Thank you to my friend Jane for this nice photo of my piece hanging at Burchfield Penney Art Center. It’s at the top right of this image and features words by Shannon Downey (a.k.a., Badass Cross Stitch): “How do we live in a system while actively working to dismantle it?” It was created with cotton appliqué and hand embroidery on wool felt. This piece was created as part of the Social Justice Stitched Stories project by Stitch Buffalo.
I’ve been following Kenneth King’s writing and podcasts for quite a while, so it was wonderful to take an in-person class with him last night. He’s just as charismatic and generous with his time and skills as I could have hoped. If you don’t know him, King is a sewing and couture expert and instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan.
It’s always great to get a job from someone you admire—and I’m a big fan of Ani DiFranco’s music, ambition, and commitment to equality. Righteous Babe Records is the label she founded 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. Subsequently, she has signed dozens of other amazing indie performers. These 300 face masks with the company logo were a custom fabric design I created and sewed. It was a big job and quite a few late nights, but it felt amazing to get them in the mail this week!
Once the hectic Christmas season has past, I always spend January trying to learn something new. This year, it was crochet. I’ve tried it before with no success—but this year was different! I’m left-handed, so I always thought the problem was that I was watching right-handed videos. It turns out the problem was VIDEOS. I just couldn’t learn that way. Once I switched to instructions with photos and written text, it all just clicked! I’m still on the learning curve, but have graduated to drafting some of my own patterns, like this goofball fish. More to come!
John Lewis has long been a personal hero—especially his idea of the importance of making “good trouble.” For this silk-screen project, I flipped it to celebrate the maker movement, and our power to bring about good trouble through our creations.
Samantha Carncross owns Loose Moose, an antique shop holding the treasures she has found, but it's also a space for local artisans to display their work. I’m so happy that Speakeasy Works is one of the businesses she chose to showcase in the shop! Loose Moose is located in the Parkside Collective, right across the street from the main entrance to the Buffalo Zoo. This week, Samantha (and Liz of Buffalo Seamery, another member of the Collective) were interviewed on WKBW. In the video, you’ll learn about the businesses and see a bunch of my products in the shop.
Premier party for Loose Moose, an artisan collective in the Parkside Neighborhood of Buffalo, NY. Happy to be part of this great group of local artists and vintage resellers, including Buffalo Seamery and Mermaid & Weasel. Right next to JAM Parkside and across from the Buffalo Zoo entrance.
This morning, I had the pleasure of paying a quick visit to the work-in-progress (and already incredibly beautiful!) member showroom for the Buffalo Women’s Consortium. They are just about ready to launch in the iconic Market Arcade Building on Main Street in Buffalo, NY. It has been exciting to watch this group grow from an inkling of an idea, to a successful holiday pop-up shop, to a devoted space of their own to blossom as they develop in their mission to empower women in WNY.
I’m excited to join the roster of wonderful local artists selling cat-themed merch at Purrfect Cat Cafe and Gallery (1507 and 1509 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY). In addition to reaching fellow cat lovers, I get to see all the cute new arrivals when I stop in to make deliveries!
Qween City is a lifestyle & culture webzine based in Buffalo, New York. They tell the stories of emerging artists and movers in our city, and the stories of established people that haven’t been told before.
I was thrilled to be featured this month in Buffalo Spree—along with my friend Janna from Papercraft Miracles. We’ve done so many shows together and share a deep commitment to sustainability, so it was a perfect pairing. Read the article here.
This is a piece I stitched for inclusion in “Tiny Pricks,” a public art project created and curated by Diana Weymar. Contributors from around the world stitched Donald Tr*mp’s words into textiles, creating the material record of his presidency and of the movement against it. Tiny Pricks Project holds a creative space in a tumultuous political climate. The collection counterbalances the impermanence of Twitter and other social media, and Trump’s statements as president through the use of textiles that embody warmth, craft, permanence, civility, and a shared history. The daintiness and integrity of each piece stand in stark contrast to his presidency.
