New Craft Artists in Action 1 Favorite 

Maria was psyched to travel to the Philippines where her hand-made basketball nets were well received. Invited with the Institute for Infinitely Small Things (Boston/Mass based) by Clara Balaguer and the Office of Culture and Design (Manila) she worked in Zamboanga City with students of Western Mindanao State University to carry out a 6 day arts and activism workshop. Throughout the week we encouraged the students to experiment with politically and artistically engaged street performance and on the last day of the workshop we decided to install an NCAA net work on campus.

We were surprised to see so many gorgeous hoops as we traveled further through the Philippines. Clara told us that basketball is huge there and you are quickly trusted if you can show your skills : ) She explained that before elections, many politicians will fund the construction of huge complexes and courts, adding their names to the backboards to win favor.

Traveling by plane to Manila, whizzing tricycles through Mindanao, and speeding car through the mountains to the great rice terraces, we hardly put our needles down. Later a beautiful collaboration between Maria, Clara, and Nicole Siggins and was installed in Cateel, a small town recently hit by Typhoon Pablo in Davao. We are so pleased that the net is being enjoyed there!