Melissa

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Manifesto

  1. I assess the idea of need on a regular basis.
  2. I determine the criteria for need based on my own unique rhythms
  3. Stewardship is the practice of gratitude in everyday life
  4. Gratitude is the antidote to a scarcity mindset
  5. I cultivate awareness of the objects in my life. I know their stories and their roles in contributing to my highest purpose. These objects are material intentions which directly support my commitments.
  6. Living in abundance is the the opportunity to care for myself and my material intentions. Abundance consists in the actions of care. Caring and careful.
  7. I use the materials that form the functional landscape of my life in creative ways. This keeps me in touch with my imagination, with playfulness, and with beauty. In these ways, they are part of an intuitive practice which strengthens my communication with God.
  8. I use quality things in my daily life. They are well made from sustainable practices and from sustainable materials. This is a practice of gratitude and of care.
  9. I use things creatively because it celebrates everyday life.
  10. I live in abundance through my commitments and my imagination. This abundance does not require material possessions.
Manifesto Example
The Goose
Lessons From Geese

Material Intentions: June 2019

  1. Hiking
  2. Volunteer work
  3. Mass
  4. Divinity School
  5. Moving
  6. Gardening
  7. Beach
  8. Speaking engagements
  9. Social Events
  10. Cooking
  11. Housekeeping
  12. Travel
Andrea Zittel – Artist – AN INSTITUTE OF INVESTIGATIVE LIVING
the A-Z enterprise encompasses all aspects of day to day living. home furniture, clothing, food all become the sites of investigation in an ongoing endeavor to better understand human nature and the social construction of needs.
Andrea Zittel SmockshopSmockshop, an attempt to create a market outside of the art market, was an artist run enterprise that generated income for artists whose work is either non-commercial, or not yet self sustaining.  A smock is a simple double wrap around garment designed by Andrea Zittel – and sewn by artists who reinterpreted the original design. As an active testament to Zittel’s principle that “rules make us more creative”, each resulting smock was completely unique and one of a kind.
Manifesto Example

The Russian Constructivists created garments created predominantly from geometric shapes. They felt that fabric that is woven into flat rectangles should not be cut and sewn into shapes alien to its origin.  Zittel’s Personal Panel Uniforms(1995-98) pushed this principle to it’s most extreme conclusion by creating rectangular garments pinned and tied to fit.  
J Morgan Puett – Artist – RN: The Past, Present and Future of the Nurses’ Uniform investigates the often subtle ways in which the uniform, by design, informs notions of identity, professional hierarchy and labor within the field. The exhibition addresses the past, present and future of the nurses’ uniform by combining historical artifacts with the artists’ creation of the Ideal Nurses’ Uniform for the contemporary nurse and futuristic uniforms such as Bioterrorism Nurse, Diagnostic Nurse,Post-Apocalyptic Nurse, and Intergalactic Nurse designed by the artists.
J Morgan Puett – Artist – THE POST-APOCALYPTIC NURSE (CA. 2130) SCHEMATIC.
Work Dresses – Volunteer, Cooking, Housekeeping
Jumsuit – Rational Dress Society – “Our mutual value is, for us, the value of our mutual JUMPSUITS.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it with JUMPSUITS.
I may hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, and criticize after dinner, all while wearing JUMPSUITS.”
— Karl Marx
Sleeveless, reversible jacket
Celebrating and Uplifting Daily Living is an Act of Abundance – unusual and beautiful pieces create awareness. Like material mantras, they keep us peaceful and in the present moment.
Wrap Pants – Designed for ease of movement with a tailored fit, the raw silk wrap pant embodies the best of comfort and style. Features a forgiving waist opening with long lengths of bias straps that wrap securely around the waist, and a folder flap in front to keep it all in place.
Transitional Pieces: Mass, Speaking Engagements, Social Engagements, Divinity School
“One way to understand the saints—the radiant, aberrant beings next to whom the rest of us look so shifty and shoddy—is to imagine them as cutting-edge physicists. Their research, if you like, has led them unblinkingly to conclude that reality is not at all what, or where, or who we think it is. They have penetrated the everyday atomic buzz and seen into the essential structures. They have seen, among other things, that the world is hollowed-out and illumined by beams of divine love, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, and that sanctity—should you desire it—is merely to live in accordance with these elementary facts.”