yup

From Margaret Atwood:
'You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a ­romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.'

From Jessica Hopper:
'I woke up in at four am last night and my brain was on fire with writing. It is hard to know if it was salient at all. I kept thinking, as I always do, if I get up and write this all out, then tomorrow I will automatically wake up at this same time and perhaps there will be nothing to write down. And then I lay there for a while debating "what if this is the best idea I have ever had and I lose it to the annals of slumber?"'

From Marc Johns:

self-publishing and empowerment

Debi Withers just shared a link with me to a pdf copy of her newly published booklet: Self-Publishing and Empowerment: A Resource for Community Groups.

You can download the pdf of the booklet here: http://www.debi-rah.net/SelfPublishing.pdf or visit her website to request a hard-copy of the booklet.

The booklet covers the main forms of self-publishing that are currently available at a low-budget cost: zines, blogs and Print-on-Demand publishing.
The booklet is a mixture of practical information, inspiring profiles of individuals, groups and projects, workshop guides and resources. It contains contributions from Melanie Maddison, Red Chidgey, Melissa Steiner, April L. Hamilton, Deseronto Archives and the Remebering Oilve Collective.

Seriously, reading this booklet today has filled me with an immense amount of energy, inspiration and excitement. I think it's a really useful and important activist resource that holds so much potential for empowering more people with the skills of self-publishing within community settings.
Thank you Debi for making this resource available.

gup shup

from my inbox...

Gup Shup – From Textile to Tote

gallery II | 8 March – 23 April 2010

A collaboration between Cath Braid, Rolla Khadduri and women’s embroidery collectives in Chitral, Pakistan

Gallery II and the University of Bradford are pleased and very excited to present the work of this amazing creative enterprise project from the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan on its first UK outing.

OFFICIAL LAUNCH… 5 – 7pm, Monday 8 March 2010. International Women’s Day.

Everyone Welcome!! FREE

Chai & Chat with Cath Braid… 4 – 5pm, Monday 8 March *BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Seminar with Cath Braid… 3 – 5pm, Tuesday 9 March * BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Talks are FREE. To book your place, contact Rachel Kaye: 01274 235495 or email r.kaye@bradford.ac.uk

“Gup Shup” is a landmark collaboration. Rather than seeking to preserve craft in its pure traditional form, this project introduces creative strategies to develop new images that seem true to the lives of their makers. But what seems most striking about his project is the sheer quality of the work itself, both in its craftsmanship and deft arrangement of ordinary elements.

This project seems quite transparent about the experience of the women it is meant to support. Apart for the creative challenges that they enjoyed, there seemed also benefits in the money and recognition that their work brings.

The Gup Shup project has been developed by Cath Braid, designer for social enterprise- Polly&Me and Rolla Khadduri- Development consultant.

‘Gup Shup’ (meaning chit chat in Urdu and Hindi) is a collaborative body of work from the female artisans of Chitral and Polly&Me. The exhibition comprises of large contemporary textiles depicting the artisans’ daily life and their translation into totes for women the world over to carry. For Rolla, this project is ‘an opportunity to give women the space to tell their own stories’. Rolla worked with Cath on running the workshops, probing the women about their stories, and recording their tales to appear at the back of each textile. The process begins with story-telling, dealing with everyday themes such as family life and through exploring the graphic world around them, particularly in packaging of products from the market. Their creative exercises also include making collages of photographs of their children. These then form the basis of the embroideries and their subsequent translation into funky designer bags. All work is available to buy and the profits go back to the women’s collectives.

Polly&me was developed by Cath Braid, an Australian and graduate of Central St Martins, who originally started work in northern Pakistan with Kirsten Ainsworth as part of the clothing label Caravana. Cath has been working in Chitral since 2003. Polly&Me works with a partner Mogh Ltd, the first publicly traded company in Chitral, set up by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme. Shareholders in MOGH Ltd are the Chitrali women who embroider, the Chitrali men who weave, local artisans and craftspeople, including those who work in the honey production, set up and supported by the Hashoo Foundation.

Chitral is in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan and lies nested within the mountain range of the Hindu Kush.
http://www.worldmapfinder.com/Map_EarthMap.php?ID=/En/Asia/Pakistan/Chitral


Gallery II

Open Mon – Fri, 11am – 5pm, Thurs ‘til 6pm

For further info tel: 01274 235495

http://www.brad.ac.uk/gallery/

www.twitter.com/braduniarts

Gallery II, Chesham Building, University of Bradford BD7 1DP

calling those in olympia, washington...

On Sunday Feb 28th 7pm @ Dumpster Values, Downtown Olympia there'll be a screening of the three New Report videos by Wynne Greenwood and K8 Hardy.

Watching the New Report videos, and seeing k8 and Wynne do a live New Report performance all in the same day a few years back is still one of those things that I can pinpoint as a life-changing moment. If you can make this event, go go go!

doodling is a team sport

The Scribble Project is making me smile today :)

i hope girls and women of all ages see this and care

reimagining girlhood: communities, identities, self-portrayals

FWD:


Kristen Lambert and Alyx Vesey are organizing a panel to submit to the Conference on *Reimagining Girlhood: Communities, Identities, Self-Portrayals *
Hosted by: Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies and Women's Studies Program at the State University of New York College at Cortland and to be held on October 22-24, 2010.

We are putting together a panel that highlights the curriculum and programming utilized in Girls Rock Camp - including but not limited to courses and workshops on:

- music history
- media literacy
- band marketing and promotions
- music journalism
- recording
- self-defense

We hope the panel will bridge scholarship with activism, and that as a group we can discuss girls and feminism, identity politics, and girl empowerment in relation to the curriculum created and implemented in Girls Rock Camp. As GRC hopes to work with a diverse group of girls in terms of race, gender identity, sexuality, class, and age we would like to discuss how successful the workshops and trainings are in
relation to the overall goals outlined by the organizations and where we could make improvements. In this respect we envision the panel as an opportunity to create a dialogue with each other across various camps.

We hope to hear from volunteers and instructors from Girls Rock Camp, scholars and activists who are studying Girls Rock Camp, and of course girls(!) who've participated in Girls Rock Camp.

We are asking that potential panelists please submit an abstract limited to 250 words to us by Sunday, February 21, 6pm eastern time. Please email both of us: Kristen (k.lamb16@gmail.com) and Alyx (Alyx.Vesey@gmail.com). Along with the proposal please include the name(s), affiliation(s), CVs (if applicable) and contact information (address, e-mail and telephone number) associated with the proposal.

We understand that this is short notice but the submission deadline is March 1st, so we need to time to read submitted proposals and prepare the panel submission.

Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you!

Kristen Lambert and Alyx Vesey co-teach the music history workshops for Girls Rock Camp Austin, and have also worked with GenAustin. Both received their MA in Media Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008, where they were both portfolio students through the Center of Women and Gender Studies. In addition to their scholarship and work with GRCA, they also maintain blogs that reflect their academic interests. Kristen runs Act Your Age , which focuses on mediated representations of girlhood, as well as non-profit girl-oriented organizations and current events related to girlhood. Alyx runs Feminist
Music Geek , which considers music culture from a feminist perspective.
For more information on the conference please visit their website:
http://www2.cortland.edu/centers/CGIS/index.dot

submit your zine to the amsterdam zine jam

On the 26th and 27th of February 2010 the Zine Caravan is holding the inaugural Amsterdam Zine Jam at Streetlabs Project Space, which includes an exhibition, opening, reading performances, collaborative zinemaking, workshop and, most likely, a PHOTOCOPIER!

All details of how to submit your zine, etc, are here: www.rekult.org/zinecaravan/?page_id=65

purple rhinestone eagle - european/UK Tour - september 2010!

PURPLE RHINESTONE EAGLE are heading over from Portland, Oregon to Europe for a month long extravaganza, spanning mainland europe and the UK.

See below for all the information you could ever need on this rad rad band!

WE ARE SHORTLY GOING TO START BOOKING SHOWS AND NEED YOU!

WANT TO BRING PURPLE RHINESTONE EAGLE TO YOUR CITY OR TOWN?

Email:

EUROPEAN DATES:
Clara (grossegouine@gmail.com); Dana(dana@fantastischelastisch.com)

UK DATES:
Em (lolaandthecartwheelssheff@hotmail.co.uk)

Facebook Group

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Hometown: Portland, Oregon (US)
Current CD: “Amorum Tali”

Members/Instruments:
Andrea Genevieve – guitar, vocals
Morgan Ray Denning – bass, backing vocals
Ashley Spungin – drums, backing vocals

Record Label: Eolian Records

Purple Rhinestone Eagle formed in the summer of 2005 in West Philadelphia. To the astonishment of a scene that generally associated female musicians with power pop and folk, Purple Rhinestone Eagle turned many heads with their big, bold rock-n-roll sound and energetic live performances. The band quickly gained a dedicated following in the DIY Philly/NY show circuit. After their first US east coast tour supporting New Bloods (Kill Rock Stars) in April 2007, the trio relocated to Portland, OR September 2007.

In March 2008 they recorded an epic six-song demo with feminist queer rock pioneer Radio Sloan (The Need, Peaches) at her home studio, The Haunted Mansion in Portland, OR. This past November 2008 the ladies recorded at The Pool Recording Studio with Alex Yusimov (Mississippi Records, Red Herring) for an album entitled Amorum Tali, released on Portland-based Eolian Records early March 2009.

Musically and stylistically, Purple Rhinestone Eagle draws a lot of inspiration from the heavy “tripped out” sights and sounds that came out of late 60s and early 70s rock-n-roll. Socially, they are motivated by the DIY ethics of early punk. Very much a live band, Purple Rhinestone Eagle turn heads at every show they play. Ashley is a powerhouse on the drums. Morgan’s electric fuzzed out bass lines are unforgettable. Andrea’s guitar shredding abilities leaves jaws dropped. Their lyrics cross a wide terrain of subjects. Often in songs they delve into the mystical and metaphysical but also the political and the many facets of love and sex.

Between various seasonal tours and in-town shows, Purple Rhinestone Eagle are currently writing a full length album due to be recorded spring 2010. This release will be followed by their first European tour this September 2010.

Reviews: Live Performances
“…the three women of Purple Rhinestone Eagle hoist two-ton riffs clear over their heads and send them – along with the ringing in your ears – spinning off into space. This power trio proves that you can grasp the dark side of the blues without losing the tips of your fretting fingers. No offense Tony Iommi. The way Andrea Genevieve mirrors riffs with her vocals, with their undercurrent of mysticism and wizardry, will leave you reaching for your dusty Hendrix and Sabbath LPs. It’s clear that Purple Rhinestone Eagle have mastered the 70s’ heavy, psychedelic, fuzzed out blues rock.”
– Aris Wales, Portland Mercury, January 7, 2010

“(R)iffs mighty enough to pierce through a dragons’s still-beating heart.”
– Marc Lore, Portland Mercury, July 30, 2009

“Imagine smoke machines, black lights, wizards, eagles with talons outstretched, and a post-Haight throwback take on Zoso-inspired Northwest proto-punk. Heavy, exhilarating doom.”
– PDX Pop Now!, July 24, 2009

“…an all-girl power trio of blissful malevolence. You should listen to them until your ears bleed with joy.”
– DJ Ranger Mike of KPSU Radio March 5, 2008

Reviews: Amorum Tali
“Purple Rhinestone Eagle throw a mighty jab with their new 12-inch record, Amorum Tali…Simply put Purple Rhinestone Eagle are on an entirely different plane than their peers – whether it be tugging upon the bushy mane of mythical classic rock unicorns, or grand post-punk numbers that rattle the exposed pipes of their packed basement shows. They intend on not coming back down to earth anytime soon.”
– Ezra Caraeff/Music Editor, Portland Mercury, March 2009

“We got a handful of these when the band were in town, but they disappeared before we could even hear it. We managed to get more finally, and HOLY SHIT, it’s not hard to hear why we couldn’t keep these in stock, some seriously fuzzy, Sabbathy, mystical metal garage rock, or something. The women from Portland, kicking out the jams, warm, languid, buzzy, doomy jams, super psychedelic, the guitars muddy and fuzzed out, the bass deep and throbbing, the drums pounding and a bit chaotic, the vocals wild and emotional and intense…The sound is sometimes epic and frenzied and very metal, sometimes brooding and murky and garage-y, often the two elements blurring into something else entirely.”
– Aquarius Records, July 2009

“PRE have developed a unique spin on their sound by any measure. Thickly distorted 60’s garage fuzz that ebbs and flows like celestial tides – either is carries you in gently or sucks you in like a black hole…Real rock-n-roll.”
– Hellride Music, July 21, 2009

philadelphia - you've got a treat in store!

From my inbox...

A dynamic month-long series of radical art exhibits and presentations in West Philadelphia!

Beginning March 5th, international artists’ cooperative Justseeds presents Bring Down the Walls!, a series of artistic exhibitions and educational events. The series celebrates radical movements that struggle to collapse the boundaries of class, race, gender and generation. The majority of events will take place at two locations, blocks apart on Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia. An Independent Project of Philagrafika 2010, Bring Down the Walls! is organized in collaboration with local activists.

Full deatils of all the exhibitions HERE

art xx becomes aorta

Art XX, the rad-rad-rad US art magazine that I write bits and pieces for is transitioning into its new name, Aorta Magazine, to reflect its trans-inclusive contributors and audience. The new name will be effective as of issue 3 of the magazine, out March 2010. #3 features an interview I did with the wonderful Marci Washington (who is also designing the cover)!

Plus, issue 2 is now available online from BuyOlympia. That's a whole load of awesome right there!! Issue 2, as you can see if you flip through the images on the BuyOlympia page, features my interview with GB Jones.

relishing the pleasure of each others company

Reposted from WomenArts...

In 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched an economic stimulus program called the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with a goal of giving people "self-respect and self-reliance" by giving them meaningful jobs.

Zora Neale Hurston's WPA Legacy

Zora Neale Hurston worked on the WPA Folklore project, recording folk songs and stories in the black communities of Florida and preserving oral traditions that might otherwise have been lost. The recordings are now available online in the Florida Memory State Library and Archives. (See www.floridamemory.com)

It is amazing to hear one of the finest writers of the Harlem Renaissance singing these songs as part of her government job during the depths of the Great Depression. Alice Walker once wrote that Hurston's great gift was to show her people "relishing the pleasure of each other's loquacious and bodacious company."

In the link below, you can hear Hurston describe and sing the song Halimuhfack. Even though it is a scratchy 75-year-old recording, you can still hear that pleasure and her loving attention to the details of cultural expression in her community. www.floridamemory.com/Collections/folklife/mp3/hurston/halimuhfack.mp3

art-gasm

Sabrina Chapadjiev (whom I adore) has just had her interview published with Dianne DiMassa, talking about Dianne's paintings and art work post-Hothead Paisan.
Read it here: Feministing.com

bikini kill oral-history archive project

Via Wears The Tousers Blog

She’s known for regularly toting a megaphone on stage, but riot grrrl royalty and all-round legend Kathleen Hanna is passing the soapbox over to fans with the launch of the official Bikini Kill Archive, a fan-generated blog where Bikini Kill adorers are urged to submit their own unique reflections on the band and its music. Stories, opinions, images, videos and memories are all welcome, says Hanna. “It can be totally off the top of your head and doesn’t need to be fancy. Maybe it’s your reaction to a song we wrote, something weird that happened at one of our shows, a personal anecdote or just WHATEVER.”

This project was undoubtedly inspired by Hanna’s recent donation to the NYU’s Fales Library, a body of personal papers spanning 1989 to 1996 which included zines, essays and correspondence, a legacy which will take pride of place in the museum’s newly minted Riot Grrrl Collection. The Bikini Kill Archive blog extends from this literary treasure, encapsulating the band’s polemic of accessible, grass roots collectivism, and encourages fans to add their own personal memories to Bikini Kill’s herstory.

Submit directly to the blog here or via bkillarchive@gmail.com.

Hard copy videos can be sent to:

Kathleen Hanna
51 MacDougal Street #227
NYC NY 10012

craftivism magazine - pica pica

From my inbox...

Pica Pica is looking for contributors!

See: Pica Pica Website for full deatils

If you are an illustrator, journalist, writer, photographer and would like to work on a commission for our magazine then we want to hear from you. If you are are a crafty type who would like to see your work featured in our magazine or on our website then get in touch!

Scroll down to see our current briefs, then get in touch with us if you think you fit the bill.

Editorial Briefs:

(1) “What is Craftivism!?”Craftivism, exploring how mainly young women are using craft in a political or subversive way, for example through yarn bombing or other forms of “craftivism”.

craftivism.net
The Craftivist Collective

We envisaged this incorporating an email based interview with one of the groups or bloggers.

Wordcount: 750 (approx)
Deadline: ideally 17th Feb

——————–

(2) “Copycat Craft!”Inspiration vs Plagiarism – a nice investigative piece to get your teeth into!

A plagiarism feature about independent designers and crafters being ripped off by large companies, for example ASOS ripping off Lady Luck Rules OK and other examples (Made by White vs. Topshop). Article would include reactions from people who have been ripped off, why it happens, and what people can do about it. We see the angle being focused around the question of where inspiration ends and intellectual property theft begins?

Interesting to see the community of crafters at work here and willing to help!

Urban Counterfeiters – a website dedicated to the designs UO & others have pinched, bit old but interesting!

Forever 21 – just “inspired” by Banksy?

Lauren Nassef’s sad story – a shocking case of plagiarism… illustrator vs illustrator!

So, if you are good at what you do people are bound to copy you, how do you protect yourself? Check out ECCA London and Own It for more information.

Wordcount: 1000 (Approx)
Deadline: ideally by the 17th Feb

ladyfest survey

From my inbox...

Hello friends!

As part of my research project Young women as creators of new cultural spaces (at the University of Salzburg, Austria) we have created an online survey to find out more about why and how people participate in or organize Ladyfests. Please take your time to fill out the survey and forward it to your friends. Help us to collect as much information as possible in order to get a general idea about the role of Ladyfests for the participants. We really appreciate your participation!

Of course your responses will remain anonymous. If you are willing to do a longer interview, please indicate so in the survey. Many thanks!

Here you can find the link to the online survey: www.grassrootsfeminism.net/cms/node/615

For more information on the research project, please go to www.grassrootsfeminism.net/cms/node/48

And if you have any projects you are involved in, you are more than welcome to list and publicize them at the grassrootsfeminism.net site (you just need to register first, let us know if you have troubles or questions)!

Many thanks and best wishes!
Elke

Elke Zobl and Anita Hammer
University of Salzburg, Austria
contact: elke@grassrootsfeminism.net
www.grassrootsfeminism.net

women and transgendered members of the comics community

From my inbox...

Attn: Women and Transgendered Members of the Comics Community

Your experience is requested!

In conjunction with my current School of the Art Institute of Chicago course LADYDRAWERS: Gender and Comics in the US, my assistant James Payne and I are gathering information about women and trans peoples' experiences in all aspects of the comics industry. This information will eventually be published in the introduction to a book collecting interviews with women and trans comics artists.

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a survey of questions dealing with professional engagement, gender and sexual identification, and the extent to which gender has been an issue in your own professional pursuits. Whether you're a creator, bookseller, conventioneer, publisher, inker, or editor, we would be extremely grateful if you can take a moment to respond to these ten questions.

This survey is completely anonymous, and we have no way of tracking your answers unless you choose to leave an email address in the comments section.

Please feel free to forward this survey to any women or transgendered persons you know that are involved in the comics industry. While the survey’s multiple choices questions are important, we are especially interested in gathering personal stories regarding the intersection between media production and issues of gender. But because the survey is anonymous, you must either leave your email address in the survey itself or contact us seperately to set up an interview.

Thanks in advance for taking five minutes to complete this survey, and again: if you have a particularly compelling story you wish to share about how gender plays out in your working life, please contact us.

Gender and Comics Survey

Sincerely, Anne, and James

january highlights

Best book, and zine I read last month...

Zine: DIY or Don't We?
I still don't quite understand the title, but this collaborative zine (USA, July 2009) on community is a really inspiring one (despite my often negativity towards working collaboratively on projects due to ideas of 'preaching to the converted', and the internal politics of collectives hampering their effectiveness).
The editor desribes it as 'a zine about doing things together as friends, family, collectives and communtities. This zine was inspired by hopes of extending the spirit of do-it-yourslef ethics towards doing things together.'
As with any collective zine there's great aricles, and some less-so, but I found the articles on The Olympia Film Society and Capitol Theatre, and the Ladyfest Bellingham Manifesta particularly useful and heart warming.
The zine is available from two distros I know of, Marching Stars Distro (UK), and Ms Valerie Parks Distro (US).

Book: Josh McPhee, 'Paper Politics: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today' (PM Press, 2009)
Described as 'a major collection of contemporary politically and socially engaged printmaking. This full color book showcases print art that uses themes of social justice and global equity to engage community members in political conversation. Based on an art exhibition which has traveled to a dozen cities in North America, Paper Politics features artwork by over 200 international artists; an eclectic collection of work by both activist and non-activist printmakers who have felt the need to respond to the monumental trends and events of our times.
Paper Politics presents a breathtaking tour of the many modalities of printing by hand: relief, intaglio, lithography, serigraph, collagraph, monotype, and photography. In addition to these techniques, included are more traditional media used to convey political thought, finely crafted stencils and silk-screens intended for wheat pasting in the street. With essays by Deborah Caplow, Eric Triantafillou, and Josh MacPhee, as well as short writings on printmaking by over a dozen artists in the book.'
Reading this book came at just the right time for me and my research and interest into political collective creativity. It has inspired the hell out of me and given me 1001 further examples of art as activism that I can learn from, giving me many ideas and plans to cook up and put in to place myself.
Check it out at PM Press's Website

signs of change exhibition

Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now

In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art’s Curatorial Incubator Program, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.

Organized thematically, the exhibition presents the creative outpourings of social movements, such as those for Civil Rights and Black Power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women's rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and student and worker revolution in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organizations.

Although histories of political groups and counter-cultures have been written, and political and activist shows have been held, this exhibition is a groundbreaking attempt to chronicle the artistic and cultural production of these movements. Signs of Change offers a chance to see relatively unknown or rarely seen works, and is intended to not only provide a historical framework for contemporary activism, but also to serve as an inspiration for the present and the future

Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now is an exhibition produced by Exit Art, NY, and was the inaugural project of the Curatorial Incubator Program. The program expands Exit Art's commitment to young and emerging curators and scholars in contemporary art, by giving material, financial, and human resources to developing curatorial talent. Working with Exit Art directors and staff, fellows curate large-scale exhibition projects, learn fundraising, develop outreach and educational programs, and co-publish a catalogue. Signs of Change was presented at Exit Art from September 20 - December 6, 2008 and traveled to the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, and the Arts Center of the Capital Region (co-presented with the Department of the Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY).

Ticket info: Free and open to the public.

Event runs: Thu, Feb 4 – Fri, Mar 19, at: Pacific Northwest College of Art Main Campus Building, Feldman Gallery + Project Space, 1241 NW Johnson Street, Portland, Oregan, USA

to hide a glutton's face

Lilli Carre is *amazing* I have so much love and respect for her work.

Here's a new animation she has made... of it she says, 'L'Ortolan is a collaboration between Chris Hefner and myself about the creepy culinary ritual of eating the Ortolan bird. He wrote the script and recorded the narration, and I did the animation for it and edited this version. L'Ortolan will preface the feature film that Chris has almost finished, called The Pink Hotel'

L'Ortolan from Lilli Carré on Vimeo.

if i owned a company, i'd want shrigley to do my adverts too!

"i love kate bush very much" -- debi withers

Adventures in Kate Bush & Theory: The Film, made by Emma Thatcher. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrCpF3zUARA

always encouraging people to speak out

Of all the masses of words and tributes I've read today in memory of Howard Zinn, these words from Nicolas Lampert moved me the greatest...

Howard Zinn changed my life. In 1999, I first read “A People’s History of the United States” and read it cover to cover, fascinated by his words, his sense of optimism, and belief that ordinary people can and have organized and challenged powerful institutions throughout history.

In 2003, I was so fortunate to meet him and strike up a correspondence and friendship. I remember sending him the full set of Josh MacPhee’s “Celebrate People’s History” posters as a gift to let him know that us young radical artists were attempting to visualize many of the histories that he wrote about. He responded by thanking me for the posters and said that they were too important to remain in his house, on his wall, in a drawer – that he would find a community space where they could hang, a place where people could see them.

That embodied his spirit. Such a genuine person who was always teaching, always inspiring, and always encouraging people to speak out and become active.

london zine symposium 2010

The London Zine Symposium is an annual event bringing together zines, small press, comics and radical writers to celebrate DIY and zine culture.

This year's Zine Symposium is happening on:

Saturday 29th May 2010
12pm-6pm
The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

The day is free for everyone. (Donations will be taken to help cover our costs)

This year will be the 6th Annual London Zine Symposium!

Featuring Stalls/Workshops/Talks/Discussions/Vegan cake

Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43222899146&ref=nf

Website:
http://www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk

Applications for stalls now open:
http://www.londonzinesymposium.org.uk/stalls

inspiration of the week

I'm having one of those bowled-over-with-inspiration sort of weeks that I'm glad comes about every now and again to help keep me on track and remind me of what makes me want to keep doing stuff.

Todays inspiration comes in the form of the following artists work:

DEBBIE MILLMAN

KEETRA DEAN DIXON

GINGER BROOKS TAKAHASHI

I'm overwhelmed!!

express your rights

This conference in Michigan, USA looks so so great. It totally keys in with work I'm researching for at the moment (in the area of political collective creativity), and with ideas/plans I am cooking up and dreaming of myself.
Just reading about it has set my head on fire with ideas and inspiration...




Human Rights Through Education (HRTE) proudly presents:

EXPRESS YOUR RIGHTS: THE ROLE OF ART IN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Conference Itinerary:

Friday February 5 (at the MICHIGAN UNION, PENDLETON ROOM)

3:30-4: Registration

4-5: Carol Jacobsen
speech name: Women's Criminalization, Clemency and Human Rights
Title: Professor, U-M School of Art and Design. Award-winning social documentary artist whose works in video and photography address issues of women's criminalization and censorship.

5-6: Danielle Abrams
speech name: Burritos and Bulldykes: Performance Activity in the Gay Ghetto of the Mission District in San Francisco
Title: Assistant Professor, U-M School of Art and Design. Former artistic director of BUILD, a performance space in San Francisco’s hub of queer performance - the Mission District and a founding Board Member of the Harvey Milk Institute in San Francisco.

6-7: Nick Tobier
speech name: Human Centered Design & How Collective Creativity Enables Change
Title: Associate Professor, U-M School of Art and Design.

7:30: Emmanuel Jal (MICHIGAN LEAGUE)
performance name: WAR CHILD: A Story of Survival
Title: Internationally-renowned hip-hop artist, human rights activist, and former child soldier from Sudan
Co-sponsored by: U-M Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA); MSA Peace and Social Justice Commission
Most seating reserved for U-M students, faculty, and staff; limited seating for general public


Saturday February 6 (at the MICHIGAN UNION, PENDLETON ROOM)

10:30-11: Registration/Breakfast/Breakfast

11-12: Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP)
workshop name: Human Rights and Art in Prison
Affiliation: University of Michigan

12-12:30: OyamO
presentation name: Sensing the Censors
Title: Associate Professor of English, U-M College of Literature Science and the Arts; Associate Professor of Theatre and Drama, U-M School of Music

12:30-1:30: Allied Media Conference (AMC)
presentation name: Create, Connect, Transform
Jenny Lee, Allied Media Projects Program Director; Diane J. Nucera, Allied Media Projects Allied365 Program Director

1:30-2: Reception

2-3: M1
presentation name: From the Ghetto to Gaza
Title: Hip-hop artist and political activist; one-half of hip-hop duo Dead Prez

3-4:30: Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons
presentation name: Visual Activism: The Role of Designer as Author
Title: co-authors, "I-Live-Here;" creative team and former creative force behind "Adbusters" magazine
Special appearance by Phoebe Gloeckner, "I-Live-Here" collaborator and assistant professor at School of Art & Design


As part of the Conference there will be an art exhibit in the Union right outside of Amer's from February 1st-7th featuring original work from Students and PCAP.

Express Your Rights is made possible by generous funding and sponsorship from the Center for Ethics in Public Life, the Institute for the Humanities and CAAS.

Additional funding provided by Arts at Michigan, Ambatana Multicultural Council, Cameo Multicultural Council, A'Subuhi Multicultural Council, and Markley Multicultural Council

portland zine symposium 2010 poster art call out

PZS is looking for art submissions for the 2010 poster. This year's theme is "Zine Arcade" Your art submission should be your creative interpretation of that theme.

The guidelines are simple – We are looking for a 11" wide x 17" tall poster that will also be used in other formats (the web, post cards, buttons, stickers, etc), so your design needs to be visible and striking at multiple sizes and resolutions (or have smaller, breakaway pieces). The design will eventually be silk screened / screen printed onto t-shirts, so limit your colors to black, white and one other color. We encourage artists to use any medium or style. We strongly prefer that the choosen artist is able to assist us in the process of transferring (resizing / cropping / etc) the image multiple mediums.

Your design should include (or be able to include once all details are finalized) the following:

- the theme

- the dates (TBA)

- the place (TBA)

- the website (www.pdxzines.com)

- "10th Annual Portland Zine Symposium"

- "A conference and zine social exploring facets of independent publishing and DIY culture."

Submission deadline is March 15th. Submissions can be emailed to pdxzines@gmail.com (most strongly preferred), mailed (to PO Box 5901 Portland, OR 97228-5901), or dropped off at the IPRC.

pikaland artists feature

This opportunity is totally worth entering/applying for...

It guarantees so much exposure for artists and illustrators, as the selected artist will be invited for a full interview on Pikaland, and will also be offered free ad space on the blog for a month!

More info about the Pikaland Arists Feature here

and

Go ahead and apply here

Do it. Do it. Do it!!

contemporary scandinavian comics exhibition

I just heard about the Contemporary Scandinavian Comics exhibition being held at Sweden's Nordiska Akvarellmuseet (the Nordic Watercolour Museum) from 31 jan - 14 march.

Details (in Swedish) here

It looks totally rad! And loads of women are taking part.

The museum's first exhibition in 2010, we want to highlight contemporary Scandinavian cartoonists with a strong image expression. Together with invited artists series, we are building an exhibition that change during the exhibition period. Unique series of original intermingled with shops and artistic expression and a rich program of around workshops, lectures and concerts.

Participants: Anneli Furmark (Sweden), Sara Granér (Sweden), Simon Gärdenfors (Sweden), Matti Hagelberg (Finland), Bendik Kaltenborn (Norway), Kolbeinn Karlsson (Sweden), Knut Larsson (Sweden), Helena Roos (Sweden), (GISP!) Bjarni Hinriksson (Iceland), Hugleikur Dagsson (Iceland), Þorri Hringsson (Iceland), Johann Ludwig Torfason (Iceland), Halldór Baldursson (Iceland) , Life Strömqvist (Sweden), Katja Tukiainen (Finland), Marko Turunen (Finland), Amanda Vähämäki (Finland), Ola Astrand (Sweden), Li Österberg (Sweden).

Plus, I saw this call-out on their website...
Nordic fanzine makers are invited to send in their fanzines to us. We make them available to visitors of the exhibition.
During the first months of 2010 the Nordic Watercolour Museum is going to show the exhibition Contemporary Nordic Comics. In the exhibition space there will be a section where the visitors can look through and read books and magazines with works of Nordic comic artists. We would like to display such a wide range of expressions and publications from the Nordic comic scene as possible.
Do you make your own comic fanzine? Would you like to present it in our exhibition? Please send us copies. We will put them on display in the reading section of the exhibition. Participate and help us make this an even more exciting exhibition!
Send your comic fanzines to:
Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Fanzine, Södra Hamnen 6, 471 32 Skärhamn, Sweden.
For more info contact: kristian.berglund@akvarellmuseet.org


RAD!!

grassroots feminism site wants your thoughts

Grassroots Feminism wants your views...

Do you ever read / watch / listen to feminist-made media? We want to hear from you!

Come fill out our online questionnaire...

As part of our research project "Feminist Media in Europe" we have put together an online questionnaire to find out how and why people consume and/or produce feminist media. This survey is specifically targeted to people living in Europe.

We really appreciate your participation in this survey. At the end of it, we will publish the findings on the website.

Fill out the survey HERE

Many thanks!
Red Chidgey, Rosa Reitsamer and Elke Zobl

blanket

From my inbox...

Seeking Contributions:

Re_action: Issue 20 – ‘I Think I Can Fly’ Issue

We’re taking off and letting our imaginations soar!

Each issue we give you a specific theme and we want you to submit a piece of original work that visually reacts to this theme! Use your creative skills and your imagination!

A maximum of 1 image to be submitted please.

Please read our Terms and Conditions before submitting your work to Blanket.


Email submission to: re_action [at] blanketmagazine.com

{ DEADLINE: EXTENDED TO 20TH January 2010 }

* * *

Here’s My Work, I hope you like it…

Each issue we show off emerging creatives and we want you! Send in your original artwork, design or photography. A maximum of 6 images please.

If sending multiple images please place them in a Zipped Folder with your full name and number the images (eg. Bec_Brown_01, Bec_Brown_02, and so on… otherwise I might mix them up and credit someone else with your work!)

Please do not send your personal URL’s as I receive so many submissions I don’t have time to review them all. You are more likely to have your work published if you make it as easy as possible for me. Please send examples of your artwork and follow my image specifications below.

Please read our Terms and Conditions before submitting your work to Blanket.

Email inspire [at] blanketmagazine.com

{ DEADLINE: EXTENDED TO 20TH January 2010 }

* * *

More info at: Blanket's website
www.blanketmagazine.com

i'm sorry but you can't get away with a sweater like that

Thanks to Emily Aoibheann for sharing this gem with me :)

lancashire zine, artists' book and multiples fair.

2010 Lancashire Zine Fair, Preston
So many great people are exhibiting - it looks like it's going to be fantastic!

they've got organisations for people like me

i die one of many

Here is the most extraordinary tribute to a very special musician and songwriter, Vic Chesnutt. I adore Vic's music

Reading Kristin's words on Christmas Day, that “This time, it’s real scary: *this* time, he left a note, *this* time, he asked them to call me” completely slayed me...

don't count my scars like tree rings

wonderful christmas art that i've been sent

Kristyna Baczynski


Helen Musselwhite


Kate Anderson

jacinta and julie's baby on TV

There's now a link to watch the Newsnight Review of Girls Are Not Chicks (PM Press/Reach and Teach) that aired last week. Watch it HERE

jenny slate i'm starting to think you're awesome!

Obvious Child from Gillian Robespierre on Vimeo.

i hexed him, now he's losing his hair

Contentious, yet I happen to agree: Why Courtney Love was Kurt Cobain's Lyrical Equal

Oh, and I remember hovering at my TV when that Jools Holland episode was first aired, ready to press 'record' :) And that video of 'Jennifer's Body' made goosebumps curse through my entire body.

"He keeps you in a box by the bed/ Alive but just barely/ He said 'I'm your lover, I'm your friend/ I'm purity, hit me again'".

get yr cray-on

From my inbox...


Get Yr Cray-On!!! (Please forward widely)

***Call-out for submissions to the Bay Area Childcare Collective Radical Coloring Book!!!***

That’s right- the Bay Area Childcare Collective is putting together a coloring book to use as both a fun and radical teaching tool as well as a fundraiser, and we want your help! For more info on the Childcare Collective, go to www.bayareachildcarecollective.net/about/

We are looking for some folks to illustrate one or more pictures each with radical themes. Many of the kids using the book have parents or other loved ones already involved in community organizing (especially labor, immigration and housing rights) so we want the book to help explain why this kind of work is great and important.

What we want:

- simple black and white line drawings that will look good when photocopied

- pictures with lots of blank space so they’re fun to color

- appropriate for very young children while still (if possible) appealing to older kids and adults (witty allusions encouraged)

- each picture should include a caption or leave space for a caption that will explain what the picture is about (ex: “everyone in the community helped fight the eviction”)

- please leave a margin of AT LEAST 1” on all sides so it is easy to photocopy!

- be creative! Feel free to use animals, shapes, plants, sea creatures to tell yr story- we want it to be fun and inspire kids’ imaginations.

When you know what you’re going to draw, please email us to let us know so we can avoid repeats and/or complement your artwork with like-minded pieces.

We would LOVE your ideas and suggestions.

We want this book to be a celebration of women of color led organizing!



Some specific ideas that we’ve already come up with include:

* * * POWER/ Just Cause Oakland/ Women’s Collective of the Day Laborer’s Union (the awesome orgs we provide childcare for!)

* * * Dolores Huerta/ Cesar Chavez/ Farm Labor movement

* * * Domestic Workers Movement

* * * Radical labor organizing

* * * Housing rights- fighting evictions, affordable housing, healthy neighborhoods

* * * Food justice (examples: People's Grocery, Rooftop gardens, people's gardens)

* * * Gender diversity, queer visibility

* * * Feminism; Women leaders in bay area movement organizing; Mothers & Parents in the movement

* * * Anti-War resistance & Anti-Imperialism

* * * Environmentalism, water, climate change, caring for the earth

* * * Indigenous resistance, organizing, AIM, EZLN, Alcatraz takeover

* * * Black Panthers/ Young Lords/ & history of liberation movements in the Bay Area

* * * Abolishment of/ work around the Prison Industrial Complex



We might decide to organize the pictures into various sections or themes, like cooperation, solidarity, equality, sharing, negotiation, etc. (TBD)

Also, we want the finished product to be bilingual (English and Spanish), so if you have translation skills, please share them with us!

***DEADLINE FOR COMPLETED DRAWINGS: JANUARY 15th, 2010…sharp!***

Submissions can either be scanned and emailed (high quality- 300 dpi or better) to RadColoringBook@gmail.com OR you can send it via Snail Mail (though we won’t give it back to you so bear that in mind) to Get Yr Cray-On! c/o Pike, 1884 Market St, SF, CA 94102.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

In love and Solidarity,

The Cray-On Crew.

kinda silly but it put a happy smile on my face!

All Star Baseball 2000 - "Since You've Been Gone" movie challenge from Cob Job on Vimeo.

By Paul Baribeau and Eric Ayotte

we heart art

We Heart Arts is a pretty rad project...

We Heart Arts is a non-profit organization that works to raise funds for children's creative arts programs around the world. We are trying to build a creative future for children via the goodwill of humanity and through creative means.

We Heart Arts believe that;
i. Creative arts teaches young people the value of lifelong active personal expressionism
ii. Creative arts teaches young people to question the world they live in
iii. Creative arts teaches young people that thinking outside of the box is an important mental function in life
iv. Creative arts teaches young people to engage in a social network of proactive young people invested in a community built on meaningful, sustained ideas and expressionism
v. Creative arts opens up a world of opportunities for young people to grow and help others through arts therapy
vi. Creative arts can open up an avenue of communication for children with learning difficulties
vii. Creative arts can help children process and work through traumatic experiences
viii. Creative arts can provide peer interaction and a sense of community, independence and feelings of control

(Thanks to Megan's myspace post for making me aware of this project)

not chicks

Jacinta and Julie's excellent book, 'Girls Are Not Chicks' (PM Press/Reach and Teach) is going to be reviewed on Newsnight Review tonight in the UK
Eek!!

www.girlsnotchicks.com

If you catch the show, post your thoughts of the TV review/discussion here and I'll pass it all on to Jacinta and Julie in case they can't watch the show from the US...

hammer on

Hammer On Press, is a new UK based feminist publishing house, focussed on Publishing, Workshops, and Social Change; breaking down boundaries between academia, art and popular culture.

I'm excited to hear how everything at Hammer On Press develops as there's so much exciting potential!

we understand the felt presence of experiences

I wish I could be this articulate everytime I'm asked why I self-publish, and why I think making our own culture and cultural contributions is important.
I think it's an undeniable answer to the question of why art is activism.



(thanks to John Carling for his link to this video)

impulsive random platform

From my inbox...


Dear Self-Publisher,

I am writing on behalf of London based art publication, "Impulsive Random Platform", of which I am co-founder and editor. I would like to bring to your attention our latest call for submissions/ collaboration and to personally invite you to apply for inclusion in our 12th issue, which will be made up of work by self published, small press zine and magazine makers with a launch event and opportunity to sell previous issues of included publications in a London venue in spring 2010. Please find below our call for submissions and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

I look for forward to hearing from you and keep up the good work!

Alex of IRP


For our 12th issue of IRP, we are seeking submissions and expressions of interest solely from creators of self-published, small press zines and magazines.

The aim of this issue is to create a snapshot of current independent and alternative self-publishing from creative individuals and groups in Europe and the US (although submissions from applicants outside of these areas are also welcome) and to create a dialogue between like-minded projects and makers.

We would like submissions to consist of new and un-published work made specifically for this issue, which is representative of participants’ publications. This could be a collaboration between the creators of a zine and/or the work of a selected artist and regular contributor. While the purpose of the content of this issue is to promote and advertise the activity of a selection of publications, we want applicants to be creative with their submissions- we do not want to create a magazine full of adverts! Similarly, we would like the content to be appropriate to and a logical progression of the work regularly featured in issues of IRP and so for this reason, we ask applicants to not submit articles and/or reviews of events, etc., however images and combinations of images and text, text art, poems, concrete poetry and creative writing are all perfectly acceptable. For examples of previous content of IRP, please visit our website: www.impulsiverandomplatform.com.

We intend to use our regular method of display for this issue- an A5 black and white photocopied magazine, however we are happy to receive submissions and proposals for work outside of this format, such as colour images and hand-rendered pages. Due to the nature of the project and for the issue to reach as wide an audience as possible, we are also planning on making a larger edition number than usual (our edition sizes tend to range from 50 to 100 copies per issue) so please keep this in mind if your submission has any specialist requirements.

To celebrate the launch of this issue, we are hoping to host an event in a London venue in spring 2010, where the issue will be sold (all money made from the sale of IRP12 will be used to cover the cost of production and the event), refreshments served, and previous issues and work by participants will also be available to buy via a communal selling table. Following the launch, the issue will be available to buy from our regular stockists and forthcoming online shop. In return for their participation, all contributors will receive one complimentary copy of the magazine for their archive and are also welcome to distribute the zine via their usual stockists and avenues of sale.

To submit, please send images, and combinations of image and text as 300 dpi jpegs to irpsubmissions@gmail.com. For text, please send your submissions as word documents to the same address. In addition, please also include a brief bio of your zine and a copy of your publication’s logo, if applicable. This additional information will not be considered during the judging process and will only be used to provide a back story for selected publications within the issue and for advertising purposes. The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Monday 21st December 2009, however please do not hesitate to get in touch ASAP with any questions you may have regarding the publication.

We look forward to hearing from you.

IRP

www.impulsiverandomplatform.com

glutton for fatshion

From my inbox...

Glutton for Fatshion is super proud and excited to release the CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for our second issue to be released in early February, 2010.

Glutton for Fatshion: For ferocious, lush, fatties who can never get enough! Glutton is about treating yourself well and getting what you want in a way that doesn't fuck with anyone's justice, revolution, or freedom. Glutton doesn't just talk about size acceptance, it is about living in a way that slams open boundaries (with your hips) and tears apart mainstream ideas of beauty and health (with your teeth). Glutton isn't just about plus size fashion. Glutton is about fat style, anti-classist consumerism, making shit yourself, loving how you look, telling your community that they are fly. This is a wholly fat-positive/glorifying, trans-inclusive, anti-racist/poc centered, anti-class-ist, acknowledging our privilege type of shebang. And, of course, really fun and ferocious.

Themes:
This issue we are focusing on hot hot sex, righteous self-love, and big fat relationships.

A list of ideas for articles, art, well-articulated rants, poetry and otherwise:

Radical Fatshion (as always)
Radical Self Love
Fat Sex Advice on Positions/Toys/Negotiating/Consent
Fat Experiences getting tested for STIs/Pregnancy
Fat Experiences with casual sex or sex parties
Fat Experiences in open/poly/radical love/threesome relationships etc.
Fat Experiences buying/wearing/liking lingeries and sexy underthings
Fat Positive Valentines
Fat Erotic Photos
Fat Dating Advice/reviews of online dating sites
Dressing as masturbation
Lingerie Paperdolls (We especially would like to see a doll that is a size 26+)
Fat Fantasies/Porn
Reviews of independent and radical fatshion stores and designers
Upcoming NYC spring events for radical fatties and our friends


Issue title TBD, if you have witty suggestions, let us know!


SUBMISSIONS MUST BE PRINT-READY, please copy edit or ask a friend to!
Our zine is folded, regular letter-sized paper, which means that your entries should be no larger than 4 in. x 5.5 in. per page.
All submissions must be received by January 22, 2009 by midnight
Please e-mail to glutton4zine@gmail.com in either word or pdf format
We will let you know if your piece was accepted or sweetly declined. (and an explanation, if you wish)

You can also request the first issue by e-mailing us! $2-5 donation, please to cover printing and shipping costs.

If you have access to cheap (free) corporate printing opportunities, or would like to help us select submissions, promote our launch party, assist with layout, create filler art etc. etc. please let us know!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107809972565

twtee

Check out Emma Thatcher and Eva Megias's fabulous Twtee homo tshirt project...

using the classic white shape as a cañvas we share our thoughts and feelings about the weather, politics, beliefs, animals, office jobs, sexuality, heroes and cross contiñental shifts (!!!).

we wanted to make somethiñg using our hands and the material world, this way we hope to recoñnect to childhood energy, remembering carnivals and parties, play acting,performañce, wonder and making our own costumes (?!?!).

we put our ideas on a big fabulous white space.

Thanks to Debi for making me aware of this project!

sister spit in the uk, november 2010

From my inbox...

Hey all,

So, on the success of the last Sister Spit UK tour, RADAR Productions; the US based not-for-profit arts publishing company are funding it for another year!

Sister Spit: The Next Generation is coming back to the UK in NOVEMBER 2010.

At this stage, Michelle Tea is contacting a whole line-up of new readers and performers and we will keep you all up to date with any developments. Please let me know through this email address if you would like to register your interest in running a show in your city or town or a part of your festival!

We are especially looking for interest from Universities/Colleges and Festivals as to secure an international arts grant that will help cover a lot of the costs, RADAR Productions is looking desperately for letters from such institutions agreeing to a show in the timeframe of November 2010. Nothing has to be set in stone, it's simply a register of interest or an official invite to bring them back here. If you could help us out with one of these letters, PLEASE email me back asap and I'll let you know what you'll need to include! They need them by January 1st!!

That's all for now, i hope you're all as excited as we are!!!
Em and Emily (Tour Bookers/Managers)
x
lolaandthecartwheelssheff@hotmail.co.uk

- - -

WHAT IS SISTER SPIT?
Sister Spit, the awesome lit/spoken word/performance troupe based in the USA, led by celebrated author Michelle Tea of 'Rent Girl' and 'Without a Net' fame is coming over to the UK in November 2010 with a whole new line-up of celebrated queer/grrrl artists, writers, zinesters and performers.

Michelle says: 'I write books, and host readings for other people who write books, to be listened to by people who like reading books. My last novel is called Rose of No Man's Land and is about a teenage genderqueer loner who gets mixed up with a speed freak mall rat and falls in love. Or something. My last anthology is called It's So You and it's full of essays by stylish people about how they came to look so great, such as Eileen Myles, Kim Gordon, Jenny Shimizu, Kate Bornstein, Ali Liebegott, Tara Jepsen, Beth Lisick and other modern role models. I run the Radar Reading + Salon series in San Francisco, and every so often pile a bunch of bitches in a van and set off across the country under the guise of Sister Spit: The Next Generation.'

Previous travellers on the Sister Spit tour include: Michelle Tea, Beth Lisick, Ariel Schrag, Sara Seinberg, Kirya Traber, Ben McCoy, Cristy C. Road, Rhiannon Argo, Kat Marie Yoas, Amos Mac, Tara Jepsen, Nicole J Georges, Sini Anderson, Lynnee Breedlove, Silas Howard, Kirk Read, Chelsea Starr, Ali Liebegott and many many more...!!!

Find More Info Here:

http://www.radarproductions.org/sisterspit.html (OFFICIAL SITE)
http://www.myspace.com/sisterspitnextgen
http://www.facebook.com/SisterSpit

qzap:meta #3

From my inbox...


Call For Submissions - QZAP:meta #3

We are seeking articles and artwork depicting and discussing specifically queer zines.

Articles should be between 500-1000 words. They can be on any of the following themes:

Queer zines and community

Collecting queer zines

Queer zine history

Your relation to queer zines

Why you put out your zine

The first queer zine you read or were influenced by

The future of queer zines and queer zine community


Artwork and images (photos, illustrations, etc.) should be print-ready at 300 dpi or higher. Black and white preferred. Artwork should be submitted as either TIFF or PDF files.

Submissions can be sent to milo[at]qzap.org with the subject "For QZAP:meta #3"

Deadline for submissions: January 15, 2010. Anticipated publication date: February, 2010

amazing christmas images are emerging already!

by: Lisa Petrucci

grizzly sleeper

I spend a good 80% of my life asleep or snoozing. I wish santa would bring me this grizzly bear bean bag for christmas so that we could snuggle!!



Buy here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34208794

realisation, recognition, and clarity

Charlotte Cooper wrote this on her facebook today and it made goosebumps curse up and down my body with recognition and understanding...

I wish there was a word that means something like "compassion and gratitude for your younger self and relief that things turned out okay even though they were really hard at the time," or "momentary realisation of how the pieces of your life fit together," or "the clarity of recognising a pivotal moment, and the resolve that recognition engenders," or "amazement that things from the ancient past have some kind of impact on people you know in the present in a way you could never have predicted". Something like that.

eleven heavy things at the venice biennale

I'm a bit behind on this, but it's worth posting anyways...



Eleven Heavy Things, created for the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, is comprised of eleven sculptural works installed in an enclosed garden within Giardino delle Vergini. The cast fiber-glass, steel-lined pieces are designed for interaction: pedestals to stand on, tablets with holes for body parts, and free-standing abstract headdresses. A series of three pedestals in ascending height, The Guilty One, The Guiltier One, The Guiltiest One, ask the viewer to ascribe their guilt relative to the people around them. A large flat shape, hand-painted with Burberry plaid, hovers on a pole, waiting to become someone’s aura. A series of tablets invite heads, arms, legs and one finger: This is not the first hole my finger has been in, nor will it be the last. A wider pedestal for two people to hug on reads, We don!t know each other, we’re just hugging for the picture….
July assumes and invites the picture — these are eleven photo opportunities, in a city where one is always clutching a camera. Though the work begins as sculpture, it becomes a performance that is only complete when these tourist photos are uploaded onto personal blogs and sent in emails — at which point the audience changes, and the subject clearly becomes the participants, revealing themselves through the work.

Production of this work has been supported by Deitch Projects.

By Miranda July

wishing I had $550 to spare...

... For THIS!!

I *heart* Marion Peck

couldn't agree more about the socks!

> By: Nicole Docimo of Blue Bicicletta
(Click image to enlarge)

it's a wig

Check out the You Tube channel for Art XX Magazine, featuring videos and interviews with Art XX staff, artists, and feminist activists

Oh, and that video of me: check out my burnt San Franciscan nose and Lex's black wig = hott I think we'll all agree ;)

Art XX: http://www.artxxmagazine.com

'underground'

I was recently asked to answer some questions for a friends' PhD research. After spending hours on answering the questions I just saw this blog post by Tobi Vail that - along with input from Jean Smith - has just summed up everything I was cack-handedly trying to say and get at. I love the brainpower behind these words.

how do we change this, how do we bring "the punk politics" back or update it for the present/future? What would that entail exactly? What is our political platform? What needs to happen? What tools do we have available? What do we want to change? How can things be improved?

secret powers

How I discovered my Secret Powers (an essay in several parts)
by Keri Smith

This just blew my tiny mind! I love the way Keri attacks and approaches the world. I heart her!

my mouth your ear

From my inbox...

My Mouth Your Ear needs YOU!

New queer spoken word event in London.

We are looking for queer/lgbt folk who write, be it stories, poetry, performance, rants, zine articles, blogs, fact, fiction, anything you can use your mouth and a mic for. We are interested in hearing from you whether you have done a hundred gigs or have never shown your writing to anyone. We also invite you to bring pieces of writing by others which you have found particularly inspiring and would like to read out at the event, again in any format.

We are hoping to hold the first My Mouth Your Ear on December 13th. If you are interested in performing or reading at My Mouth Your Ear please email us with a sample of writing, preferably something you would like to read at the event. Or email us for more info.

We look forward to hearing from you!

My Mouth Your Ear
mymouthyourear@googlemail.com


:UPDATE:

MY MOUTH YOUR EAR – an afternoon of queer spoken word.
3pm – 8pm, Sunday 13th December
Lift n Hoist, 1 Queen’s Row, Camberwell, London

My Mouth Your Ear is a queer spoken word afternoon where performers and writers share stories, poetry, performances, raps, rants, zine articles, blogs, fact, fiction and generally anything you can use your mouth and a mic for.

suggested donation of £1- 3

Performances, mulled wine, cake.

Performing on 13th December:

YALINIDREAM. Lankan Blood, Manchester Born, Texas bred and Brooklyn steeped, YaliniDream is a Queer Sri Lankan Tamil raised in outside lands. She conjures spirit through her unique blend of poetry, theater, song, and dance. Check out her work on www.myspace.com/yalinidream
CHARLOTTE COOPER. I've been making, publishing and performing things for donkeys years, but I've been getting into trouble for quite a bit longer. Some of this is explained at www.charlottecooper.net
HEENA PATEL (Manchester). Recovering ex-optimist. Dog-fancier. Hates wet feet. Avid Red Dwarf fan. 29, still not out.
JAY BERNARD. Currently 'editor' of Dissocia Zine, which combines dry wit, post-irony and non-existence. She is author of Your Sign is Cuckoo, Girl (2008), and was recently poet in residence on two allotments in Oxford and London, and at the Benenden School in Kent. Jay has performed at venues such as Buckingham Palace, LadyFest and Croydon library. She blogs at brrnrrd.wordpress.com.
SWITHUN COOPER. Swithun's poetry has appeared in magazines including Time Out, Magma, Chroma and Poetry London, and the anthology City State: New London Poetry. This year he won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors.
FOX. Founder of SALUTE! Design and CubCulture screen-printing, Fox is a creative who also enjoys rapping and dancing and having many fingers in many pies.
LEN LUKOWSKA. Sometimes a writer, sometimes a performer. Generally an undisciplined faggy layabout who works in a library and needs more sleep.
CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON (Wears the Trousers magazine, more info to follow!)
Compere KAT REDSTONE

NB we don’t have a running order yet, performances will be throughout the afternoon/eve.

If you are interested in performing or reading at My Mouth Your Ear please email us with a sample of writing, preferably something you would like to read at the event. We’d love to hear from you whether you have done a hundred gigs or have never shown your writing to anyone. We also invite you to bring pieces of writing by others which you have found particularly inspiring and would like to read out at the event, again in any format.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201698148453&ref=mf

the mattress

THE MATTRESS (performance at the FIAF in partnership with the WHITNEY MUSEUM)



Whitney Live, in collaboration with French Institute Alliance Française, presents one young composer in dialogue with pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché as part of the Whitney Museum retrospective of her career.Like Alice Guy Blaché, Tender Forever (aka Melanie Valera) was born and began her artistic life in France. She continues to live an intercontinental existence, artistically and otherwise, and moves between the streets of Bordeaux where she grew up and her adopted home town of Portland, Oregon. Her tender, delicate songs bring forth hidden connections between these worlds and occupy the musical landscape in which Melanie Valera became Tender Forever (taking as reference points punk rock, experimental electronica, weird visuals, and collaborations with several fellow K Records artists)

canadian queer zine art show on-line

From my inbox...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92537785@N00/sets/72157622390914792/

If you missed the first showing of SPEW Fo(u)rth: A Canadian Queer Zine Art Show at Venus Envy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, go to the link above to see documentary photos.

SPEW Fo(u)rth is a wheat paste poster art show of highlights from the twenty five year history of Canadian queer zines. QZAP's co-founder, Christopher Wilde, created the posters during an Artist in Residency at Anchor Zine Library and Archive in Halifax in September 2009.


This poster show will be available for touring Canada in 2010, locations and dates to be determined, although tentative plans include events in Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal. Please contact Christopher Wilde at QZAP if you are interested in bringing SPEW Fo(u)rth to your city.