October 8 – October 23, 2022 on exhibit: a collection of my work, the Badass Herstory installation, and Rita’s Quilt.
Waterfall Arts is excited to host artist Shannon Downey during the month of October. Shannon is better known to her followers as Badass Cross Stitch—she’s created a platform where she melds cross stitch with activism, making it “craftivism” and she’s changing the world one stitch at a time. Below is information about the exhibit, artist, and related events.
Artist Statement:
It is a radical act…to take up space when society has trained you to make yourself small, to spend time exploring your story and voice, to center yourself in your own narrative, to come together in community to discuss hard things, to make time to create art about yourself, to participate in something greater than oneself, to collaborate, to trust, to stand up and declare – this has value and it deserves to be completed and shared, to create space for other marginalized voices, to speak your truth, to ask for help, to respond to a request for help, to try something new, to learn something new. Thank you for being here. It is a radical act to support radical acts.
About the artist:
Shannon Downey aka Badass Cross Stitch is an artist, activist, craftivist, community builder, and general instigator. She blends her 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. She uses art as a vehicle for positive change through creative interventions whether that be through open-source street art campaigns or global craftivism projects.
She is the instigator behind #RitasQuilt, #MakeDontBreak, #YearOfStitch and @BadassHerstory. She is on a quest to teach 1 million people to embroider and invite society to rethink how we categorize, and value craft and art. Shannon sold everything she owned and moved into an RV in June of 2020 to bring art, activism, and community to the country.
She teaches at Columbia College and DePaul University and is founder of Seriously Badass Women. Her life motto is: Make Art. Smash Systems.