Crafting a Better World: Inspiration and DIY Projects for Craftivists

Description

Crafting a Better World: Inspiration and DIY Projects for Craftivists

Ever feel like you’re hanging on by a thread?

From the climate crisis, to racism, to gun violence, to attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, the list of issues facing this country goes on and on, and it’s only natural to feel anxious about the state of our union. Even if you vote, march, volunteer, and donate, feelings of hopelessness (and helplessness) still creep in.

Enter Diana Weymar, creator of the Tiny Pricks Project. On Jan. 8, 2018, she stitched “I am a very stable genius” (a Donald Trump quote) into a piece of her grandmother’s abandoned needlework from the 1960s and posted it to Instagram. Since then, she’s turned her embroidery practice into a material record of the trials facing this country and become a leading voice in the movement to save our democracy.

Crafting a Better World: Inspiration and DIY Projects for Craftivists features essays, exclusive profiles of well-known creatives, and projects that readers can create by themselves or with their communities. This book is a means to stay engaged, make stuff, and hold ourselves together as we navigate this uncertain personal and political landscape. With contributions from 25 artists and activists, including

• Suleika Jaouad, Roz Chast, The Guerrilla Girls, Rosanne Cash, Kerry James Marshall, Jamie Lee Curtis and many others

Crafting a Better World: Inspiration and DIY Projects for Craftivists will show you how to transform your anxiety into action: so pick up a needle, a pen, a spatula – anything-and craft the change you want to see in the world!

About Diana Weymar

Diana Weymar   grew up in the wilderness of British Columbia, studied Creative Writing at Princeton University, and worked in film in New York City. For the past decade, she has been threading the needle to create a material record of our times. Both on social media and in person, she has encouraged thousands of people to find their own creative path through personal and political challenges.

She is the creator and curator of the public art projects Interwoven Stories and Tiny Pricks Project. Her collaborations and exhibits bring people together around textile and embroidery to share personal stories and discuss political issues. She has worked or collaborated with Build Peace (Nicosia, Bogotá, Zurich, Belfast, San Diego), Arts Council of Princeton, Nantucket Atheneum, W.E.B. Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst, University of Puget Sound, Zen Hospice Project, Open Arts Space (Damascus Syria), Trans Tipping Point Project, New York Textile Month, Alison Cornyn’s Incorrigibles project, Syrian journalist and activist Mansour Omari, Princeton University Concerts Healing With Music program, Project Threadways, Alabama Chanin, Open Society Foundations, The Isolation Journals, Kate Bowler, Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Culture House, the Fetterman campaign, Speedwell Projects, ShowUp Gallery, Planthouse Gallery, Molly Jong-Fast, Lingua Franca, and Abortion Access Front, #notalonechallenge, and many others.  Her work is also in private collections.

Interview with Table Magazine May 31, 2024

Reviews

‘The pen may be mightier than the sword, but, as Weymer and her crafting cadre prove, the needle is sharper.’ — Oprah Daily

‘Progressive crafters will be galvanized by this celebration of homespun resistance.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘Activist crafters will find abundant motivating forces and community in this collection.’ — Library Journal

‘Weymar is a beacon of light, inspiring others to turn their anxiety into action through making things with our hands.’ — Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper