Liverpool artists and residents have been converted into craftivists

25 Oct Liverpool artists and residents have been converted into craftivists

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The lovely artists at The Royal Standard invited our Founder Sarah Corbett who is from Liverpool to deliver a Mini Protest Banner workshop in their studios on Saturday 15th October 1pm-4pm. The arts collective have been supporters of the collective and Sarah for many years and invited members of Tate Liverpool to join in as well as local artists and residents. The number was capped to 15 people and we had to turn people away as it sold out pretty quickly.

We had a great mix of people attend: artists based in Liverpool but who were mostly from across the UK, we had one artist who is from Australia, a maths teacher, two journalists, a photographer and a couple of craft-enthusiasts.

Picture of attendees and their cups of tea waiting for the start of the workshop. Behind them are examples of our projects on the wall. 

First of all Sarah Corbett delivered a 15 minute presentation in the Royal Standard’s film room on the history of craftivism and our collective (using the wonders of a Prezi presentation!) then she showed the instruction video on how to make a Mini Protest Banner. 

The group then headed to the workshop room where everyone recieved their own Mini Protest Banner kit as well as extra resources and examples of banners. Once everyone was happy with what they were going to put on their banner and where at a point in their crafting where they could do it without help we decided to have a 15 minute slot where we crafted in silence to focus on what we were stitching and think about the injustice issue where wanted to get across. We had the music of Mogwai as background noisewhich seemed apt and everyone everyone kept to the 15 minute silence.

People seemed to find the silence section really helpful and all the feedback was really positive. During the session we shope about the power of craft as a way to bring communities together, an outlet for shy people who might not be comfortable talking to the public about an issue they are passionate about, we spoke about clicktivism, we discussed our worries about UK Government cuts especially healthcare and the art therapy.

Overall it was a great day and we even sold some of our postcards and kits at the end for people who wanted to give them to friends and family as Christmas and birthday presents.

If you are in Liverpool do look out across the city for mini protest banners cable-tied around lamposts and railings with provocative slogans and facts about injustice stitched into them.

All photos by Mark Loudon