Introducing Social Handcraft
Volunteer crafters working in our network and beyond are using crochet to create abstract, fantastic vegetation inspired by Weeki Wachee, Florida and our own bioregion – Pacific Northwest/Cascadia/Coast Salish territory. Whatever is shared will be used to create part of the stage environment of Mermaid Spring.
As much as a working and crafting collective, Public Swoon imagines Social Handcraft as a listening, reading and observation group, a place for people to find companionship and social connection – thought and feeling. They are using thrifted and salvaged yarn, and working with excellent sponsors like Baaad Anna’s to gather donations of second-hand yarn to share.
Right now, they want to offer crochet as a stress-relieving activity to keep us connected during distanced times. Their bigger vision is to respond to the global climate crisis by looking for alternative ways to produce creative projects. They want to help create solidarity between human labour and the labour of the environment. They see sustainability as a shared cause between art workers and land.
More about Social Handcraft here.
Get Involved at thepublicswoon.org
Resources Page
Yarn Matchmaking Quiz
Credits
A Public Swoon Production
A co-creation by designer and performance maker Kyla Gardiner, writer/project designer Barbara Adler and musical director/producer James Meger, featuring compositions by Peggy Lee, Leah Abramson and Alicia Hansen.
Developed with support from Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, The Hamber Foundation.
Partners: SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, Barking Sphinx Performance, Sawdust Collector