Interview with Kimberly Harris

Above: Magic Bus Fantasy Road Trip by Kimberly Harris

How is the idea of activism apparent in your art?

I’m not sure I consider myself an activist. An observer and commentator would be more accurate, shedding light on the absurdity of a situation or event. There is no real political agenda. I’ve been a registered independent for many years.


Do you think political and environmental issues can be effectively addressed in art?

Yes, of course. I like to think that dealing with the issues in a more humorous vent helps to illustrate the absurdity and absolute madness of the powers-that-be, because the decisions they make and the drama that surrounds them can affect our lives in such profound ways.

Left: "Dance of the Auditors" by Kimberly Harris


Which artists do you admire who have an activist agenda?

I would first mention The Guerrilla Girls for being the conscience of the elitist male-dominated contemporary art world. I also have a high regard for Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe. They were two outstanding female artists who broke through the social barriers of their time by creating amazing and timeless works of art.

Tell us something about your process of creating.

Almost all the politically-themed artwork is derived from reading and watching the news. The news media is an endless source of material. I also have a friend, Donovan, whom I collaborate with on much of the political art. An idea has to make us both smile before I put pencil to paper and stylus to tablet.

Right: "Green Man is California Dreaming" by Kimberly Harris

What is the name of your etsy shop?

My Etsy shop is FullFrogMoon. I have a winter holiday store called FullSnowMoon where I take my artwork and make them into ornaments. There is also a Facebook page under Full Frog Moon where comments are welcome.

Interview with Ed Frascino

above: Ed Frascino, "WMD"

Q: Please tell us what issues are important to you.
Animal Rights. I am appalled by the inhumane treatment of animals whether it be in the wild, in laboratories, in animal farms, in circuses, in zoos, or in domestic settings.
Endangered Species
Environment/Global Warming
Anti-war
Gun Control

Q: How is the idea of activism apparent in your art?
I can't be objective enough to analyze my own work. If I tried to define it I'd be hampered when it came time to produce it. The idea of activism seems apparent in my work simply by looking at it. One picture is worth a thousand words.

left: Ed Frascino, "Global Warming Note Card"

Q: Do you think political and environmental issues can be effectively addressed in art?
Images can very powerfully address political issues. Goya and Daumier did it and Picasso most prominently did it with his famous Guernica. Photo journalists make an impact with one photograph. The United States is now fighting in two wars. If each day every newspaper printed on their front pages images of battlefields and the sufferings of civilians living in war zones perhaps Americans would understand what war is really like. It ain't like a John Wayne movie.

Q: Which artists do you admire who have an activist agenda?
Pat Oliphant, Tony Auth, Ben Sargent are three of many excellent editorial cartoonists who with a single drawing can cut to the core of complicated political and social issues. One of the greatest was the late Herblock whose caricatures succinctly satirized any subject he chose to skewer. In the past there was Heinrich Kley. His masterful pen line drawings blend fantasy, satire, and humor. The magnificent Saul Steinberg elevated the art of cartooning to the realm of the great masters. Beginning in 1922 a Pulitzer Prize has been awarded for Editorial Cartooning. This year Mark Fiore whose animated editorial cartoons appear exclusively on the web won the first Pulitzer for this genre of editorial cartooning.

I especially admire my cousin Elena Mary for starting Making Change.

Q: Tell us something about your process of creating.
The creative process always has been and remains a total mystery to me. I don't know where it comes from or how it gets here but I'm grateful that it does. Making pictures may be my greatest pleasure. Be it drawing, painting, or now, with computer technology, having fun with Photoshop.

Q: What is the name of your etsy shop?
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EdFrascino


right: Ed Frascino, "Nuke'em"

Interview with Dave Miller

Dave Miller, "Inequality Gives Us Something to Aspire To"

Q: The MAKING CHANGE Etsy team is for artists committed to activism. Please tell us what issues are important to you.

My work tends to be critical and political, and a lot of it is social commentary I suppose. I also seem to have a campaigning and troublemaking aspect to my work. I always try to make work that is informed and researched, and I aim to give a balanced approach. I've become very angry and fixated recently on the whole financial scandal that we're currently immersed in, and the injustice that we've all been handed by our governments and their masters, the banks. My work always has its core stories and drawings, though I like to work in a range of media, from Net Art to booklets and comics/cartoons.

Dave Miller, "Paying for the Privilege"

Q: How is the idea of activism apparent in your art?

I think with the subjects I deal with, and way I approach them. I want to reach a lot of people, and inform them about things, to make people think and question. Mass market appeals to me, and I'm not comfortable with galleries, which I find generally elitist and not enough people see the work that way. I've started the Etsy shop recently, which I'm still not really sure is an appropriate place for my work - my low sales figures seem to back this up - but at least I think I can show my work to a lot of people that way. I think I need to be handing out leaflets really - pamphleting maybe - as this seems to be a more suitable way of spreading political messages, and more hands on. I'm just a bit scared of doing this!

Q: Do you think political and environmental issues can be effectively addressed in art?

Yes, as long as the work isn't political for the sake of it, and also if it's informed and balanced. I think integrity is important.

Q: Which artists do you admire who have an activist agenda?

I'm a big fan of Net Art, and am active in online communities such as Netbehaviour and Rhizome. There are many artists in this area I admire, such as Marc Garrett, Heath Bunting, Jason Nelson, and many more. Outside of Net Art there are also so many artists I like, but tend to forget their names quickly I must admit. I like Jeremy Deller, some bits of Emily Prince and Grayson Perry. I recently discovered Jess Douglas, who does lovely urban drawings. I always liked Jenny Holzer. I think the attitude is more important than the posturing, if you see what I mean. I like some of Banksy's work, but I think a lot of the street art thing is a bit phony, especially when it's bought by rich people and sells for lots of money. I'm in general very fond of digital art, so the old work of Harold Cohen I find very inspiring.

Q: Tell us something about your process of creating.

Mostly I write down ideas and brainstorms in my note books, and write lists of things to do, most of which never get done. But sometimes old ideas mix with new ones. I try to make something every day, and often planning goes out of the window, as usually I'm roused by a rush of passion or anger, with an urgent need to make something. Then I make it fast, usually drawing directly on the computer, and usually based on drawings or found photos.

Q: What is the name of your etsy shop?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/visualstories


At right: Dave Miller, "Trickle Down Hope"

MAKING CHANGE TREASURY

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/de24b47b9d25c94b23ff0900/making-change-teamA Treasury for the MAKING CHANGE ETSY TEAM: All of these artists will be interviewed on this blog..Follow us!!!

First Interview with Penny Richards

[visual description: a backpack painted bright orange, black, and white, with images of a performer from a 1913 suffrage pageant, and "Votes for Women" in a small half-moon at center]

Q: Please tell us what issues are important to you.
disability rights, feminism, public education, community arts, the environment

Q: How is the idea of activism apparent in your art? Do you think political and environmental issues can be effectively addressed in art?

Well I try! The goal of my purses, which mostly have themes from women's history, is to spur conversations. A purse is something personal, but it's also something public and visible. I know, from carrying my own bags, that they invite questions and comments, and they open opportunities to explain and talk about women's activism. Because the purses are also "upcycled," each one is from a thriftshop and would likely have landed in the landfill. Each one serves as a reminder that other things can be remade--we don't need so much new boring mass-produced stuff when we can turn something old into something unique and wonderful.

Which artists do you admire who have an activist agenda?

Wow, okay, this is going to be an interesting group! Alex Chiu, a young artist here in Southern California, has a real passion for building community and collaboration. The Australian fiber artist Prudence Mapstone works with such joy and the kind of eclectic gathering of materials I like to see in any medium. And I'm going to draw from history to add Hannah Frank (1908-2008), a Scottish artist who made striking art-nouveau prints mainly featured in local community newsletters, programs, and other small publications--but before she died at 100, she got to see them appreciated and recognized more widely. Also want to add Helen Carter to my favorite makers/artists--she makes these amazing recycled-fabric garments, for a wide range of bodies, and she's a wiz at using Flickr and Etsy to share her work.

[visual description: a purse painted turquoise, featuring the image of suffragist Susan Walker Fitzgerald and a 1908 quote by her, "...so long as the men alone are the source of power of the government, it is not a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. It is not a democracy."]

Q: Tell us something about your process of creating.

There's no mystery here: I posted a tutorial in case anyone wants to try for themselves. I thriftshop enough to have a stock of purses to play with. Usually I paint them first--without really knowing what their eventual subject will be. Then I search my favorites from the Flickr Commons project for some cool no-known-copyright images that have the right size, shape, and story for the bag--each bag is different, so this is always a new hunt. Some images work best in duplicate, or very cropped, or otherwise working with the features of the bag. I usually also add a cartouche explaining who the subject is. After the image is fixed to the bag, I start playing with inks and sharpies and more paint, adding details. There are a lot of layers of modpodge all along, and I usually have a few bags in progress at any given time.

[visual description: a bag painted yellow and orange, with a 1921 image of French chemist Irene Joliot-Curie at center, in academic regalia]

Q: What is the name of your etsy shop?

Pennamite. It's an 18th century word for a person from Pennsylvania (where I grew up), and a play on my name. And except for references to the Pennamite-Yankee Wars, it's pretty googleable. ;)

MAKING CHANGE artists for change

I was recently granted a 3 month residency at 18th. Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA. for Oct/Nov/Dec 2010.
http://www.18thstreet.org/


I will open a shop called MAKING CHANGE in their project room and will feature the art of Los Angeles area artists who work with a political/environmental/social focus. The scope of the project will actually be international as I recently started an ETSY team called MAKING CHANGE which includes artists and craftspeople who work with an activist agenda. I intend to use this blog as an interview site for the artists of the MAKING CHANGE ETSY team which I hope will expand as my residency approaches. I will promote the  MAKING CHANGE  ETSY team members throughout my residency:

Making Change

Name: Making Change Profile: Goal of Making Change is to promote a progressive activist agenda: shops with an obviously political, social or environmental message. Links: Yahoo Group Contact: Elenamary How to Join: send a convo to elenamary Members: A4DS, Andyeatsonlycandy, ArtForChange, arttoweardiva, confluencebooks, crazyartdolls, doulahara, earthplusart, EdFrascino, Elenamary, KMStitchery, localcolorist, neitherland, Pennamite, SnakeBathDance, susanhall, visualstories

http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=730


Here  is an explanation of my project and with the next blog post I will begin the interviews:
http://www.18thstreet.org/StatusReport/StatusReport_index.html

Status Report Creative Economy