed vocational nurse who's lived in Berkeley 65 years, said she'd never noticed the sculpture before.
"I'm not sure I understand what this all means," she said. "But I don't think we should be looking down our noses at anyone."

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

meeting wednesday!

sorry this is a little late, but I've been super busy, actually posting from my phone. Meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, 7pm in the Real Art Ways lounge. See you there!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Little Dude Finds a Home

It is supposed to be beautiful out on Wednesday, so we will meet outside Real Art Ways on the park bench at 7pm I'll grab some fruit for everyone. And, if interested, it's poetry night inside but we'll have to remain quiet. Then around 9pm we'll have to leave, so perhaps Vegas.

After weeks of delegation, I finally released my little friend onto the wilderness that is the Sisson/Capitol bus stop.
 

I also added to my super bike, Daisy. She'll be fully decked out soon enough.



See you in two days!



Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Pimp Your Ride!

Hellooooooooooo Everyone!


I hope you had a great weekend. There is a meeting Wednesday, June 2nd at 7pm in the Real Art Ways lounge.

In preparation for Real Ride hARTford, I've started to craft knitted bike cozies. I'm decorating my bike first (of course) and then I am open to requests and button donations! Just let me know your dimensions. Here's my top bar cover nicely wrapped around my night-stand/lamp.

The second bar will be done tomorrow! Also, during our meeting we should venture out to the Capitol/Arbor tag and spruce it up. It's at saggy sock status!

xoxo
CK