Love and Money at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery
December 16-31, 2010
Reception: Thursday, December 16, 7-10pm
City of Craft (in partnership with the Ontario Craft Council) is seeking submissions for a group exhibition that will take place at the Ontario Craft Council Gallery as a part of City of Craft’s 2010 off-site programming. City of Craft is Toronto’s largest independent craft sale and weekend-long event featuring craft-based installations, free workshops, and craft-related programming.
This year’s exhibition will explore the broad relationship craft and crafting has with commerce. Craft(ing) is currently a multi-billion dollar industry. From mainstream craft media personalities and the DIY Network to hipster how-to guides, mega craft fairs and fabric designers du jour, the commercial nature of the contemporary “crafting” movement often seems to starkly contrast the idea of crafting for necessity from days gone by. On the other hand, there are people who turn to craft and craft processes for a sense of transcendence and autonomy. Many would argue that there is more of a need to craft for crafts sake now than ever– either to re-skill ourselves for an uncertain future, or simply to learn to slow down.
Are money and craft strange (or natural) bedfellows? How does craft transcend issues of commerce? How do you navigate or perceive the dichotomy of craft for love/craft for money? Work that addresses any facet of the above ideas is welcomed as a submission. Submissions of fine craft, indie craft and art are encouraged.
Love and Money is curated and coordinated by Tara Bursey.
An online application for Love and Money can be found on the City of Craft website.
http://www.cityofcraft.com/2010/cityofcraft/loveandmoney/call.html
Submission Deadline: Sunday, August 15th
Johnson has an amazing blog called
Extreme Craft on which he features work like this…
- Jesse Wiedel | Five Ten Third, oil on canvas 20″x20″, 2010
You should go there right now because THIS should not be missed!
Cowichan native knitters were upset when they saw the sweater design worn by the woman in this photo. (CBC)
On a day when Vancouver’s police chief insisted his officers would not act with a heavy hand against Olympic protesters, B.C.’s solicitor general was having to field questions about how heavily Olympic security personnel have dealt with a group of First Nations knitters.
A group of women knitters in the Cowichan First Nation on southern Vancouver Island had announced they planned a protest next week against VANOC for allegedly appropriating their classic native sweater designs. READ MORE
Garland #21 (stepping and stitching), a new piece commissioned for the exhibition Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution will be kick started with a performance on Friday 23rd October at 7pm, at the Waterhall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Garland #21 is the latest in a series of interactive installations started in 2006 by artist Shane Waltener, involving members of the public in weaving, knotting and stitching. With his new piece, a series of choreographic sequences have been developed, linking movements associated with stitching and dancing. These are the basis for the performance which stands as an invitation for members of the public to contribute to the piece, and reflect on crafting as a ritualised and communal activity. The piece was devised by the artist in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Cheryl McChesney Jones.
For opening times at the museum and the events programme see www.bmag.org.uk
submitted by Shane Waltener
Robyn Love with the help of over fifty volunteers has created The Knitted Mile, a duplicate yellow stripe recently installed along a road in Dallas, Texas as part of the exhibition Gestures of Resistance curated by Shannon Stratton and Judith Leeman. The exhibition at Gray Matters continues until March 20, 2008. Love writes…
“The knit stripe is done in garter stitch and is four inches wide. I also am using a crocheted chain stitch to create words that are sewn on top of the garter stitch stripe. The words are (or will be) quotations and/or other thoughts about how knitting is a gesture of resistance, particularly in the context of our culture of immediate gratification as embodied or evidenced by Dallas and its car culture.The gesture of placing a mile of knitting upon the roadways of Dallas is intended to be an intervention, an interruption of the everyday environment created for cars and trucks (all that they imply) with this lovingly made, handmade element. For me, it is as much a poetic gesture as a political one.”
You can read more about Love’s amazing project on her blog
My Fair Isle.
TRUCK Gallery is located in the Lower level of the Grain Exchange Building, 815 First Street SW in Calgary
Anthea Black and Nicole Burisch will present… CRAFT HARD, DIE FREE: RADICAL CURATORIAL STRATEGIES FOR CRAFTIVISM IN UNRULY CONTEXTS
7pm Wednesday, December 12 at TRUCK Gallery located in the Lower level of the Grain Exchange Building, 815 First Street SW in Calgary
While Craft historians, Feminist historians and fine craft practitioners argue for the recognition of craft within art and academic dialogues, crafty supplies are simultaneously mass produced and packaged as hobby-commodities for affluent consumers, and craft practices are appropriated into the mainstream marketing of alternative and DIY ‘lifestyles.’ In addition, the accessibility of global communication networks have contributed to the increased sharing of craft knowledge and skills, and created an overall democratization of crafting practices. The rise of Craftivism – which often values the radical potential of a particular craft rather than its finished end product – shifts traditional emphasis away from polished, professionally-made craft objects themselves and towards the political and conceptual focus, positioning, and deployment of this work. The rapid surge in Craftivist practices offers an opportunity for new approaches and discussions of feminism/crafts (wo)manship, queer crafting, tacit knowleges and skill sharing, DIY, anti-capitalism and activism.
This presentation is part of TRUCK Gallery’s Soap Box Series
Poplar Gallery.Online
CARE Canada
