protest art |

Doubtless you’ve read about the Wall of Moms that made a stand in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Portland. Moms flooded into the city from all over, night after night, incensed by the invasion of Federal troups, with their military bearing and disregard for civil rights. Linking arms the moms created a wall, walking into the tear gas with all the others. My mom-ness linked up and felt the sting. wallofmoms

According to my friend Janet who lives there, since the Feds have left, peaceful demonstrations and police restraint have prevailed, along with some wonderful new protest art installations. But of course the camouflagers have been ordered now to occupy other democratically inclined cities (without invitation from local jurisdictions of course).

TAKE HEART. RESIST. So reads an artful letterpress card made by Eric Johnson which I picked at the Codex Book Fair in Richmond this week. Protest art was to be found in abundance at the exhibition. It has to go somewhere, all this overwhelm, distrust, and dismay with activities of this new administration.

resist2 acrylic and collage on gesso coated w/c paper, 10 X 11

We will not compromise. There’s too much at stake. We will not get too comfortable except in our growing unity. We have each other after all. People of all colors and orientations. We have this planet with its innumerable rare species.

This vibrant world of ours. This is where our pride should find its home.

This Muse Group lesson was: moving the fluid acrylic paint around the paper on a gessoed surface, wiping it off, scraping through it and adding more while it’s still wet. I finished it off with some black ink lines drawn with the ink dropper. I was just thinking two figures but the red (my favorite color) expressed my heated emotions at moments throughout the day, in conversation with friends or tuning into the media.

resist