Who said that embroidery is just for your grandma???
And who said that it is a boring activity, accompanied by a saltess, juiceless lifestyle?

Jacinta Lodge is here with her awesome 3D tattoo-liked stumbworks to prove that embroidery is actually cool!!!

In the pictures you can enjoy the "Flaming Heart" and the "Rosy Mummy". In the link http://www.flickr.com/groups/stitchalicious you can find even more stitchalicious artworks of Jacinta...for your eyes..and not only!...

IRENE ALONSO FERNANDEZ _ _ Creative Activist _ _ Spain

Irene is a creative activist, willing to help non-privileged people to have a better quality of life. Been a Psychology student, her focus is their mind and soul, so the way she chooses to act is by providing amusement and nice moments to these people.
The one part of her actions is associated to music. Irene is a musician and part of an activist orchestra, named OCAS (Orquestra de Càmara de Siero ). The other part of her actions is her membership in the board of a  youth association, named LLANERA, which is meant to exist for creative activities addressed to youngsters of the region of Asturias.

 

She started talking to me about the orchestra project, organised and held by OCAS, which is called VINCULOS that means CONNECTIONS. This name represents the aim of the project, which is to develop connections between Spain and Latin America through music!

It sounds good, don’t you think? Music always sounds good!

Three “Vinculos” have been realised till now. The first one was held in  2005 in Bolivia and Rio de Janeiro, the second one in 2007 in Bolivia again and the last one in Honduras and Guatemala. What they did in these projects is just amazing! Before they set up for their trip, they collected classical musical instruments and music books from people who didn’t use them anymore. They also bought some with their own money, whereas some others were bought with the donations by several organisations. These musical instruments and music books were meant to be donated to Latin Americans, who are musicians already and others who want to become musicians, but they have no money to buy music staff. OCAS was just so kind to give to these people the opportunity to make music!
Apart from the donated materials, one  member of the support crew was repairer of musical instruments, whose mission was to repair broken instruments and to teach the people there how to repair them themselves.
However, OCAS’ actions were not limited only in the donations and repairs. Concerts, meant to be performed in small villages and suburbs, was one of the main missions. In these concerts, the activist musicians of OCAS-Irene was one of them- were performing with local orchestras, producing a mixed sound of classic and traditional music, full of energy and feelings.
OCAS had also the sensitivity to provide a kind of education on music to children and others who were interested through workshops and didactic concerts. For the workshops, they were using both classical and traditional instruments, but also instant improvised instruments, like for example kitchenware!
And here the music comes!!!

Irene says that “The people in these areas are forgotten by their government. We wanted to help these children and these people there to feel that they are interesting and valuable, that somebody cares about them, that they have our support. People like it and they get happy. It is just amazing to talk to children and hearing them say that they are happy!”.
Irene also spoke about the favourite song of the children in Bolivia, which was not one of the funny repertoire (as the most would expect from children), but a song written by a Cuban composer, Flores Chaviano, which describes the catastrophe of a mine in Asturias on 1995 that costed the life of many workers. In Bolivia, there are mines too and this is the link in common feelings and experiences between Bolivians and Asturians.
She closes the story by saying: “I feel that I am not the one who gives, but the one who takes. I learn more than I teach. When you go there you see that these people even if they own almost nothing, they still have the energy to make things and they  try to be happy with anything  they have. In the contrary, here in Europe, we have almost everything, but we are not neither  happy nor we take advantage of the rights and the opportunities we have to  do what we can  do.”
My dear readers, I hope that you can see a point here!

To have a visual exprerience of Vinculos, check the video about Vínculos 2008, Concierto didáctico en San Pedro Sula, Hondur , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfbf01Ig-18

And now, let’s jump to the other actions of Irene, those related to the youth association LLANERA.In this association, Irene and her friends, apart from organizing workshops of poetry, sports, climbing, etc. for youngsters, are also very interested in immigrants. In the frames of a youth European program, an exchange of young people coming from Colombia, Guatemala, Italy and Spain took place, named Intercambio Multilateral . The main topic of the exchange was Immigration. Irene says that immigration is a big problem for Spain, since there are many immigrants who are not treated well and they don’t have good conditions of life. And clearly annoyed she complements, “In the past, Spanish were also immigrants themselves in other countries, like Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Germany, etc. I really don’t understand how it’s possible that now they forget this period and they neglect to show compassion to the immigrants that come in Spain looking for better conditions of life!"

In this exchange, an open platform was created in order the knowledge on different realities of the different countries to be exchanged. Speaking about the experiences of Colombians in relation to the conditions of living in their country, Irene says, “Their reality is really really hard. Things that you can’t find in books. For me it was incredible to see the difference between in just knowing, via several sources, about the difficult conditions of life there and in speaking face-to-face with the people who really experience it. Here in Europe, we live under really good conditions. Economical crisis is nothing compared to the harsh living  conditions in Latin America. And we, the Europeans, contribute in their problems with our industry, our way of living, our closed eyes”.

"Eyes wide shut and a “hapiness pill” to keep us sleepy!", I would complement...

Irene is also planning to create with some friends a “garbage orchestra”in Colombia, hoping that she can help the people there to feel nice. “They need to know that they are humans, that they have rights and that they should be proud to exist” , she says and she is crossing her fingers for a good luck in this project.
Good luck, Irene!

What is the value of a t-shirt?

It depends on the t-shirt of course, but what about the case that this t-shirt is designed by a child? And what about if this child is an orphan? Then I guess you would estimate its value in a different way than for a normal t-shirt. Wouldn't you?

 Common Threadz is a charity non-profit organisation, which is active in the welfare of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa.In view of supporting these children, Common Threadz has created the Orphan Collection , which is about t-shirts designed by the children themselves.

The Orphan Collection t-shirts are all limited editions, printed with eco-friendly water-based inks and are available in women, men and kids sizes. Each t-shirt sold from The Orphan Collection provides the financial support needed to feed an orphan or vulnerable child for one month and provide the child with a new school uniform, school supplies and meals for the school year.

                               So, what about a t-shirt made by a small "artist"?