On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about using craft as community organizing with my guest Shannon Downey.
Shannon Downey is an instigator. Currently, she is the Director of Development for Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Chicago where she raises funds to grow and protect immigrant and refugee rights and power through civic engagement and language access. She’s also adjunct faculty at Columbia College and DePaul University where she teaches Creatives how to build empires that will pay the bills and change the world.
Shannon is best known, though, by her alias – Badass Cross Stitch – where her shenanigans tend to get the most attention. In this role, Shannon is a community organizer disguised as a fiber artist and craftivist. She blends politics, activism, and art into projects that are designed to inspire others to take action, think, discuss, engage with democracy and their community, and find some digital/analog balance to boot! Her work has recently been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, and Money to name a few.
Shannon’s Boys Will Be Boys embroidery went viral as part of the #metoo movement.
When a fast fashion brand used it without her permission on the pocket of a pair of jeans, hundreds of people embroidered their own messages in acts of craftivism using the #rebuttal hashtag.
Shannon and I connected recently when she helped me to get the attention of DMC, the embroidery floss company, while I was working on an article about a recent contest they were running. In the process, we discovered that she’s from a town not far from where I live now and I was fascinated to learn that Shannon’s grandmother was a Lowell mill girl.
It turns out that Shannon grew up in a family that was deeply involved in the labor movement. She was literally an activist from the day she was born and in our conversation, she explains the warmth and excitement of this kind of upbringing.
Shannon with the giant embroidery hoop she stitched for the Women’s March in Chicago.
Shannon learned to cross stitch while attending Catholic school as a child but didn’t really get into it until a few years ago when she working in digital marketing and craved time spent away from the computer doing something with her hands. Although she was always drawn to irreverent designs, her work took on a craftivist bent when she stitched the shape of a gun and posted it on Instagram and her followers asked for a pattern. Soon, she was organizing an art show, raising money for an organization in Chicago that works with teens who have been victims of gun violence.
#EndGunViolence opening night reception at Project F.I.R.E.
Since then Shannon has used cross stitch and embroidery to organize people around political and social issues both on and offline. Several of her efforts have gone viral, attracting national media attention, and she’s got more planned. We talk about how she works to deliberately set the tone in each of her posts, how she sets limits in the comments, and how’s dealt with being trolled. I also ask Shannon how she responds when people say, “Keep politics out of crafting.”
Shannon’s next big project is Badass HERstory and you’re invited to participate. Get notified of the details here.
And, of course, I asked Shannon to recommend great stuff she’s enjoying right now. Shannon recommended:
Keep up with Shannon on her Instagram account and follow along with her projects on the Badass Cross Stitch site.
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This episode is sponsored by Folkwear Patterns. Since 1976, Folkwear has provided high quality sewing patterns based on authentic vintage and folk clothing from around the world. Folkwear’s sewing patterns are loved by home sewists, costumers, re-enactors, and any who loves to sew with creativity. Order yours today and use the code WSN20 at checkout to get 20% off your order.
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I find it offensive and helpful to no one. I am a feminist who prefers to be taken seriously and can do without the aggressive language. It categorically does not speak for me. Embroidery doesn’t need swearing to be relevant as a craft and neither does it help get serious political messages across. I find it completely alienating on both counts. Count me out as it does not speak for me at all. It seems bound to get attention but in my view at least, it isn’t the case that any attention is better than none. It’s also defacing one of the crafts I participate in and love. Spread feminism yes, but this isn’t what I understand as that. It just screams look at me – and we are! Horses for courses maybe and we are not all the same but my opinion is at least as relevant as any other woman’s (and men’s). I notice too that the most prominent picture is of herself.
Violence begets violence, the messages on this page (in the photos) do not represent my feelings at all. Angry as I often am over the treatment of women, I NEVER feel like stabbing anyone. Too literal of me? Well that is how the message reads to me. Loud and clear and it is a horrible one and not part of any solution to the horrific way many women are treated.
Does my disagreement make me a troll? Does she get to swear and be offensive yet others do not? I do not question that trolling is a real and upsetting issue, and it can be very abusive and aggressive but I do wonder if people like me, not being like-minded are also considered trolls. I am assuming and hoping not.
I wonder if you listened to the interview?
No I did not but I read the presumably informative post with it’s messages of aggression and didn’t want to engage further. I had already given my time to find out (I thought), what this podcast is all about. If that is not the message that it is intended to get across, then perhaps consider how some people like myself are reading the words on the embroideries. If I have misunderstood and the message is meant to be one of supporting one another, equality and kindness delivered without aggression, then that is very far from what I interpreted. Isn’t the work meant to speak for itself , loud and clear? I might not be Gandhi but I know that good things can be achieved peaceably and with good will.
Men are important in the fight for equality. They need not be alienated but rather intellectually persuaded of the verisimilitude of our arguments. Telling them to f off doesn’t really cut the mustard.
Sara, I would respectfully ask that you take the time to listen to the interview. You had the same sort of gut reaction to the show notes from my interview with Jamie Chalmers of Mr X Stitch, rejecting his entire body of work based on reading a brief summary here. The show notes for my podcast episodes are not meant to be in-depth articles. They are simply show notes, annotating an oral interview so that listeners can have somewhere to go to find reference points from the discussion.
Thanks for this episode. It is well worth listening to.
Personally, I found this interview inspirational and appreciated that you, Abby, risked rocking the boat, so to speak, by posting this episode. This is why I like the Whileshenaps blog and podcast!
Fiber adventures, whatever the technique, provide a mode of expression for all sorts of persons and perspectives. Why not? Surely anyone is free to stitch or not stitch any particular thing.
I applaud your inclusivity, Abby. I love the wide spectrum of what is happening in the fiber art world; there’s something for everyone.
Really enjoyed this interview and felt inspired. I did not find the message divisive or aggressive, unlike the first commenter. We humans have always created art with political messages, ALWAYS, and today is no different. I am now eager to find members of my local community who want to join me in creating, for their own sense of expression as well as my own. Thanks much.
Melanie McNeil
Catbird Quilt Studio
Thank you for listening to the episode, Melanie.
I really enjoyed this podcast and appreciate you inviting Shannon. She seems to be a very compassionate person. I think there was a lot of inspiration and food for thought in your conversation. I look forward to learning more about her work and projects. You ask great questions and are a terrific interviewer, Abby, thank you!
Thanks for listening, Ann.
Hi Abby. I love the interviews you do on your site. I really enjoyed learning more about Shannon’s work. I’ve included your post in our craft inspiration roundup and know our readers will enjoy it too. https://craftylikegranny.com/i-made-it-myself/ Cheers Jodie 🙂
I think everyone expresses their feelings on this matter differently, and all of those are valid. Shannon has beautiful and inspirational work to share, so I hope others will definitely have a look.