Justseeds Show in Philly
Posted March 9, 2010 by colin_matthes in Art exhibits/shows | Comments (2)
A few photos from a Justseeds show in Philadelphia. Justseeds shows opened last Friday at A Space and Studio 34 in Philly.
Avram Finkelstein: Silence=Death Project
Posted March 9, 2010 by jmacphee in Art & Politics | Comments (0)
My friend Chris Bravo just sent along this great short video/interview piece with Avram Finkelstein, one of the early AIDS activists in NYC and member of the Silence=Death Project. It's a really nice short piece where he explores the relationship between image making and negotiations with the power structure:
March 4th, 2010: Police Attack 880 Interstate Takeover
Posted March 9, 2010 by Jesus_Barraza in Art & Politics | Comments (0)
Some video footage from the shutdown of the freeways around downtown Oakland.
The City is Yours
Posted March 8, 2010 by colin_matthes in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
Here are a few daytime shots of the Cut and Paint clay mural we put up in Philly last week.
LIST: Best 12 Books I Read in 2009
Posted March 8, 2010 by jmacphee in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
I've been trying to organize some of us Justseed-ers to start posting top ten lists of various things, I've always thought they were fun to both write and read. To kick it off, here's my list of the best 12 books I read in 2009 (in alphabetical order by author):
1. A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason
2. Penguin by Design by Phil Baines
3. On the Wall by Janet Braun-Reinitz & Jane Weissman
4. Red Star Over Russia by David King
5. Bakunin by Mark Leier
6. Wobblies & Zapatistas by Staughton Lynd & Andrej Grubacic
7. Live Working of Die Fighting by Paul Mason
8. How to Make Trouble and Influence People by Iain McIntyre
9. Manituana by Wu Ming
10. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
11. You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive by Seth Tobocman
12. Incognegro by Frank B. Wilderson, III
Eleanor Arnason, A Woman of the Iron People (William Morrow & Co, 1991).
It had been a couple years at least since I had read much science fiction before this past year, but my interest was re-sparked when I was invited to the Think Galactic political sci-fi convention this past summer in Chicago. I had never heard of Arnason, but she was one of the invited guests, so I went to the library and picked up A Woman of the Iron People, one of her most popular novels. Wow, what a great book! Like the best Le Guin, Arnason builds a new and interesting world, and instead of wasting it with one-dimensional relationships and dramatic battles, she uses it to explore the implications of very different political, economic, and scientific realities on the fabric of individual relationships and larger social relations. Don't let the terrible cover scare you (Arnason has great stories about the terrible covers her books have been saddled with!), pick this up and give it a read.
recent press release from SDS Milwaukee on March 4th Student Protests
Posted March 7, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in In the News | Comments (0)
SDS Condemns Repression of Education Rights Rally
Drop All Charges Against the Milwaukee 16!
Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is proud of the 250 students and workers who stood up for the March 4th National Day of Action to Defend Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
The university administration is intimidated by the UWM Education Rights Campaign, an alliance that Milwaukee SDS helped create of over 20 organizations that are demanding to lower high-level administrative salaries, democratize the school, and establish just policies for workers and students.
Recent Press Round-up
Posted March 7, 2010 by jmacphee in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (1)
There's been a small flurry of press and features on a couple of my recent projects, the Paper Politics: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today book, and the Signs of Change exhibition in Portland. Check it out if your interested:
1. Paper Politics interview on ZNET
2. Paper Politics review on Alibi.com
3. Signs of Change review on Printeresting.org
4. Signs of Change review in the Portland Mercury
5. A great radio show on KBOO about Signs of Change (narrated by none other than Justseeds' Alec Icky Dunn and Dara Greenwald)
Logorama
Posted March 6, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video | Comments (0)
Clever, and nominated for the Academy Awards best animated short
[Oscars 2010 Mejor Cortometraje] - Logorama
Logorama short film Logorama is a 15 min animated short made using only Trade Mark Logos as characters and scenarios. It was made with 2,500 logos, by the French Animation Studiom H5 and Minuit Productions.
18 arrested at UWM National Day of Action for Education Rights
Posted March 5, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in In the News | Comments (0)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society Condemn Police Brutality, Demands Justice, Continues the Struggle for Education Rights.
18 arrested, 250 rally for education rights at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the March 4 National Day of Action for Education Rights.
March 4, 2010 – Milwaukee, WI - Students for a Democratic Society is an organization that stands for social justice, peace, and equality. In the face of massive budget cuts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, we helped form a campus-wide coalition for education rights, called the UWM Education Rights Campaign, consisting of dozens of organizations, including the professor and teacher assistant union.
The campaign organized a peaceful demonstration on March 4th, part of a national day of action to defend education (www.defendeducation.com). The local campaign organized a speak-out to bring attention to our demands. The rally ended in a march to Chapman Hall, to deliver petition signatures to a Chancellor that has thus far refused to meet with us, instead choosing to introduce us to more campus police and locked doors.
Montreal Artists Against Israeli Apartheid
Posted March 5, 2010 by Jesse_Purcell in Campaigns | Comments (0)
500 Montreal artists issue public call to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid…
Today, a broad spectrum of Montreal artists are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Last winter, the Israeli state launched a violent military assault on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, leaving over 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 300 children. Despite the official end of military operations, the blockade continues to this day, with devastating consequences for Gaza’s residents.
Over 60 years from the beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from historic Palestine through Israel's creation, Montreal artists are united in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.
The City is Yours
Posted March 4, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (3)
and the street art is made with red clay.
A number of Justseed's members are in Philadelphia this week installing three different shows at three separate venues across the city as part of independent projects associated with Philagrafika 2010.
Here are install shots from the Medium Resistance show at the Ice Box (Crane Arts) of our red-clay mud stencil! The image is by Alec Icky Dunn (included in the Cut and Paint zine), the technique was inspired by Jesse Graves, and the mud stencil crew was Nicolas Lampert, Colin Matthes, Josh MacPhee, Erik Ruin, Emily Abendroth, and the fine folks at Crane Arts who provided incredible assistance every step of the way.
All three Justseed's / Cut and Paint shows open this Friday. Information posted below.
6th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week
Posted March 4, 2010 by Jesse_Purcell
Israeli Apartheid Week in Montreal kicks of today.
Check apartheidweek.org for more information about events in Montreal and 46 other cities around the world.
This years I.A.W. trailer has some well done animations well worth checking out.
Al Jazeera English - Inside Story on I.A.W.
Swoon's Art for Bhopal pt1
Posted March 4, 2010 by jmacphee in Art & Politics | Comments (1)
Here's the first of a series of posts from Swoon:
Here are some photo collage pages I made about the amazing Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal India. This place is one of the most impressive independent community initiatives I have ever seen. It is run by doctors, scientists, volunteers, and community members, many of whom are themselves victims of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster. It is a beautiful and welcoming oasis in the middle of one of the world's worst industrial disasters. These photos will be a part of a show benefiting the Bhopal Medical Appeal, who still continue to fight for justice for the disaster victims, for whom Dow Chemical (Union Carbide's parent company) still refuses responsibility. For more info, check out these sites: Bhopal.org and Artforbhopal.tumblr.com
collage of the week (21)
Posted March 4, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
Undocumented youth immigrants walk 1500 miles for their DREAMS. They need your support!
Posted March 4, 2010 by Favianna_Rodriguez
All Gaby Pacheco ever wanted was to finish college and teach music to disabled children. Brought to the United States by her parents as a young girl, Gaby has excelled in school, done extensive community service, and become an accomplished musician. But in spite of her hard work, she’s excluded from the workplace solely because of her immigration status. And she’s not alone. Her story is like those of thousands of other immigrant children who every day are robbed of basic opportunities to live and thrive in this country.
So on January 1, 2010, Gaby decided to walk. She and three fellow students, Carlos, Juan, and Felipe are walking 1,500 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C. to call on policymakers to fix a failed system that has kept them and millions of other immigrants in the shadows, with no pathway to a better life.
They call this their TRAIL OF DREAMS and they need your support. It easy, click on the link: http://www.Trail2010.org/action
After walking 600 miles, they recently entered the hostile territory in the Deep South. Last week they encountered an anti-immigrant rally led by the Ku Klux Klan. Today they walked straight into Gwinnett County, Georgia -- home of Sheriff R.L. “Butch” Conway, who is notorious for his anti-immigrant policies. Conway is known for being one of the most aggressive law enforcement officials to employ the 287g program, which authorizes local police enforcement to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
the Missoula Oblongata in Brooklyn tonight
Posted March 3, 2010 by kristine_virsis in Events | Comments (0)
Tonight the Missoula Oblongata will be performing their new play, The Moon, The Raccoon, The Hot Air Balloon (an hour long play set at the worlds fair with magic and palindromes!), along with an acoustic set by Laura Stevenson and the Cans.
Wednesday, March 3rd.
8:00pm
Dominic, Borth, And Angie's apartment
102 Ryerson st. #2
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$6 Suggested Donation.
Drawing All the Time: Week 21
Posted March 3, 2010 by colin_matthes in Inspiration | Comments (0)
Half brainstorming, half drawing. not sure where this is going yet.
Online Privacy Tips from Riseup
Posted March 3, 2010 by jmacphee in In the News | Comments (0)
Our friends at Riseup.net just sent out a new newsletter, which contained a short but useful section on online privacy. I've reprinted it below:
How to protect your privacy online ----------------------------------------------------Working on this issue is really a social problem, not an individual
problem. Asking individuals to spend a lot of time practicing 'privacy
hygiene' is both impractical and politically dubious. Creating privacy
online, in our opinion, should be done communally by supporting
alternatives.However, there are some things which we recommend that are mostly
'install and forget' measures, and don't require ongoing or tedious
maintenance.If you use Firefox, a web browser we recommend
(http://help.riseup.net/mail/#use_firefox), you can install various
extensions to use when browsing. Firefox is free software, and community
members have written software to add new features, and anybody can
download these extensions (see https://addons.mozilla.org/ for more
information about Firefox extensions.)Here are some Firefox extensions that we recommend:
* GoogleSharing (https://we.riseup.net/help/googlesharing)
* Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) (http://taco.dubfire.net/)
* Adblock Plus (http://adblockplus.org/en/)You can also do web searches at https://ssl.scroogle.org/
Linoleum Cutting Workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah w/JS Artist, Favianna Rodriguez
Posted March 1, 2010 by Favianna_Rodriguez in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
I will be in Salt Lake City, Utah this week visiting the University of Utah and the Mestizo Institute of Culture & Arts. My art exhibit will be up from March 1 - April 4, 2010. Location is: 631 West North Temple, Salt Lake City. Sign up for my Community Linoleum Cutting workshop on Friday, March 5 @ 6 pm. Call 801-669-4224 to register. Workshop sponsored by M.E.Ch.A.
This poster is available for sale on this site as well. click here
First Solo Show in East Coast for JS Artist, Favianna Rodriguez
Posted March 1, 2010 by Favianna_Rodriguez in Art exhibits/shows | Comments (1)
I am very excited about this show which will feature a lot of my newest artwork around the themes of immigration reform, food security, climate justice and L-O-V-E. Been working round the clock for this exhibit. Please spread the word.
Exhibit Opening Night //
Friday, March 12, 2010, 7-11 PM
Global beats & local organic veggie refreshments
Closing Event //
Saturday, April 3, 2010, 7-11 PM
58 COLES STREET, JERSEY CITY, NJ 07302
DIRECTIONS: 58 Gallery is easily accessible from NYC by PATH train. Enter the PATH station on 6th Ave. at 33rd, 23rd, 14th, 9th, Christopher St., or World Trade in Manhattan and exit at Grove St. in Jersey City. Take a short walk up Newark Ave., make a right onto Coles St. The gallery is between 3rd and 4th. 58 Coles Street.
For more info, visit: Fifty8.com
About The Artist:
Favianna Rodriguez is an artist who has helped foster resurgence in political arts both locally and internationally. Named by UTNE Magazine as a leading visionary artist and changemaker,” Rodriguez is renown for her cultural media projects dealing with social issues such as war, immigration, and globalization, as well as for her leadership in establishing innovative institutions that promote and engage new audiences in the arts. Through her work we witness the changing U.S. metropolis and a new diaspora in the arts. In 2009, Rodriguez co-founded Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities.
Defiant Proclamations
Posted March 1, 2010 by jmacphee in Events | Comments (0)
I'm involved in a number of Bay Area events coming up in mid-March, loosely in connection with the SF Anarchist Bookfair. Russell Howze, author of Stencil Nation and purveyor of HappyFeetTravels.org, is putting together a one night political poster exhibition at Cell Space which promises to be interesting. The Interference Archive (what Dara and I have named our increasingly unwieldy collection of posters, prints, books, ephemera, etc...) is contributing work, as are a number of other cool folks with interesting materials to share. Check it out:
Defiant Proclamations
Radical Posters from the 1960s to the Present
For decades, Bay Area walls have been pasted with bold art and pertinent messages about the politics, practices, and abuses of contemporary mainstream culture and its co-opted voices. Also speaking outside the frameworks of organized labor and left movements, individual artists and collectives have shouted defiant proclamations with ink and paper. Today, political graphics have reached a broad audience via many media sources, hopefully creating a new wave of radical art as well as a redefinition of visual art and it’s usual commodified structures. With a strong history in the Bay Area, this one night only exhibit will feature works old and new, giving a glimpse of the broad range of opinions and styles that have papered walls across the area.
Thursday, March 11 (one night only!)
7 pm to midnight
FREE!
CELLspace Gallery
2050 Bryant St., San Francisco, CA 94110
Feminist Press 40th Anniversary Party
Posted March 1, 2010 by jmacphee in Books & Zines | Comments (1)
My upcoming book collecting all of the Celebrate People's History Posters and then some will be coming out on the Feminist Press in November! If you're in NYC, show them some support and come out by their 40th Anniversary Party (wow, what if Justseeds lasted 40 years, I can't even imagine it!). Info below:
Manifest Equality
Posted March 1, 2010 by Jesus_Barraza in Art & Politics | Comments (0)
We will be participating in a MANIFEST EQUALITY an exhibit which gathers together a diverse array of hundreds of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one roof to celebrate that role and join with our LGBT friends, family members and co-workers to demand full and equal rights for all.
We each have a piece in the exhibit, Melanie has her print "Mis Mamas" which we printed as a limited edition screen print that's about two by three feet big. I have a poster I created for this exhibit that poses the question "Did we vote on your Marriage"? It features an illustration of a couple friends who are engaged and under current California Law do not have the right to marry each other.
MANIFEST EQUALITY
March 3rd – March 7th, 2010
1341 Vine Street,
LA, CA
JS Posters featured in Hip Hop video by Mexico City MC, Bocafloja
Posted February 28, 2010 by Favianna_Rodriguez in Culture Jamming / Ads & Adbusting | Comments (0)
Hailing from Mexico city, Bocafloja strives in search of alternative forms of classic hip hop structure in the form of MC. With four solo albums, the production of two compilation albums, one published book and presence on stages that extend all over Latin America and the United States: from SOB'S in New York to the cultural center bank of brazil in Rio de Janeiro, from Venezuela to Cuba, from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic, from east L.A to Paris—without omitting the innumerable appearances throughout México, during 12 years of constant activity in the Hip Hop scene—Bocafloja was presented with the DJ & Clubbing Awards’ Hip Hop Artist of the Year Award 2006 in Mexico.
I'm super proud of my brotha. His most recent music video, Las Estaciones, features two of my art pieces! Sisterfire and International Migrant's Day Poster, both available for sale on this website.
water signs
Posted February 28, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in Environment | Comments (1)
I've been spending a lot of time recently thinking about water issues and watching films on the topic - especially on the the issue of privatization. Here are some of my new designs. Feedback appreciated.
short list of documentary films on water issues:
Blue Gold: http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/
Flow: http://www.flowthefilm.com/
One Water: http://www.onewaterthemovie.org/
The Waterfront: http://www.waterfrontmovie.com/
Thirst: http://www.pbs.org/pov/thirst/
Upstream Battle: http://expressive.tv/films/upstream_battle/
School as Art
Posted February 25, 2010 by dara_g in Art & Politics | Comments (12)
Since participating in a session called Pedagogies of the Periphery (organized by Rebecca Zorach) a few weeks ago at threewalls Gallery in Chicago I have been thinking through a lot of questions I have about the current trend of the school form as artist project as well as the call for the March 4th student strike. Once I compiled this long but incomplete list, I got kind of excited about all of the mostly grassroots energy it represents towards rethinking what it means to learn. At the same time I wonder who these art projects serve and if they have oppositional possibilities or are just another venue for people with privilege to socialize with each other and engage in "knowledge production"? Some other questions I have are:
What does this type of art practice say about the current conditions of both official education and/or art?
Although each project is different, does this trend indicate a growing critique of official education?
If so, what are the critiques (pedagogical, corporate, curricular, all/none/etc)?
In what ways are these projects different than official education? Is it the spaces they happen in? Different administrators? Content of courses? Cost? Openness?
What are the politics of the discourse of “openness”?
What constitutes participation in these projects?
What, if any, is the relationship between the impetus for these school art practices and the issues inspiring the student strikes?
There are many other questions to ask and discussions to have related to problems of education today….for now here is a list of school art projects, as well as other types of places where classes are offered to the public, and a list of free schools for young people...
collage of the week (20)
Posted February 25, 2010 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
ART WORK events in Pittsburgh
Posted February 24, 2010 by mary_tremonte in Justseeds & Member Projects | Comments (0)
ART WORK
A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics
Through Feb. 28, 2010 at the Miller Gallery.
Events This Week:::
Feb. 25, Thurs.
8-9:30pm: Discussion led by Marc Fischer (Temporary Services) around issues raised in Art Work: A National Conversation about Art, Labor, and Economics. Food available.
@ The Waffle Shop, 125 S. Highland Ave. at Baum, E. Liberty
Rad Teen Print of the Week: G.Y.T.
Posted February 23, 2010 by mary_tremonte in Inspiration | Comments (0)
This is one of the first prints created at Power Up, a new after school program I am teaching, by Shaleia McElligott. This poster is to promote Planned Parenthood of Western PA's G.Y.T., or "Get Yourself Tested" program. The girls have created many graphics for PPWP, and will have a show of their work in their window on Liberty Ave Downtown. Stay tuned!
Art Against Empire
Posted February 23, 2010 by jmacphee in Events | Comments (0)
This just in (from Evil Monito, check it HERE):
Art Against Empire: Graphic Responses to U.S. Intervention Since World War II
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
3/10 to 4/18/10
LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) is proud to present Art Against Empire—Graphic Responses to U.S. Intervention Since World War II, curated by Carol A. Wells from the archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG). Featuring works by Josh MacPhee, Corita Kent, Jay Belloli, Cedomic Kostovic, Stephen Kroninger, and more.
Art Against Empire uses the power of posters to document 60 years of opposition to U.S. interventions into the domestic affairs of sovereign nations. Political, economic and military interventions, many of them covert, have repeatedly resulted in unacceptable deaths and misery for millions. These posters show hopes and dreams, and the pain of dreams destroyed.
Studs Terkel's Working:a graphic adaptation
Posted February 22, 2010 by k_c_ in Books & Zines | Comments (0)
I was given a copy of Studs Terkel's Working: a graphic adaptation by an acquaintance from The New Press, last Summer. I gladly accepted the gift and expressed my intention of sharing my opinion of the book here on the Justseeds blog. There are many familiar contributing artists to the book including Peter Kuper, Sabrina Jones, and Justseeds member Dylan Miner!
In all honesty I have never read Terkels' Working, so this is my first encounter with the material. I am fascinated with people, where they were born, grew up, what kind of formative experiences did they had, etc. I'm interested in the places that shape us into who we are. Like my pal Chris says "everyone's got a story". So I'm curious to hear those of most people I engage with. For those, like me, are not familiar, Working is a collection of accounts, from the 60's, of how ordinary folks in the USA made their living. It is an exploration of what makes work meaningful for people in all walks of life.
While reading the different narratives I found myself realizing that these experiences are not much different than contemporary feelings about work and society. Garbageman, organizers, hooker, and farmworker are some accounts that appear timeless, and would remain so if wages and historical references weren't maintained.
I found Peter Kuper, Ryan Inzana, and Dylan Miner's pieces to be the strongest. Their graphic styles and lettering appealed the most to me. Some accounts feel short, making their inclusion a little confusing. Nevertheless, Working: a graphic adaptation is an indication that Studs Terkel's efforts from the 60's is still relevant and compelling in this new millennium.
Roger Williams and the fight for control of your soul
Posted February 21, 2010 by bec_young in In the News | Comments (1)
I'm in Providence, RI, currently the Artist-in-Residence at AS220, a fascinating complex of facilities with a community performance space and gallery, artists' studios, a community printshop, a restauant and bar, and much more. My dad insisted while I was here that I check out the Roger Williams National Memorial. This is a small park with a information building, complete with federal park rangers, in the middle of downtown Providence, dedicated to a pastor who spent much of his life telling folks that if there's any two things in life that should be kept separate, they are Church and State. He also founded the first Baptist church in the country, and was of the belief that people should be baptized when they are adults capable of making that decision, not children with the decision being made by the parents. His term for this was soul freedom, and he said: "...at last to proclaim a true and absolute soul freedom to all the people of the land impartially; so that no person be forced to pray nor pay, otherwise then as his soul believeth and consenteth" (The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, Vol. VII). If you're following the news about the Texas Board of Education rulings on what goes into textbooks then you know that the debate over the separation of Church and State is far from over. As such a large state, Texas holds a lot of sway with textbook manufacturers, so what is created in Texas, Creationism or creativity, doesn't necessarily stay in Texas. Personally, I remember trembling with anger in my highschool history class because of the slant of the textbook, and I sincerely hope that, as a nation, we will stop forcing young people to consenteth to what they don't necessarily believeth.
