Violet Protest

[MUSIC] Shouting [MUSIC] I felt like I had something to say, I didn't know who to say it to.

Crowd It's not about divisiveness, but about creating unity and bringing people together.

Cheering It was about us coming together about values.

(sewing machine) It's about conversation.

The Violet Protest is not meant to be a partisan or political move.

It's really a call for national unity.

(dramatic music) [MUSIC] These type of political movements involving craft and self-expression within the political realm go back to the founding of this country.

Historically, what became the United States of America, women did not have a formal place in politics, right?

They couldn't vote, they couldn't serve as politicians.

But that does not mean that women weren't involved politically.

When women got involved, they of picked up the tools that were accessible to them.

Sometimes those who were brave used their voice in the public sphere, but they also used their voice t the creation of their textiles.

The history of textiles and how they've been made really does go back to community involvement.

If you think of knitting circles quilting bees, traditionally it has been an opportunity to come together to make, to make purposeful objects, but also aesthetic objects.

And when you're making together like that, you're talking about family, you're talking about community, maybe there's a concern in your neighborhood or a concern in your family.

Or a joy or something you want to share.

The creation of textiles often took place in the home, in the domestic sphere.

So the creation of textiles is often considered to be a domestic art.

And the creation of textiles was a personal necessity.

People needed to be clothed.

That was sort of the beginning of a long sort of inquiry into the history of women artists, textile artists, quilters, the notion of quilting bees where women get together, make something aesthetically beautiful, but oftentimes conveying a message and having power in that collective endeavor.

There was a movement to create homespun, to create their own woven or knitted fabric.

They wore this fabric so as they walked the streets they didn't even open their mouths or say a word, but one could tell back then where their allegiance rested and it did not rest in support of the British Empire.

All through time, textiles, whether it's quilting or spinning or weaving, that's the way women have participated and supported our country in the Revolutionary War when we helped gain our independence from Great Britain.

Women spun and wove and they did uniforms and socks and blankets for the soldiers and for the men and made it so we didn't have to depend on Great Britain for textiles as much.

[MUSIC] The American story has its own particular textile symbols that are really important.

In the 19th century, we see the convergence of craft and activism really taking shape with the abolitionist movement.

From the abolitionist movement to the suffragist movement, which really gained in speed in the late 19th century, we see the continued organizing efforts around textiles, women expressing their voice, and political activism.

Women certainly couldn't hold political office, but they were involved in efforts at social reform through textile because that was what was permitted of them, and it was skills that they knew how to put forth n a public way, in a way that was safe and recognized.

(upbeat music) In the 1970s, we see a divergence relating to the production of textiles and women in the US.

We see an emergence of fine artists using the tools of textiles for their work as an assertion that, you know, yarn, fabric, thread, textiles overall, that these are processes that deserve artistic attention and that these processes and tools should be used to make artistic comment.

(upbeat music) In the 1990s, we are reminded that everything old is new again with this bright and shiny tool called the internet, really reforming people's lives and the need for something tactile.

In the early 2000s, we see the creation of the word craftivism.

This is a phrase that is attributed to the writer and editor, Betsy Greer.

And so if we move forward throughout time, from the early 2000s, we see people connecting online with craftivist efforts.

(sewing machine) The work that I do borders on activism, but it's kind of a cross between that and social work and art.

Where I come from it's called "socially engaged art."

The Violet Protest really started with a concern that I and many that I know have about the political divisiveness in our country.

This project was not meant to be a partisan or political move.

I think inherently it becomes that because we're talking about speaking to lawmakers.

But it really centers around a set of core values.

When you take red and you take blue and you mix that on the color wheel, it makes violet.

And I also like that word because it's one letter away from the word "violent."

(Music) I love the symbolism of the name of this project.

It's perfect.

It's perfect.

Because we don't want violence.

We want this beautiful color to come together again to encourage compromise and being sensible and looking for commonality.

And because it's a community-based project, it speaks so loudly about community wanting to work together.

(Music) The intent was to bring red and blue together to make purple, which is an indication of compromise.

I thought this was just another positive tool to help make those that represent us aware of our voices and to go ahead and just share another way of getting that information out there, but in just a different way.

(sewing machine) The things that Ann had as her objectives ring true to me personally, and I do think that need to be said out loud.

Being a part of this project of 2,000 people, it creates such a cohesive environment where you feel like you do belong somewhere and maybe you're not so out there by yourself.

There's like-minded people even though with difference of opinions.

Did a little bit of research about the fiber groups around the country, which there's a vast network of fiber-based groups like Weaving Guilds, Quilting Circles, there's just all kinds of groups all over the country.

And once the word got out amongst the guilds and people across the country doing this kind of work, then someone in Iowa might have a sister in Florida who has a mom in Indiana.

And so it really was through word of mouth after that initial push.

We worked for about two years and we reached over 2,000 makers from every state in the union, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and also five provinces in Canada.

The idea was to put a call out to makers and they would use pretty much equal parts of red and blue to make an 8 by 8 inch square.

The idea is that we would collect a lot of those squares and send a bundle of those squares directly to our lawmakers in Congress.

In all, they made about 13,500 squares.

It's important for me for this to be seen as an act of resistance.

I have never done socially engaged art before.

What brought you on board for this?

I thought it's just the perfect project for the moment in time we lived in.

I find it historical.

I find that this project needs to be part of the history books as artists not only, but as citizens attempt to do something about the division in our country.

Showing unity was absolutely my purpose and I really tried hard to have equal parts red and blue.

And that was the whole point.

The whole point was not for you to show your political views or which color you kind of prefer.

It was all about finding the middle ground and get to the purple, get to that perfect overlap of the two colors together.

(Music) It was a struggle for me to look at just red and blue without adding another dash of color.

The violet portion of it seemed to be what I needed as a fix.

When it all came together, it blended into something that I actually would like to be a part of, like a coloration of two different people, two different parties, two different projects that blend together into one.

(Music) I came up with the ideas for the different tiles by thinking of the words that we were given, compassion, community, courage.

It made me have a sense of community that we are all really just one country, one group of people, one party really.

We should not be too divided, we should be violet.

That's what drew me into the project, that it's a community-based project which I always love, involves bringing community together.

And then I also love the fact that this project is so unique and that it brings people to the middle.

And I don't know of any other art activism project that does this.

If we all think back of January of 2020, COVID was something we didn't even know about.

There was the events of George Floyd, there was a historic election, and then of course January 6th.

So all those events happened during the course of this project.

And it really made the work that the makers were doing so much more meaningful.

The pandemic was quite a difficult time of isolation.

And a lot of crafters and artists did a lot of work, a lot of extra work.

When they choose to go to craft, it can be a very soothing and it can also be a very connective space.

The Violet Protest Project brought a lot of empowerment to us.

It not only shined the light on the violence and the division that was going on, but it helped show the diversity that comes together.

This was a unique way for them to make, to work out their frustrations, and to be connected to a broader community and feel like they were doing something, feel like their voice was really going to be heard in some way.

(Music) As an artist, as a citizen, as a woman, it's important to feel empowered, to feel like you have a voice, and to embrace that.

And now cut from that mark up to that mark.

When the maker begins to manipulate techniques, brings different techniques together, whether through stitching or sewing, embellishing, we embed that piece of fabric with meaning, with power, through symbols, or even just the notion of weaving a warp and a weft.

They are sort of opposing lines, but together they make a really, really strong fabric.

The project itself, with the name Violet, really intrigued me that it was a blend and it came together as something different than what it initially started out to look like, specifically my pieces.

They were stark.

They were contrast.

I liked the way that they came together.

It made me feel peaceful.

I would say this was an act of rebellion on my part.

Like, you know, just don't give up.

Don't give in, you know?

We can figure this out.

We're women.

We can do it.

In weaving, you have to have tension before you can have a peaceful loom.

I think using the artistic process to get across your feelings about how we can improve politics in our country.

It's not just effective.

It's essential.

The Violet Protest made people come alive, made people want to express themselves.

And as a result, the Violet Protest has built a community.

And that in and of itself is meaningful.

(Music) I'm not an artist, I'm just a normal person sewing in their dining room and I don't even have a craft room, but I had something to say.

If I can be included in this group that can actually speak in a different way to Congress, that me personally, just was mind-blowing to me, that I would have that opportunity to do that, and just by sewing.

(Music) As a teacher, one of the things that I learned is that I have ways of doing things.

But other people have ways of doing things, and you may not get to the outcome the same way, but it's still a viable way to get there.

And so this red, the red and blue makes violet, is where we take both sides of a coin or both sides of our brain or both sides of the aisle or whatever metaphor you want to use and make a blending of it.

The first thing is having that conversation.

You don't always have to agree on everything, but if you have a discussion, at least you understand that other person's point of view.

You have to engage and bring to them not your party politics, but bring to them the value of discussion, the value of working together.

When I learned that there were so many women involved and so many of the tiles that were made out of fabric and yarn and different genres of textiles, it made you feel like you were part of a greater community.

You have people coming together on a national scale concerned with national issues, wanting to make the country more hospitable to political participation.

(Music) We don't always hear about all the good that is happening in this country and in this world.

And I think the Violet Protest not only shined the light on the violence and the division that was going on, but it helps show that diversity comes together.

The Violet Protest is really a call for national unity.

That's really at the core of its goal and it does center around that set of core values.

The act of crafting something, of creating a textile product, is really reflective of building allegiances and building a network for social change.

The project is a creative explosion that allows people to move forward, to express their concerns, but also feel like they're making a difference, and that is DIY citizenship.

The project was completely bipartisan.

What we wanted to do was really go behind all the issues and all the challenges that we have as a society and stop and think about acting upon those things with a set of values in mind.

Having been influenced by a grandmother who did a lot of needlework, she did this type of work, but she didn't really feel like she had a voice as a woman.

And so I remember making an artwork that was called "The Woman Whose Voice Was in Her Fingers."

And as textile art, we embroider, we sew, we paint.

We need to engage, we need to communicate, we need to use our voice.

with the belief and a strong conviction that the more voices, the more people that engage in positive movement, that we can truly make a difference.

There will be 535 packages.

In December, late 2019, I got word that I received the Scult Award at Phoenix Art Museum.

Consequently, the project was exhibited there before it went to Washington.

There were two huge walls, and those walls were covered with squares from ceiling to floor.

And then in the middle of the room were stacks that form the letters U.S. And of course we think of that as for the United States, but also "us," meaning us the citizens of this country.

Just envisioning this whole wall of these squares, I envision myself as a congressperson if I was standing there, what does that say to me?

(upbeat music) Art, when it's done at its very best, puts a mirror on our society and forces us to confront both the good stuff and the not so good stuff and how we can more positively move forward.

This project is in that great tradition of using art, the beauty of art, to make us question ourselves and ask the fundamental question how can we do better moving forward?

After the exhibition, we first found a big empty office space.

It had been a call center that was donated to us graciously.

And we got about 60 tables donated, so there was a table for every state.

Some states had more than one table because there were so many squares.

We had between 50 and 60 volunteers for the effort of sorting and packaging and documenting and getting them boxed up.

We sorted all the squares by state.

We had boxes for every 540 lawmakers, representatives and senators.

And the first thing we did was we put squares from that person's, that lawmakers state, in their box so that they would be sure to get squares from their own state.

Then after that, we had volunteers that would take those boxes all around the room and pick up squares from as many different states as they could to make 25 squares in total.

Then we had volunteers go through every square, write the name of who made it, their city and state on a list.

And that list went with the squares to the lawmaker.

We had letters from makers.

So there were probably about four letters in every box from makers in different parts of the country.

There was a letter from the project, from me, and a brochure that kind of talked about the project, just gave an overview of what the project was and had been.

And so all that went together in a box.

There were 540 boxes.

We put 90 boxes in six bigger boxes and pallets.

And in the U-Haul, we took all that to the main bulk rate office here locally.

It's a representation that there are so many thousands and thousands of people that share our values.

What I mean by that is the understanding that if our country is to really fully move forward, if our country is to be at its best, we can't have so much divisiveness in our body politic.

Is there power in the act of making?

I think that is the definition of making.

This was a violet protest with no violence.

It was just a soft way of getting our point across.

You know, we're always going to have our differences, but if we can still find a way to see common ground.

I'm not expecting everyone in Congress to love each other at the end, but if we're trying to represent the people that are out there, it's not finding fault, it's finding commonality.

My hope would be, as the Congress people are forced to open these boxes, look at this lovely art, look at the message that was included with the art about meet in the middle, come together, look for compromise, look for the goodness in our country.

Let's start doing what these little red and blue quilts do and look for compromise.

We know the energy that these squares carry with them because we experienced it, and it was worth doing because of that.

(upbeat music)