Maggie Stern: Sock Art Celebrates the “Sole” of America

My socks celebrate women who have changed the world for the better and never gave up fighting for what they believed in: justice, honor, the right to vote, equal rights. I started with a stitched design featuring Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who I wanted to honor because she is one of the great champions of equality in our time. Later, that stitched design turned into a manufactured sock.

MAGGIE STERN AND PHOEBE AT WORK

A children’s’ book writer, folk artist, and founder of Maggie Stern Stitches, a sock company featuring Stern’s illustrations of notable women — from Maya Angelou to Greta Thunberg to Gloria Steinhem.  On the sole of each sock Maggie stitches a quotation from the featured woman:  “I hope that their words inspire the wearer as much as they inspire me.”  A portion of the proceeds from sales goes to women’s organizations and other foundations whose work aligns with the ambitions of my heroes.  

Maggie Stern Stitches is a woman-owned and operated small business and we depend on our community, just like our community depends on us. With that in mind, MSS donates socks and proceeds from sock sales to non-profit organizations that respond to our world’s most urgent needs.

Feeding America 

The Feeding America network is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Together with individuals, charities, businesses and government they are working to end hunger in America.

First Responders Children’s Foundation

First Responders Children’s Foundation provides financial support to both children who have lost a parent in the line of duty as well as families enduring significant financial hardships due to tragic circumstances. First Responders Children’s Foundation also supports, promotes, and facilitates educational activities and programs created and operated by law enforcement and firefighting organizations whose purpose is to benefit children or the community at large.

COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO

The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO (World Health Organization) is leading and coordinating the global effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic, supporting countries to prevent, detect and respond and insure all countries are prepared, especially those with the weakest health systems.

Delivering Good

Delivery Good distributes new product donations made by hundreds of companies in the fashion, home and children’s industries, creating a simple and effective way to bring brand new merchandise to people in need across America.

Project Place

Project Place promotes a community of hope and opportunity for homeless and low-income individuals by providing the skills, education and resources needed to obtain and sustain employment and housing in the Boston area.

350

An international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all, and creating a future that is just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of climate change.

To order socks. . .

National Museum of Women & The Arts 

Slow Art Day April 11, 2015

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“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”—Henry David Thoreau

Join a movement! Slow Art Day is an international event encouraging people of all ages to visit museums and to look at art slowly.

WHY:

• To break out of your typical “go, go, go” routine.
• To learn about yourself, fellow participants, and the creative expressions of women artists.
• To make discoveries about and forge connections with artwork.

HOW IT WORKS:

Participants will look at five works of art for 15 minutes each and then meet together over lunch to talk about their experience. Simple by design, the goal is to focus on the art and the art of seeing. Don’t worry, museum staff will be present to provide you with artwork suggestions and questions to consider.

SCHEDULE:

11–11:15 a.m.: Check in
11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Look at five artworks for 15 minutes each
12:30–2 p.m.: Discuss and dine (buy your own lunch) at nearby Le Pain Quotidien

RESERVATIONS:

Reservations are recommended. This program is free with museum admission.

reserve your spot
– See more at: http://nmwa.org/events/slow-art-day#sthash.YNwz585R.dpuf

Here at Slow Art Day we focus on how visitors engage with physical works of art – how paintings, sculptures, photographs, and other media are perceived, considered, and experienced by the viewer. But in our digital age, museums are increasingly trying to deliver “snackable” digital content – short bursts of entertaining and enlightening information delivered through social media initiatives or interactive installations. In an article published by The Guardian earlier this week, Danny Birchall, Digital Manager at London’s Wellcome Collection, eloquently makes the case that digital or virtual engagements with artworks allow for the same unhurried, slow potential as physical interactions. Birchall writes, “[…] if museums can deliver snacks, why not three-course meals? Is there space in museums for slower and longer digital experiences for audiences to savour and enjoy?” Birchall uses the Wellcome Collection’s Mindcraft, an immersive and interactive tool that describes the history of hypnotism over the course of a six-chapter digital story, as a case study for his article. However, even the relatively long-form (for the digital realm) Mindcraft is only about 15 minutes long – a fraction of the length of your typical Slow Art Day event. Is this enough to ensure visitors’ full engagement with digital content? Can museums offer an immersive, engaging digital experience that avoids superficiality and truly deepens the visitor’s experience of a work of art without relying on gimmicks?

Read the article “Museums should make time for slower digital experiences” here

About the Event Date Apr 11 2015 Time 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Location Meet at the Information Desk in the lobby Admission Free with admission Reservations Recommended – See more at: http://nmwa.org/events/slow-art-day#sthash.YNwz585R.dpuf

http://www.slowartday.com/