Craftivism 101

Want to up your creative potential? 
Skill Level: beginner and beyond. 
Course Prerequisite: Superhero like power of using your creativity for good.


Want to make things that will reach people outside the gallery walls? 
Do you want to put your creativity to better use, create things with a purpose, and somehow make the world a better place? 

Then check out my fall workshop: Craftivism 101: Art for a Purpose!

Adults & Teens; 4 Saturdays: 10/19, 11/2, 11/23, 12/7, 1:00-4:00 PM @ Arts Underground; $40

Do you make art projects that just sit around collecting dust?  Do you see problems in America or your local community but feel helpless?  Do you want to put your creativity to better use, create things with for a purpose, and somehow make the world a better place?  If so, then join others like you in this multiple session class with artist and Craftivist, Elizabeth Switzer.  

“Craftivism” (Crafing + Activism) is making with the hands and giving with the heart.  It’s about opening the minds of people in the community to inspire a dialogue for change.  It’s about giving a voice to those who otherwise may not have one.  It’s about using beauty and the imagination to bring awareness to the overlooked people and problems – and the mundane environment – that go unnoticed in everyday life.  So, if you want to contribute to a ripple with the potential to make big change with the causes that matter most to you and your community, join this class! 

http://springvillearts.org/sca/events/fall-workshops/

Artists & Cyclists

Tonight from 6 - 9 come join me down on Allen Street for Artists & Cyclists!

GObike Buffalo is teaming up with First Fridays Allentown and the Buffalo Infringement Festival to once again bring you Artists & Cyclists! 

We’re closing Allen Street to cars between Franklin and Delaware to make way for art, music, dancing, cycling and more.

Come check it out:

open art galleries

music by the 12/8 Path Band

breakdancing workshops and performances with Verve Dance Studios

hula-hooping with Ultra Hoops

Infringement performances at El Museo and Indigo Gallery

a live, participatory chalk mural

a bike decoration station

mobile bike repair

And DIY art vendors:

Heather Bivens: Weathered Heather

Linda Collignon

Debra Eck: DryadArt Studios 

Ani Hoover

Amy Meza Luraschi

Jan Nagle: Lily Pickford

Esther Neisen: Sweet Treats Gifts

Elizabeth Switzer: Crude Crafts

I'll be there selling my up-cycled inner tube bracelets (and MUCH MUCH more) at for $8 a piece - bring me your worn out inner tube and get yours for $5!!

See you there!

Buffalo BookFest

I'm back!

I hope you've checked in with me over at www.heyteacherleavethosekidsalone.blogspot.com to hear about my adventures in student teaching.

There's still lots more content to come over on that site (and this one too!) as you can imagine student teaching by day AND teaching night classes AND running a gallery is A LOT of work and left me pretty drained and not exactly what you might call articulate, so I didn't post as much as I wanted to.

I'm starting to come out of my funk just now, but the high temperatures and higher humidity level has made it hard to be that productive.

But, I've got an event coming up soon and I hope to see you there!

Buffalo Book Fest

Saturday, July 27 / 11-5pm 

at WNYBAC

468 Washington Street 

Buffalo, NY 14203

Now for a little glimpse at what I've been up to... 

I've been taking old pillowcases and converting them into reusable market bags. Much prettier than the kind you buy at the grocery store, don't you think?

Hey Teacher....

I'm sure its becoming very obvious lately that I've got very little time for making new work these days. I started back to school in the Fall of 2011 to be certified in K-12 Art Education and it has consumed just about all of my time.

For the next 5 months, I'll need to all but shut down production as I undertake my next big challenge - student teaching! I'm equally nervous as I am excited, and decided to document the process in a new blog.

I'll be keeping many details to myself in order to preserve privacy for all involved, well other than me. But I hope you'll follow along as I try to walk this crazy path and come out the other side, well, at all...

heyteacherleavethosekidsalone.blogspot.com

Second Storie Indie Market: TOMORROW!

Hello poor neglected blog..

I can't believe how long it has been. Much has happened in the past year. I went back to school (yes again) to work on getting certified  for K-12 art education while still teaching as an adjunct, doing the indie craft circuit, working for my Dad, trying to kick start myself back into curating and a handful of other odd jobs. I'm not good at saying no to things.

Right now though. I'm gearing up for tomorrow's return of:

SECOND STORIE INDIE MARKET

 

art + craft + food trucks

Handmade goods of all kinds for everyone 

on your list PLUS your favorite food truck vendors!

Visual Studies Workshop Auditorium
31 Prince Street
Rochester, NY 14607 

Second Storie has always been one of my absolute favorite holiday markets. The combination of the amazing vendors combined with the cozy atmosphere they provide makes for an event that feels a lot like a family reunion. 

I'll be there with all sorts of new items (and a few old favorites!) hope to see you there!

 

 

 

 

Buffalo Book Fair

I've become a terrible blogger.

In the last year I've only posted about 5 times. Sigh, I suppose this is what happens when you decide to go back to school part-time and still try to work as many jobs as you did before. But fear not friends, Crude Crafts not only still exists but is still a production machine!

This Saturday, July 28th I hope you will stop by The Western New York Book Arts Center  Buffalo BookFest!

What: A FREE day-long festival dedicated to printmaking and the book arts. The festival will feature an artists’ market and a complete schedule of outdoor adult and kid-friendly hands-on demonstrations of the book arts, including steamroller printmaking!

Who: Me, along with some of WNY's best and brightest - I'm excited to be in such remarkable company!

Where: Western New York Book Arts Center - 468 Washington Street in downtown Buffalo,  
When: 10am until 5pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012.

Why:  Because you heart handmade!

This will be WNYBAC’s largest event yet and is free and open to the public.

I'll be there with all sorts of new things, hope you can stop by and say hello!

(re)threads: Opens THIS Friday!

(r e ) t h r e a d s

Lily Booth

Elizabeth Emery

Joetta Maue

Elizabeth Switzer

April 6 - April 30, 2012

Opening Reception: Friday, April 6 from 5:30-7:30.

Curator's Talk @ 5:45

Houghton Gallery at 171 Cedar Arts in Corning, NY.

For the first time in years I am a curator yet again. I've been working on this project for a number of years and am thrilled to finally get to see it realized. The artists represented are some of my personal favorites that I am proud to call my friends. 

From my curatorial statement:

"The first and second wave feminist art movement left many artists with a fear of domestic or “feminine” materials, use of such things rendered ones work “essentialist” and therefore, irrelevant.

Working now in the post-MTV turned DIY generation, Lily Booth, Joetta Maue and Elizabeth Switzer make use of found fabrics and embroidery, while Elizabeth Emery uses found fabrics, which are then cast and bound. These artists enter into dialog with previous generations by making use of similar materials and, in the case of Booth, Switzer and Maue, using materials previously worked by another woman’s hands.

Histories of individual needlework and the more general history of women’s craft are the underlying theme of this exhibition. The materials used for these works were found – something already created for a different purpose and discarded, before being re-purposed.

These activities; sewing, embroidering, crocheting, and knitting, once meant to keep a woman’s hands busy are now used to tell intimate stories, chosen over the overtly political collective messages of previous generations. These entirely inefficient practices show the presence of the artist’s hand- a response to an overly slick, glossy, and mass-produced culture."

The gallery is located at 171 Cedar St., Corning.

For more information, call 607-936-4647.

Hope to see you there!