Panelists

Sarah Corbett

www.craftivist-collective.com

Sarah Corbett is an award-winning campaigner. She grew up in a low-income area of the UK into an activist family and has worked as a professional for 10 years most recently with Oxfam GB. She started doing craftivism (craft + activism) in 2008 as a reaction to traditional aggressive or quick forms of activism. Due to demand Sarah set up the global and award-winning Craftivist Collective in 2009 which now has thousands of supporters across the world taking part in her craftivism projects. Corbett is one of the leading spokespeople in the craftivism movement (with media across the world including French TV & Italian TV) contributing to 6 books and regularly gives talks & lectures around the world including Bauhaus University and Beckmans in Stockholm. Sarah works with art institutions such as V&A, Southbank & Tate as well as a consultant for charities such as Save the Children & Unicef and has also collaborated with cult jewellers Tatty Devine & Secret Cinema amongst others. Sarah also sells products, consults, delivers workshops & exhibits her own craftivism work around the world.

Her book “A Little Book of Craftivism’” was released October 2013 distributed by Thames and Hudson worldwide. Her book “How To Be A Craftivist: the art of gentle protest” is out October 2017 distributed by Penguin Random House worldwide.

Rose Gorman

https://www.tuxedoproject.com/

Rose Gorman is a writer and Program Director at NY Writers Coalition, a community-based writing and social justice organization in Brooklyn, NY. Her writing has appeared in The Bridge, Paste Magazine, and elsewhere. In 2012 she was recognized as one of 30 Women Making a Difference by re:gender (formerly the National Council for Research on Women) and was a member of the organization’s first American Express Fellows cohort. Over the past 10 years, Rose has facilitated numerous writing groups for youth and adults, including veterans, recent immigrants, LGBT homeless youth and elders, and self-care focused workshops for people of color. She also serves as a Fiction Reader for Apogee Journal, an art and literary publication that engages with identity politics, such as race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and intersectional identities.

Betsy Greer

www.craftivism.com

When Betsy Greer first used a word made up in her knitting circle to describe the relationship between craft and activism in 2003, she had no idea it would turn into an international movement. But it did.

With her books "Knitting for Good! (2008) and "Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism" (2014), she has helped influence crafters of varying ages and mediums to redefine what some might see as a gentile hobby into acts of protest, change and growth. Taking cues from textile artists and feminists of the 1970s, she believes in both joining the long line of stitchers before her as well as setting a roadmap for future makers to travel.

As craftivism evokes both action and the reclamation of the domestic, it has been adopted by both activist and feminist circles as a way to create change in yourself, your community and the world. Her current project, You Are So Very Beautiful, is designed to raise the self esteem of individuals (particularly women) through leaving stitched affirmation signs for people to find in a display coined by her friend Sayraphim Lothian as "guerrilla kindness."

Buzz Slutzky

http://www.buzzslutzky.com/

Buzz Slutzky is an artist, writer, and curator whose practice incorporates drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, and video. Their work builds upon trans, queer, and feminist traditions with an often humorous and frank voice. Their visual art and writing often play between autobiographical and historical content. Their writing has included fiction, poetry, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, and criticism.

From 2010-2012, Slutzky was a Curator of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, and has continued to organize art exhibitions and events relating to queerness, humor, politics, and history. Slutzky has exhibited at Los Ojos, Cooper Union, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Boston Center for the Arts, La Mama, MIX, Frameline, among others. Mentions of Slutzky’s work have appeared in Artforum, Vice, Art F City, ArtNews, Observer, Hyperallergic, and The New York Times.

Gale Zucker

www.gzucker.com http://www.ezisus.blogspot.com

Gale Zucker is an award winning commercial and editorial photographer. Her work is often narrative, and has a storytelling style, even when created for her fashion clients. She often combines her passion and background in crafts, handmade and craft activism, and her interest in feminism and women’s equality with her photography.

In 2011, Gale co-authored the book Craft Activism (Random House) with Joan Tapper. Gale led hands on Craft activism workshops, helping attendees experience some of the projects and processes covered in the book.

Gale’s other book titles as co-author include Drop Dead Easy Knits (Random House 2016) Zucker, Egan and Kapur, and Shear Spirit (Random House 2008), with Joan Tapper. She is also the photographer for the award winning On Their Own: What Happens When Foster Kids Age Out (Perseus 2004),contributed to the Encyclopedia of Women in Religion in North America (2007) as well as many craft and knitting titles- and a series of juvenile books on how things are made in factories.