The ruminations of an artist on art & life...art quilts, beading, knitting, drawing, painting, printmaking, bookmaking are all my passions, I love to explore creating....

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Art & the Environment : Sustainability and Slow Cloth


I just found this fun website with numerous free vintage knitting images---doesn't this one just spark your imagination?

And I have a few other links I want to highlight for you all----my brother, who lives in Juneau, Alaska is a board member of a local organization ---TURNING THE TIDES : "Turning the Tides is an Alaska-based nonprofit grass-roots organization composed of citizens, students, Alaska Natives, scientists, educators and musicians who are concerned with the health of the ocean. We promote ocean-friendly practices, clean-up efforts and waste reduction through various projects." He has created a visually appealing informative short online video OCEANS OF PLASTIC The film starts and ends--fittingly enough--with Alaskan Natives drumming and singing....



Since I spent much of last year creating cloth bags for BYOB (bring your own bag)---and replaced all our plastic bag consumption with cloth bags---the trick now is to always remember to have a cloth bag with me (!)--have you noticed how often businesses try to give you a plastic bag? Anyhow, my brother tells me the cloth bag I made for him is in the video---can you spot it? Hint: it has a bright pieced quilt pattern with black and white checks.

If you read my blog often you already know I have a love for our Mother Earth, and I am concerned with the current "climate crisis" facing all of us--in fact, I consider global warming/climate crisis to be the most pressing problem we all face. Much of my artwork reflects these concerns. Just scroll down here to my Jan 6th post about my "Homage to the Trees" small quilt for an example.

I recently found this great website THE STORY OF STUFF. "The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. "

This website--and her blog--are well worth a visit, and please watch her video and pass this on....as well as a succinct recap of how our consumerism adds to environmental problems, she has many good suggestions for actions all of us can take to help heal our planet.

How does this relate to knitting and craft? ah well, check out this blog---the The Red thread Studio--Slow Cloth, New Cloth, Art Cloth. For me, a sustainable lifestyle and the concept of SLOW CLOTH all go together.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Aurora, just want to thank you for posting those links - I totally agree with you :)
Cristina

Aurora said...

hello--thanks for your comment here! glad you liked the links.

Anonymous said...

Hi... I stumbled onto your site through CED... I haven't looked at the links you posted re: consumerism and our planet, but I'm pretty sure I know what's coming when I do. I feel such tremendous guilt sometimes when I look around my house and see all the "crap" we've accumulated... "crap" that was mass produced somewhere, likely China, that likely polluted their streams or rivers, or our air! Oh, don't get me started... thanks for all the great links... loved your photos of the books and paper show you mentioned, held in San Francisco. All my best, Kathy