We are on the crux of a better tomorrow, and a catastrophic tomorrow, in so many aspects of our society, humanity and the natural world. Those challenges of possibility, we welcome. But it is also a challenge for art, and a challenge for craft to contribute to making things better, and especially solving the wicked problems. Those are the big problems of society, war, climate, the environment, the economy. So it's no longer OK to be content with a private monologue in the art world. That's why we are a proponent of socially conscious social practice art. It's also why we welcome socially conscious social practice craft.
That is the discussion tonight with Maria Elena Buszek, craftavist. She has been doing it for some time in the form of craftworks, teaching, writing, editing, curating and organizing. One of her books, Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art, captures for its cover, the stunning Pink M.24 Chaffee by Marianne Jørgensen. For the work, hundreds of knitters made 15cm squares in pink shades that were united in a knitting graffiti project to cover a military tank. Knitting graffiti is a fascinating movement. Like Jørgensen, knitters like Barb Hunt take it much further with her knitted land mines project, Antipersonnel.
Buszek speaks tonight on the admixture of craft, art and politics. Presented by the PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft. www.pnca.edu. At the Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 NW Davis 6:30PM Free
