UCU - About

What Is Urban Craft Uprising?

We are a community of crafters, dedicated to growing the crafting community and showcasing the best indie crafts out there. Our annual show (now in its third year) is renowned for drawing the most creative, unique, and cream-of-the-crop crafters from around the region-and even some vendors from as far away as Boston and Toronto! The uprising is truly a unique showcase for rising indie craft stars, and a venue for holiday shoppers to marvel over one-of-a-kind, avant-garde creations, and at no charge to the public.
UCU is technically an association, directed by entrepreneurial crafters Lindsey, Mike, Markia, and Marisa, who aim to foster a network of artists, crafters, and designers by serving as a resource to this growing community-through our annual showcase, classes, events, and other local activities.

Urban Craft Uprising’s second annual revolutionary craft fair, held in December of 2006, brought in over 100 vendors from all over the Northwest and over 6,000 fans excited to see fun, fresh, and funky urban crafts. UCU’s phenomenal success has captured the eye of local and national organizations alike. Visit our media page to read more about the UCU!

In 2006, Bumbershoot, inspired by UCU’s leadership in the alternative craft world, asked UCU to spearhead their “Indie Market” in the legendary arts festival.

Want to sign up for our newsletter? Just send a blank email to newsletter-subscribe@urbancraftuprising.com to get monthly updates about upcoming UCU events, news, and announcements!

The UCU is made possible through the hard work of its five dutiful board members:

Chris Sweeney (President)

For Chris the driving force behind serving as president of Urban Craft Uprising is the opportunity to assist Indie-Crafters in fulfilling their creative dreams by helping to build a supportive community. She began to realize her own dreams when on her 40th birthday she stepped out of her 9 to 5, rush-hour traffic twice a day, "is it Friday yet?" life, and set out in a new direction. Her desire was to work from home and make a living pursuing the things she loved: writing, sewing, cooking, and gardening--in between taking long walks in the middle of the afternoon, and playing hunting games with her cat Milo. She wanted to put to the test advice she had heard but had not followed up until then: "You have to say 'No' to the things you don't want in order to make room for the things you want."
Today, in addition to her presidential duties, she creates edgy women's clothes out of gently used men's shirts, under the label SolaChristine. Her hand-made cat toys, Milo approved, are sold in many pet stores. And she is currently writing a cookbook. The working title is The Spinster's Kitchen: The Joy of Baking for One, featuring her favorite dessert recipes, reduced in size to serve 1 to 2 people. You can learn more by visiting her website at www.SolaChristine.net

Moxie (Director of Vendor Relations)

At the age of eight, Moxie created a free-form sculpture by melting plastic army men in an easy-bake oven. That’s the day she became an artist, and she’s looked at the world differently ever since.
Moxie has experimented with dozens of mediums, from found-object sculpture to life drawing, and has a degree in Graphic Design. Although she thrives on all forms of creativity, her obsessive passion is the art of Needle Felting; it's all she ever wants to do. Her work has been featured in several group shows, including PlushYou! in Seattle, and Plushed::Art Gone Soft at Purdue University in Indiana. She's also written articles for Craft Magazine, and works with Craft, Make, and Maker Faire, doing kit research and development.
As a working artist with experience vending in many different environments, Moxie is excited to join the UCU team. She's looking forward to collaborating with and nurturing the creative people who make UCU the vibrant and growing community it is.
Made by Moxie: www.madebymoxie.com Moxie's Blog: www.weareallangry.com

Marisa Mouton (Director of Public Relations)

Along with working public relations for UCU, Marisa also like to shop - indie style! She's just completed a book, "Felt Underground" via a collaborative effort with craft stars from around the country and it will be in a store near you in Summer of 2007 (shameless plug). Marisa has lived in the Seattle area close to 10 years and appreciates the knowledge the city has given her: Drink good coffee and go to many, many live shows. Favorite bands include: Beastie Boys, Daylight Basement, Mountain Con and Snow Patrol.

Mike Leo (Director of Merchandising and Sponsorship)

Since moving to the Seattle area 10 years ago, Mike has been trying to free his right brain. Based on influences including Chinese Cultural Revolution propaganda art, tiki art, graphic design and advertising, he started 100flowers.net. When he's not at his "high tech" day job or working on UCU stuff, he loves listening to the glory years of 80's new wave and punk while reading Juxtapoz and Giant Robot magazines. He also tries and gets in some real football (soccer) every week.

Lindsey Ross (Chief Financial Officer)

The former President of UCU, Lindsey has seen the event through its past two fabulous shows in 2006 and 2007. However, this past February, her energy was diverted to a project of her own that has been a dream-in-progress for many years, with the opening of her new DIY yarn store in Southeast Portland.
At Yarnia, you can design your very own custom blend of yarn--choosing a combination of fibers, colors, thickness, and amount--and have your custom cone of yarn wound for you right on the spot. While the transition from being a work-at-home freelance transcriber and organizer to having to "go to work" is certainly a lifestyle switch, being able to write off knitting needles as a business expense and working up samples of her yarn in endless permutations for a living is pretty much all she could ever ask for.
Aside from cultivating colorful yarn stashes for herself and others, her passions include advocating viable alternatives to the corporate industrial food chain, fermentation in all its forms, running in the rain, and drinking a really, really good cup of coffee.
She is stoked to still have time to contribute to UCU as the CFO and watch it grow with its new leadership, and is excited to see what's in store for UCU 2008!

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Street Team

These are the hard-working volunteers who helped to make Urban Craft Uprising 2007 a success!

* Jessica Bajema * Ryan Soper * Danica King * Krista Horning *
* Roy James Buck * Dan Weiskopf *

And special thanks Sheila Birashk who was our makeup artist for the fashion show, and to Jessica Bajema who was our hair stylist!
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