I arrived in Melbourne on Monday morning, which was incredibly confusing since left Milwaukee at 2pm on Saturday afternoon! My flight went from Chicago to Los Angeles, Los Angeles direct to Melbourne. The time difference is 17 hours a head between here and Milwaukee! Yowza!!

When I arrived not only was my luggage last off the plane (45 minute wait) but it was one of the most difficult customs I have ever gone through! Two hours after landing I made it through and Ross and Angela were there to meet me! I had only ever spoke with them once and the rest of our communication has been via email but they were both as sweet and lovely as could be. Their Company Living Creatively puts on the Stitches and Craft show where I am having my Australian premiere of Handmade Nation next week! They are responsible for bringing me here and I am so excited to take in as much of the city as possible! On top of having great hosts I have two friend from Milwaukee who just happen to be here at the same time. We have already seen some great stuff over the past few days:


Last night we watched Heathers at the Rooftop Cinema

I learned that Milk Bar = Corner Store

I found a nesting doll shop

Street Graffiti is legal

A few more pictures HERE

Over the next few days I am doing a bunch of interviews for print and radio. Then next week we start the screenings. I will also be doing some programing with Craft Victoria with my friends Chicks on Speed (information below).

More soon.....

I'm in Australia!


I am a bit behind in blogging land due to all the travels, colds and taking care of business here and there! But I have a lot of news to share with you including reminders about quickly approaching screenings and lectures as well as the fantastic piece on the PBS website yesterday Art Beat: Common Threads, online News Hour with Jim Lehrer

Screenings & lectures next week:

San Francisco, March 11th
(Director Faythe Levine will sadly not be present)
San Francisco Film Society presents the SF360 Film + Club
Handmade Nation Doors at 7, movie starts at 7:3o
Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street
Tickets are $8 for SFFS members and $12 for non-members and are available here.

Melbourne, Australia, March 11-15th
(Director Faythe Levine will be in attendance)
Presented by the Stitches & Craft Show


Melbourne, Australia March 13th 6-7pm
Presented by Craft Victoria
Cost $8 Craft Victoria Members; $15 Non-Members

Faythe Levine lecture: Craftivism: Reclaiming Craft & Creating Community
Artist, director, author and filmmaker Faythe Levine will lead a visual discussion about the background on the politics of handmade as it stands today. Within a world of mass production, globalized economy, and extreme materialism, what does crafting something by hand mean? Where does craft find itself today? Visual examples of the politics of handmade focusing on political crafters from the DIY/Indie/New Wave of Craft movement including Knitta, Stephanie Syjuco (AntiFactory, Counterfeit Crochet Project), Kate Bingaman-Burt (Obsessive Consumption) and Betsy Greer (Craftivism).
Length 60 minutes plus Q&A

Melbouren, Australia March 16th, 6pm
Presented by Craft Victoria
Cost $15 Craft Victoria Members; $25 Non-Members

Faythe Levine, Handmade Nation Workshop: Highlighting the Politics of Craft
Immerse yourself in the politics of handmade. Whether you have never been introduced to the power that can be wielded by craft or if you are a seasoned veteran living a DIY lifestyle, come join the discussion led by Faythe Levine, Director and co-author of Handmade Nation. Each participant will create his or her own embroidery while discussion is stimulated by a series of handouts, photographs and two screenings of political craft in motion.

Las Vegas for the Pool Tradeshow!


my booth at Pool!


me at Pool looking tired! What a good experience!

Great shout-outs this week from our NYC trip from Andrew Wagner & Jen Beckman


Lunch with Jen Beckman & Kate Bingman-Burt was a super duper treat while in NY! Read this HERE.


And the fantastic panel discussion with Cortney and Sabrina at Powerhouse Arena in Brookly. As well as a lovely dinner with Andrew and his wife Heather, all tippy tops! Read this HERE.

New York overload...... So many things to write about but no time!

The premiere last night was bananas! There were so many people who were a part of the film that were there (recap more soon). I have to run to dinner but wanted to share this image of the theater inside the Museum of Arts and Design where the screening was held.

I also just got the images from the Milwaukee premiere from our amazing photographer Scott Winklebleck. Thanks Scott!

The ladies who made the film happen.....

Faythe Levine (director), Micaela O'Herlihy (director of photography) & Cris Siqueira (editor)

The rest of the photos are here.

More soon.....

Our interview in WNYC is live if you want to hear it HERE.





Some more photos that Andy Menchal took from the Powerhouse event last night are HERE.

Off the the Museum of Arts & Design for our SOLD OUT NYC premiere!

NYC!

Our event last night at Powerhouse Arena was a huge success! I am off to go meet Callie Janoff from the Church of Craft to go on the Brian Lehrer show, you can stream live from their site!

Tonight is the SOLD OUT screening of Handmade Nation at the Museum of Arts and Design. I went by yesterday to drop of the film and was blown away by the building and theater.

The next few days are packed with hanging out with amazing people, so more soon, including pictures and details.

I also want to give a shout-out to Craft Magazine who announced yesterday that they will be ending their print edition and going online.

I almost forgot! Both Cortney and I were on the news this week to promote the premiere of Handmade Nation in Milwaukee. You can watch both akward interviews if you like....


Watch Faythe HERE


Watch Cortney HERE

Well, it's official, Handmade Nation is out. Thursday was our US premiere here in Milwaukee, WI at the beautiful Oriental Theater. 700 people came to support the film!



This is a photo from my phone, I for once, decided to not carry my camera and had my friend Scott take photos for me. They will be up next week.

Here is our very first review on the Decider. Now I am getting ready for NY, Cortney and I leave on Tuesday!

Today Cortney and I are featured on design*sponge with photos of our homes HERE & HERE. 

There is also a really long interview with the both of us HERE.

I found it amusing that people commented on my house being cluttered, the funny thing is, it is so NOT cluttered in those photos. Those photos were the sample images I sent to the NYT for my HOME feature in September. 

Faythe & Cortney are doing a residency at the University of Wisconsin in Madison this week. There is a ton of programing around our visit (click on the image to see a larger version). Find us if you are in the area!

Oh Germany!

I've traveled near and far and this is the first time jet-lag has kicked my ass so hard! But more importantly the first screening of the feature length version of Handmade Nation was a huge success!

I didn't get one in-focus photo of people watching the film because I was so nervous I was all shaky! Look, there is Tracy Bull of Happy Owl Glass on the screen in Germany!

In case you haven't been keeping up on my insane travels or the status of the film I'll catch you up oh-so-quick.


People worked on projects and drank while they listened to the programing.

The all female artist collective Chicks On Speed hosted the event Viva La Craft which is a part of their ongoing series called Girl Monster. The programing for this event in Hamburg held at Kampnagel included the world premiere of Handmade Nation, a dye workshop with Kathi Glas, a lecture from the lovely ladies from Tatty Devine from the UK and a performance from the Paris based band Koko Von Napoo.







It was so exciting to see the film in it's final form projected on to a big screen. Of course it was a bit strange to be screening it to a German speaking audience, but everyone in here seems to speak a lot of English. There was definitely some stuff lost in translation. There were some full time English speakers in attendance who gave me great feedback too which was awesome! Now I just can't wait for the premiere in Milwaukee this Thursday and NYC the next week!!

Today I also had the opportunity to speak with Dirk a freelance reporter from Deutschlandradio Kultur, what seems to be the equivalent to NPR in the states, who is doing a segment on craft and handmade. Dirk was a super nice guy who had some really fantastic questions for me. I can't wait to hear the results (which I'm assuming will be half in German half in English since my interview was in English). It is really interesting to speak with people outside of the United States about what is going on with this handmade revolution and their perspective on it. Also, everyone is really amped on our new president by the way!

A BIG thank you to Chicks On Speed for this opportunity and all the work they do around the world by bringing talented women together to share their work!




Here I am backstage with all the German snacks they left out for us! The rest of the photos can be found HERE and some others are on including a lot of street art and whatnot are on my personal flickr site HERE.

I'm in Germany! Street flyers for the "Viva La Craft" programing Handmade Nation is a part of tomorrow!

Germany bound!

Super tired in the airport waiting for my first of 3 flights to Hamburg where I will be screening the feature length cut of Handmade Nation!! Cris (the editor) and I watched a final cut this morning before she dropped me off at the airport (I was just here less than 12 hours ago!) It looks so good and we are so excited to begin to screen the final version......

In Germany Handmade Nation will be a part of programing at "Viva La Craft" on Thursday at the Kampnagel Theatre.

The programing on Thursday is as following:
9:00pm introduction+workshop
9:20 artist talk faythe+alex
9:30 screening "handmade nation" by faythe levine
10:50 lecture rosie wolfenden of TATTY DEVINE
11:30 koko von napoo, Paris France
then dj-set from melissa, alex+nadine of Chicks on Speed

Next post from Hamburg!

Back from the 68th Annual Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) trade show in Anaheim, CA. I was there to help introduce "indie" to the larger craft market. I've never been to an industry show on that scale and it was very overwhelming and quite the experience.


The looming convention center


Thank goodness there were familiar faces: Cathy of California & Christine Haynes


The event I was a speaker at.

Sooooooo this happened:

Paris Hilton introducing her new line of scrapbooking goods. Wow.


And much more importantly Christine Haynes got to see her new book Chic & Simple Sewing for the very first time in print. It looks amazing!!!


And Jenny Ryan producer of Felt Club also got to see her book Sew Darn Cute for the first time in print!!

Congrats ladies!
View the rest of the show pictures HERE.

UPDATE: Featured Handmade Nation artist Mandy Greer has an opening at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland.

WATCH this beautiful clip of the installation courtesy of Ian Lucero

January 22 – May 31, 2009

/description from museum website/
Translated from Italian, “dare alla luce” is an idiomatic expression for giving birth: “to give to the light.” Drawing upon late Renaissance artist Jacopo Tintoretto’s painting The Origin of the Milky Way for inspiration, Greer recounts her own version of the Roman myth in which the milk of Juno’s breast rose to the sky to create the galaxy. Through countless small gestures of her craft, Greer employs humble handicraft processes and materials, executing her work through crochet, braiding, sewing and beading processes that use yarn, beads, shells, feathers and more. Merging the mythical and the mundane, Greer collapses the language and materials of the ordinary with the spectacular and the epic. The resulting work intertwines objects and space, resulting in an exuberant, sensual and visceral installation.

Organized and commissioned by Bellevue Arts Museum and curated by Stefano Catalani, Mandy Greer: Dare alla Luce is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue produced by Bellevue Arts Museum. The catalog will be available for purchase in The Gallery January 2009.

Museum of Contemporary Craft
724 Northwest Davis Street
tel 503.223.2654

Hours | Tuesday–Sunday 11 AM to 6 PM, Thursday 11 AM to 8 PM

more info: museumofcontemporarycraft.org/exhibitions/index.php?f=2009_01_greer

Handmade Nation featured makers Knitta on Nylon TV

Some recent press....



I did an interview with Patty on her blog The Little Red Suitecase



Kate passed link this along to me

This is the 200th post, I suppose that is some sort of milestone or something.....

Back from the West coast to below zero weather here in Milwaukee. It is BRUTAL. But I will say that it stayed light out all the way until 5pm today and that is a good sign!

I had a fantastic time in Seattle, Olympia and Portland and got to see so many old friends both crafty and from my pre-Handmade Nation life (Seattle is my hometown!). I am home for a week then it's off to Anaheim, CA for the Craft and Hobby Association trade show and then to Hamburg, Germany for a screening of Handmade Nation!


I posted a ton of photos from my trip but here are a few quick highlights:



Seattle: The Anne Bonney where my reading/screening was last week.



Olympia: Artist Sarah Utter was my hostess in Oly and took me to her studio, Room 30 (below) where I got a new dress, a pizza spot for a terrific slice AND to her DJ night at Quality Burrito where you can get liquor mixed with home made Kombucha. I also squeezed in a signing at Orca Books that was great!

More Olympia....


Top: Jenny Rose the lovely owner of Room 30 a fantastic little boutique to check out if you are in the hood.




Portland: My book signing event at Powell's pretty much ruled. Susan Beal and Kate Bingaman-Burt did a gocco demo printing save the date cards for my screening in April. And Namita Wiggers, the curator from the Portland Contemporary Craft Museum, gave the most eloquent introduction to my talk. I had a fantastic time and could not believe that over 50+ people came (thanks to those of you who sat on the floor!)

More soon.......

Today in the Seattle P.I. cover of the Arts section, article HERE.


Yesterday Jan over at one of my all time favorite blogs posted tour info HERE.


See you at the Anne Bonny tonight at 5:30

WEST COAST!
Please come say hello to me at the following events this week!

I had to cancel my Vancouver, WA event today because of the insane RAIN. I am hoping I will not have to cancel any other events but if I do I will post the cancellation here as soon as I find out.



January 9th 5:30pm: Anne Bonny 1355 East Olive Way, Seattle WA

January 10th 7:00pm: Orca Books 509 E. 4th Ave, Olympia WA

January 11th 7:30pm: Powell’s Burnside store, 1005 W Burnside, Portland OR

January 13th 7:00pm: Barnes & Noble, 626 106th Ave NE, Bellevue WA