Search Results for: tinypricks

I was sitting in the living room stitching my  Tiny Pricks and thought of all women, over the centuries, who sat in their houses embroidering.   I thought of all the samplers, bible verses and saying I’ve seen I’ve seen in museums and books.

And for the first time I wondered how many women from the 18th, 19th and early 20th century stitched subversive phrases or words into their work as they sat in their homes stitching and stitching.

Maybe someone out there has a collection of them because now that I’ve thought about it, I’m sure they exist.

I wrote about starting my third Tiny Pricks last week.

This one will have just two words repeated over and over on a vintage linen that someone embroidered a Mexican couple on years ago.

This linen was bigger and has two other parts to it.  On one end the image was repeated and in the middle was the same couple getting married on a Sunday.

I’m repeating the two words, Invasion and Infestation as Donald Trump has repeatedly used them when referring to people and communities, that he sees as a threat,  who aren’t white.

First, I cut this section of the linen and hemmed it.  Then I wrote the  words on the linen in pencil.

Now I’m embroidering the words, using two different shade of brown of embroidery thread.  I hope to finish it tonight.

There is a thunderstorm gaining strength out there, so if the lights go out, I will not be doing embroidery by candlelight like so many women have done before me.   I’ll just wait till tomorrow.

I got this picture from  #tinypricks on instagram.  That’s my first tinypricks in the upper right corner.  It’s Donald Trumps response, “I sorta get away with things like that”, when interviewed about his bursting into the Miss America dressing room.

It’s placed with a few of the other tinypricks, made by other people and sent into The Tiny Pricks Project.  They all refer to or are statements made by Donald Trump about women.

Having my tinypricks alongside all the others makes me feel like I’m a part of something that makes a difference.  Seeing all the tiny pricks together, knowing they come from all over the country, each one hand embroidered, shows the power of the individual when we join together.

The Tiny Pricks Project is a wonderfully creative political protest.

And I know as long as Donald Trump is in office, I’ll always have another idea for a tinypricks.

This is the linen I’ll be using for the next tinypricks.  I cut it off from a larger piece, the other part it shows the same couple on Sunday, getting married.

This tinypricks will have just two words repeated, covering the white space around the original embroidery.  Those words are “Invasion” and ‘Infestation“.  Two words that Donald Trump has used again and again to describe, what he believes, that people who aren’t white, are doing to the country.

These two words speak strongly of Trumps racist beliefs.

In his article, Combating The White-Nationalist Terrorist Threat,  Simon Clark at the Center for American Progress writes:

“… there is plenty of evidence that Trump shares many of the beliefs that underpin white supremacy—most notably in his continued use of the tropes of invasion and infestation so typical of this genocidal ideology….”

I’m going to stitch the two words on the linen in different shades of brown, representing the skin colors of the people that Trump is targeting with these words.

I’m grateful to Diane Weymar, who created the Tiny Pricks Project, for giving me this creative venue to express my idea’s and beliefs.

And if you’d like to create a tinypricks, but need a hankie or linen to embroider your Trump quote on, I’ll be happy to send you a couple. Just email me here at [email protected]. I’ve already sent out hankies to 5 or 6 people.

Weymar wants to have 2020 tinypricks by the 2020 election and she’s more than half way there, but can always use more tinypricks.

You can read about the Tiny Pricks Project and how to participate here. 

“You Americans, you are so naïve. You think evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots. It doesn’t come like that. Look at the language. It begins in the language.”  Joseph Brodsky

I remember when Rap music first came into my consciousness.  It was because of the debates over the misogynistic lyrics in some of the songs.  Although the lyrics I heard made me angry, I was intellectually curious about the ideas of freedom of expression and freedom of speech.   Rap  did what good art does, it got me thinking.

Because of this, I came to believe that we’re all responsible for what we put out into the world.

I believe that we have to be as thoughtful and clear in our message as possible.  We may not always be able to control how other people interpret it, but if we say it, sing it, write it, create it, we have to take responsibility for the impact it may have.

And the more powerful we are, the bigger reach we have, the more important it is that we understand that our words can be equally uplifting and inspiring as damaging and destructive.

My whole life I’ve heard women defend men saying that they didn’t really mean what they said, or that they were only joking, and they were really “good guys”.  If someone whats to believe that in their person life, that’s their choice, but in my mind there’s a different standard for people in public life.

As an artist, I take seriously what I choose to put out into the world.

And I believe that anyone who has a much power as the President of the United States has to  be responsible for his or her words and the actions, good or bad, that they provoke.

Beto O’Rourke’s response to the shootings in El Paso on Saturday speaks directly to this belief.  That’s why I chose it to be a part of Tiny Pricks. I feel it speaks not only to this mass shooting, but to so much of Donald Trump’s presidency.

This is the second piece that I’m sending to the Tiny Pricks Project. My first one was a quote by Donald Trump.   You can read more about Tiny Pricks Project and how to participate in it here or follow it  here on Instagram.

And if you’d like to make a Tiny Pricks, but don’t have a hankie or linen to stitch it on, I’ll be happy to send you one, just email me here at [email protected].

I woke up this morning to Beto O’Rourke’s voice.  Jon was watching a video of his reaction to the shooting in El Paso yesterday.

What O’Rourke said, was precisely how I felt, but couldn’t articulate.

My art often becomes my voice in times like this.  After the shooting at the Stoneman Douglas Highschool I created my Crocheted Gun and Babyblanket sculpture.  Then I had postcards made of it and sent them to my representatives.

There have been other shooting since then, but I often finding myself feeling numb to the news,  surprised and disturbed at how easy it has become for me to just accept mass shootings as a part of life in America.

But this morning I found voice in O’Rourke’s words.

And after hearing about the second shooting in Dayton Ohio, my mind went to the Tiny Pricks Project, which has given me another place to take my anger and feelings of hopelessness when it comes to politics.

The Tiny Pricks Project was started by Diana Weymar to “process this presidency  in a way that doesn’t involve withdrawing from following politics. This project is about witnessing, recording, taking notes in thread, and paying attention. Paying attention to his words.”

Weymar invites anyone to take quotes from Donald Trump and embroider them on linens.  She says, “Tiny Pricks Project counterbalances the impermanence of Twitter and other social media, and Trump’s statements by using textiles that embody warmth, craft, permanence, civility, and a shared history. The daintiness and strength of each piece stands in a stark contrast to his presidency.”

But she also uses quotes, that define Trumps presidency,  from people other than the president.

So I listened to the Beto O’Rourke’s words till I found the right ones for my next Tiny Pricks. Then I emailed Diana Weymar (as she asks people to do when using a quote that isn’t from Trump), to make sure she could use it in the project.

She got back to me 15 minutes later saying she would find a way to use the quote.  “Send it in!” she wrote, “ox Diana.”

Diana’s goal is to have 2,020 Tiny Pricks Pieces by the next presidential election in 2020.

After making my first Tiny Pricks, I put aside some linens that I thought might work for another one.  So I knew which linen I would use.  The one with the Mexican man embroidered on it.

For my first Tiny Pricks I did it all freehand.  This time wrote the words out on paper first, then roughly measured them and wrote them on the linen in pencil.

And I now have an embroidery hoop, which makes  stitching the words so much easier that I hope to finish this tonight and send it off to Diana,  in the mail tomorrow.

You can read more about the Tiny Pricks Project here or follow it on instagram at #tinypricksproject.

And if you’d like to participate in the Tiny Pricks Project but don’t have a linen or hankie to stitch your quote on, I’ll be happy to send you one.  Just email me here at [email protected]

“Why don’t you come to The Mansion with me and see how Fate works”, Jon asked me.

Jon is so much more confident with the dogs than I am.  I think it’s because he trusts them.  It’s interesting because we both have issues with trusting people, yet so much of Jon’s work with animals is based on trust.

I worry that Fate is too enthusiastic, and when we first got to The Mansion, she was having a hard time just standing still.  It’s like when she sees people, she just can’t stop her whole body from reacting.

But Jon also knows who to bring her to and when.

Because she does calm down a bit after the first ten minutes or so.  And by the time we got to the activities room, she as paying more  attention to Jon and what he was telling her to do.

Jon and I talked about Fate becoming a therapy dog on my our podcast this morning.  So when he suggested I come and see her work, I thought it would be interesting to witness  for myself.

And it was all pretty much as Jon described it.  How he talked about it and wrote about it on his blog.

But it was when we went into the activities room that I really saw what Fate could do.

I’ve known Alice for over a year now.  She’s often sitting on the couch in the activities room and whenever I see her there, I sit down next to her.  She usually takes my hand and we talk.

But today Alice wasn’t feeling well.  She hardly acknowledged that I was there.

So I got up and Jon motioned for Fate to sit next to Alice on the couch.  Fate gingerly climbed onto the couch and laid down facing Alice.

Suddenly Alice’s whole demeanor changed.  She reached out to Fate, holding her face in her hands.  Alice smiled and started talking to Fate, telling her what a good dog she was.

Alice came alive seeing and touching Fate.  And Fate calmly laid next to her, looking into Alice’s eyes and loving the attention.

It made me so happy to see how, even if just for those few moments, Fate was able to bring some joy to Alice.  To make her smile and forget how poorly she was feeling.

And I know that Fate was enjoying it as much as Alice.

Seeing this makes me believe that Fate really does have an innate gift to do this kind of work.   It feels to me like a puzzle when all the pieces finally come together.

Like everything is falling into place.

Cheri was one of the people who wrote to me asking me to explain the Tiny Pricks Project.  She  didn’t understand the meaning behind it.

So I did the best I could and a couple of days later she sent me an email saying  that not only did she “get it”, but was going to participate in it.

I love that Cheri asked and that I was able to explain it in a way that she could understand.  It was one of those exchanges that made me really appreciate my blog, even more than I usually do.

Then Marcia wrote and  asked me  for a few hankies.

She and a neighbor both want to do a Tiny Pricks.   A few days ago I wrote that I’d be happy to send a hankie or linen to anyone who wanted to participate in the project and needed a linen to stitch their Trump quote on.

I don’t know which quotes Marcia and her neighbor will be using so I’m sending them a few  hankies and linens to choose from.

That offer still stands, if you want to do a #tinypricks and don’t have a linen to stitch it on,  just email me here at [email protected].

I got some comments on Facebook and a few emails questioning the Tiny Pricks Projects created by Diana Weymar, that I am now participating in.   I wrote about it  and posted a photo of my contribution to it, on my blog on Friday. (you can read it here)

Some people, either don’t understand it, or  feel that  making the presidents words more visible is glorifying them.  That’s they’d rather just let them fade away.