Badass Cross Stitch Workshop with Author Shannon Downey

Make a Yay! Flag to celebrate your wins! 

What is a Yay! flag you ask? It is a small flag that says "Yay!" on it. When you accomplish something or complete a task, you grab that flag and wave it while cheering for yourself. It is a way to mark the little wins and honor the milestones. It’s fun and silly! It makes you feel good. In times like these, celebrating our little wins is so important. There’s always more to do but if we don’t celebrate along the way we can forget how much progress we have made. Scatter them around your house and let everyone wave the Yay! Flag when they feel proud.

About the Book

Craftivism, or the space where art and activism meet, is a powerful, ever-evolving social justice movement that continues to grow and diversify as more voices and mediums take part in it. In Let's Move the Needle, Shannon Downey, an outspoken voice in the craftivist movement for over a decade, provides a roadmap and accessible toolkit for burgeoning art activists.

Filled with self-reflective activities, exercises, prompts, and stories, Let's Move the Needle educates and empowers creatives to center their art around collective action in service of political, social or community issues they are most passionate about; affirming that everyone can be a changemaker and that change-making can be generative, enjoyable, and a bit sassy! 

About the Author

Shannon Downey is the founder of Badass Cross Stitch and Seriously Badass Women, and is an artist, activist, craftivist, community builder, and general instigator. Her work moves people from passive consumers of art into engaged creators and leverages craft-based art forms to bring people together, present opportunities to transition from makers to change makers, and inspire radical hope for what is possible. Her award-winning work can be found in galleries, museums, and private collections around the world and has been featured in outlets including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Atlas Obscura, Fast Company, and i-D, and books including Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Signs of Resistance: A Visual History of Protest in America. She is on the faculty at Columbia College Chicago and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Books will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Barrett Bookstore.