Join us for Justice January, a 6x6 art-making event that will encourage you to make an artwork about a subject that matters to you. Three local artists - Hannah Bell, Lillie, and Hinda Mandell - will each lead themed activities to help you make an artwork and enter into 6x6x2026.

Transforming data into social justice art
Join Hannah in exploring the artistic process of using abstract data to create art that highlights social justice issues. Outraged about the number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women? Passionate about the number of people experiencing food insecurity in Rochester? Want to celebrate the positive impact of a cause you support? Bring the data, numbers, and reports of justice issues you are passionate about, or learn about new issues at this workshop, and experience how statistics and data can inspire powerful art that makes a statement.

Embroider Your Vision for Rochester
Public art has incredible power in a community, from raising awareness like the anti-war artwork of Banksy, to even helping overturn a dictatorship like the NO+ movement in Chile. While graffiti and printmaking are commonly used in protest and activism, any medium can be used, including fiber arts. What issue are you passionate to educate Rochester on? What is your message to the community, and what do you want to see this city become? Bring your ideas and visions for the future of Rochester and work with Lillie to embroider them into a 6x6 artwork.

Hand Stitch a Rochester Puff
Join us as we hand-stitch flower-inspired ‘Rochester Puffs’ for your 6x6 submission while also learning about their re-use origins as decorative + practical embellishments for home décor and clothing. All materials will be provided, but participants are welcome to bring along a pre-loved clothing item they don’t mind cutting up and incorporating into their 6x6 piece.

Each artist will lead two sessions, which will begin at 6:00pm and 7:30pm. Admission is $2 / free for RoCo Members and light snacks will be available. Don't miss this fun event to make an artwork with a purpose!

About 6x6: roco6x6.org

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Hannah Bell (she/her) is an artist and creative director based in Rochester, NY. Her artistic practice focuses on portraits and figurative work; which gives the opportunity to explore the beauty, variety, and value of people in the community and beyond. She explores the power of face and form to connect the viewer with personal stories and larger social and justice issues. At the heart of her work is people and humanity. She explores the human experience - the simple joys, and the profound struggles, weaving together abstract imagery and figurative work to create powerful stories. @hannah.l.bell.art

Lillie (she/her) is an embroidery artist and proud member of the Rochester community. She picked up embroidery during the COVID lockdown and was inspired to stitch her own designs after seeing the “A Change is Coming” exhibit at RoCo. Her work is inspired by the belief that a better world is possible. @lillieorchids

Dr. Hinda Mandell (she/her) is professor in the School of Communication at RIT in New York. Mandell is editor of Global Craftivism since the Pussyhats: Handcraft Responses to Violence, War, Illness and Isolation (forthcoming, Bloomsbury, 2026); author of Crafting Choice: Abortion Politics and Handwork in the U.S (forthcoming, Bloomsbury 2026).; editor Crafting Dissent: Handicraft as Protest from the American Revolution to the Pussyhats (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019); co-curator and co-editor of Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism (RIT Press, 2019); a co-editor of Nasty Women and Bad Hombres: Gender and Race in the 2016 US Presidential Election (University of Rochester Press, 2018), among others. As a journalist, her work has been published in Politico, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The LA Times, among other publications. An avid DIY’er who loves to unleash creativity in others, Mandell is co-founder of her university’s annual Zine Fest. Her scholarly inquiries into collaborative handcraft as change-agents have been published in Craft Research, the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, and the Journal of Feminist Scholarship. She is on the international advisory board of the Journal of Arts & Communities and on the editorial board the International Journal of Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, and her research has been funded by the Center for Craft and Fiber Art Now. In 2020 she was a guest artist with Visual Studies Workshop, whose residency funded the production of her artist book, “The Yarn Must Live: A Polemic on a Pandemic and Public Art,” which was acquired by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2021. Since 2017, she has organized maker interventions on issues of social reform tied to geographic place reaching 2,000 craft participants. She’s been interviewed by The New York Times and The Associated Press, among other global outlets, on the importance of making objects by hand. @crochetactivism