Shannon Downey is an American crafter and activist. Downey is recognized as a leader in the field of

craftivism Craftivism is a form of activism, typically incorporating elements of anti-capitalism, environmentalism, solidarity, or third-wave feminism, that is centered on practices of craft - or what has traditionally been referred to as "domestic arts". C ...

, using cross-stitching as an activism tool. Downey serves as director of development at Asian American Advancing Justice and is an adjunct professor at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

and Columbia College.

Early life and education

Shannon Downey was born in

Weymouth, Massachusetts Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of 13 municipalities in the state to have city forms of government while retaining "town of" in their official names. It is named after Weymouth, Dorset, a coastal town ...

. Downey's parents were

union organizer A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...

s. Their home was the epicenter of organizing and community activism. As a result, Downey was involved, as a child, in protests, which inspired their activism as an adult. Downey learned how to

cross-stitch Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches (called cross stitches) in a tiled, raster graphics, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a ...

in the fifth grade. Downey earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

and a graduate degree in recreation administration from Aurora University.

Career and crafting

Downey worked in

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

for ten years. Today, Downey serves as director of development at Asian American Advancing Justice. Downey is also an adjunct professor of business at

and Columbia College.

Crafting

Downey returned to cross-stitching as a hobby, learning the craft after feeling " burnt out" in their decade long career in technology. They found a cross-stitch pattern on

Etsy Etsy, Inc. is an American e-commerce company with an emphasis on the selling of handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home decor, religious items, furni ...

Captain Picard Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the commanding officer of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Gene ...

and began cross stitching again. After Downey's house was involved in a drive by shooting, Downey created their first craftivism piece about

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence against a person committed with the use of a firearm to inflict a gunshot wound. Gun violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable ...

. Downey posted the picture on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and received requests for the pattern. In response, Downey asked for other crafters to create their own gun violence-related patterns. The pieces were exhibited at an art gallery, with all being sold, raising $5,000 for an anti-violence nonprofit, Project Fire. Downey started BadAss Cross Stitch in 2016 to showcase her craftivism pieces. Downey's breakthrough piece was "Boys Will Be Boys", a cross-stitch created in response to the Donald Trump ''Access Hollywood'' tape. The piece, which reads "Boys will be ~~boys~~ held accountable for their fucking actions," went viral after being shared by

Rose McGowan Rósa Arianna McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress and activist. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy ''Encino Man'' (1992), she achieved recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generation' ...

Colin Hanks Colin Lewes Hanks (born November 24, 1977) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as Gus Grimly on the FX crime series '' Fargo'' (2014–2015), which earned him nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy ...

Adriana Lima Adriana Lima (; born 12 June 1981) is a Brazilian model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1999 to 2018. She was the longest-running model and named "the most valuable Victoria's Secret Angel" in 2017. She is also known as a spokesmodel fo ...

Sarah Hyland Sarah Jane Hyland (born November 24, 1990) is an American actress. Born in Manhattan, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School before having minor roles in the films '' Private Parts'' (1997), '' Annie'' (1999) and '' Blind Date'' ...

, Martha Hunt,

Zoë Kravitz Zoë Kravitz (born December 1, 1988) is an American actress and filmmaker. She made her acting debut in the romantic comedy film ''No Reservations (film), No Reservations'' (2007). Her breakthrough came with portraying Angel Salvadore (Tempest) ...

Tracee Ellis Ross Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series '' Girlfriends'' (2000–2008) and '' Black-ish'' (2014–2022) receivin ...

Jonathan Tucker Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' (2 ...

, and

Emily Ratajkowski Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski ( , ; born June 7, 1991) is an American model and actress. Born in London to American parents and raised in Encinitas, California, she signed to Ford Models at a young age. Her modeling debut was on the cover of the Mar ...

. Her cross-stitch for the first

Women's March Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 ma ...

in Chicago went viral after being shared by

George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...

. The sign reads "I'm so angry I stitched this just so I could stab something 3,000 times." In 2019, Downey launched Badass Herstory, a public art and digital project. Downey's goal through the project is to collect one million stories of women, female identifying, and gender non-conforming people, all presented in cross-stitch form. That same year, Downey created a project to complete a quilt, which they found partially completed at an estate sale in the Chicago area. The United States' themed quilt was started by 99-year-old Rita Smith, who died before completing the project. Downey recruited crafters from across the country to finish the project. The completed quilt was displayed in December 2019 at Women Made Gallery in Chicago. The project, titled "Rita's Quilt", was chosen as one of the "top feel good stories" by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' for 2019. Downey finds inspiration in the work of Pearl Dick,

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

, Matthew Hoffman, Natalie Boyett, Shawn Smith and Francine Turk.

Personal life

Downey lives in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

References

External links

*
Official website for Badass Herstory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downey, Shannon Living people People from Weymouth, Massachusetts Artists from Massachusetts American feminists American embroiderers University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences alumni Aurora University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American LGBTQ artists DePaul University faculty Columbia College Chicago faculty Artists from Chicago 21st-century American women artists American nonprofit businesspeople LGBTQ people from Massachusetts LGBTQ people from Illinois American women academics Textile artists from Massachusetts