Greer/Black/Burisch

Greer

Betsy Greer is  fellow crafter and activist. She has a masters in Sociology. Her master's dissertation was on knitting, DIY culture and community development. She writes about craftivism,* craft, creativity, the positive side of activism, the squirmy chaos of identity, the psychological ick of war, among other things. Sometimes, however, she writes about all those things at once.(craftivism.com)

Greer discusses how she wanted to create her own mark in the crafting world, specifically through knitting. Knitting started out as as simple to do project for her but spawned into activism, when she delved into the meditative state of knitting. Specifically during the times after September 11th and the Iraqi/Afghan Wars she and many others found themselves filled with anger and frustration which fueled her need to be more creative. She found the need to protest, but not in the conventional way.  Her goal became to meld craft and activism together, but with positive conotations. During this period Greer creates a term called craftivism, which is a visual form of activism, through the use of a craft, that isn’t sign holding and marching. Greer learns to realize her definition of craftivism once shared with everyone is intangible and varies depending on the user. Overall craftivism is a reminder she can always make a change in the world, even if its small. Some of the assumptions Greer makes about her readers are that they will use the term craftivism incorrectly. I feel she at times undermines her own work “referring to it as a small way” of making change. It is ironic that knitting and activism would cross paths yet the visual and physical impact it has had on the world seems more massive than even what she predicted. 

Black and Burisch 

Anthea Black and Nicole Burisch who are Canadian artists and fellow craftivists. Both are active within the coomunity and put a strong emphasis on crafting and protest with unity. Black however, is more involved with the LGBTQ arts community versus Burisch who is more involved with the cultrual and academic aspects of the crafting community. Overall this essay was a more elaborate explanation of how crafting and culture work within the community, versus the personal experience, Greer gave us. 

The LOLCAT experience with Photoshop. 

Since I’m still playing catch up with all the work, I have yet to make an LoLCat. However I have and did dabble in photoshop on February 28th. Editing and creating through photoshop is a relatively new experience, as is creating my own personal beauty products outside of soap. The motions of the hands brings on a feeling of frustration yet positive production of completeing and working on a new task. I will be producing and lolcat today.