Diana Weymar and Gisele Fetterman

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) presents an intimate workshop with Gisele Fetterman and craftivist Diana Weymar on Wednesday December 4, 2024 at 6:30pm. Attendees will learn to create a unique mosaic heart out of ceramic and tile pieces and learn more about using art to transform anxiety into action.

All attendees will receive a signed copy of Weymar’s new book, Crafting a Better World. Additional books will be available at the event to purchase as gifts to go with your handmade mosaic heart.

This beginner-friendly workshop includes all materials and small-group instruction. Registration is $65 and is available on artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Gisele Barreto Fetterman has devoted her life to helping others, with a focus on nutrition, food equity, and meeting Pennsylvanians’ basic needs. With just an empty shipping container and an open lot, Gisele opened the Free Store, distributing household goods, baby items and bicycles to those in need. In addition, she co-founded 412 Food Rescue, which sends volunteers to retailers who have surplus food that risks going bad and delivers it to nonprofits that serve the hungry. Gisele also co-founded the nonprofit For Good PGH which drives numerous initiatives on inclusion including “Hello Hijab,” which produces miniature hijabs for dolls, promoting tolerance and diversity. Most recently Gisele founded The Hollander Project, a business incubator for female entrepreneurs.

Beyond founding and supporting multiple organizations, Gisele is an unapologetic advocate for marginalized groups, especially the immigrant community as she herself was once a Dreamer. Gisele is passionate about many policy reforms and is particularly outspoken on marijuana legalization and is a medical marijuana patient herself. As an advocate, an activist, and a hugger, Gisele Fetterman is always making a difference in her community with her big heart on full display.

About Crafting a Better World - From beloved craftivist Diana Weymar, creator of the brilliantly subversive Tiny Pricks Project, a collection of projects, actions, and essays to transform your anxiety into action during troubled times.

Ever feel like you’re hanging on by a thread? From the climate crisis, to racism, to gun violence, to attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, the list of issues facing this country goes on and on, and it’s only natural to feel anxious about the state of our union. Even if you vote, march, volunteer, and donate, feelings of hopelessness (and helplessness) still creep in.

Crafting a Better World is a new kind of call to action: a guidebook for combatting fatigue and frustration with the handmade. Curated by Diana Weymar, the creator of the Tiny Pricks Project, who knows what it means to meld craft and activism. On January 8, 2018, she stitched “I am a very stable genius” (a Donald Trump quote) into a piece of her grandmother’s abandoned needlework from the 1960s and posted it to Instagram. Since then, she’s turned her embroidery practice into a material record of the trials facing this country and become a leading voice in the movement to save our democracy.

Featuring essays, exclusive profiles of well-known creatives, and projects that readers can create by themselves or with their communities, this book is a means to stay engaged, make stuff, and hold ourselves together as we navigate this uncertain personal and political landscape. With contributions from artists and activists – including Jamie Lee Curtis, Roz Chast, Gisele Fetterman, PEN America, Nadya Tolokonnikova (founding member, Pussy Riot), and the Guerilla Girls – Crafting a Better World is a response to this unique moment in time when so many feel, in equal measure, deep anxiety and deep hope. So, pick up a needle, a pen, a spatula - anything - and craft the change you want to see in the world.

The event takes place Wednesday, December 4 at 6:30pm. The Arts Council of Princeton is located at 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542. For more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org or call 609.924.8777.

The Arts Council of Princeton, a non-profit organization founded in 1967, fulfills its mission of building community through the arts by presenting a wide range of programs including public art projects, exhibitions, performances, free community cultural events, and studio-based classes and workshops. Arts Council of Princeton programs are designed to be high-quality, engaging, affordable and accessible for the diverse population in the greater Princeton region.