Renee's Final intervention : LET'S PAINT ABOUT IT

 

Let's Paint About it Event Flier.

Let's Paint About It is a two-day group painting project that invites artists from the Visual Arts Building to sit down and relax, paint, eat chips, and talk about gender and trans rights. The painting project offered creative freedom, allowing participants to have fun with their drawing skills. At the same time, we discussed our own outlooks on Gender expression, talked about familial views on LGBTQ, and how everyone expresses themselves individually. Compared to the previous projects, my approach was more casual; I laid out paints and drawing supplies and invited anyone to sit around and draw. I scheduled the event to take place after morning classes and right before afternoon classes, so people coming out of the class could come and participate before they had to go to their 4 p.m. classes. As they continued drawing, I would ask questions, and we all spoke about gender in a circle. I chose this topic because it is an important subject explored within myself and my friend group throughout my four years at this university. The majority of my friends have identified as non-binary and are LGBTQ. Within my interviews, I add my own commentary relating to the stories the participants tell while drawing. The piece's overall message is that art can bring people together, and I believe group art projects are the best way to attract people and begin discussions. 

Getting Started on Let's Paint About It

    The audience reception so far was overall positive; the board quickly became filled with doodles and paintings about gender. At some point, I was asked if the project was an art club, which gave me the opportunity to explain the premise of the project and invite the person to join on Wednesday. After all, Wednesday is one of the days of the week when the Visual Arts Building is the busiest, meaning that more people will be able to witness and participate in Let's Paint About It. I created this project to be an art collaboration because I am a part of an artist collective, meaning that my colleagues and I plan to work together and collaborate on projects in the future. Therefore, this project is an opportunity for artists to work on something together, meet new people from the Visual Arts Building, and, most importantly, talk about gender. The project reminded me of my mural work throughout middle and high school. I enjoy being part of a team of artists creating a larger work to be displayed. 

Progress! New people joined in!

For my inspiration, I based the project on my first intervention, The Trifold Gallery, which was based on the 24-hour museum by Alfredo Jaar. In The Art of Activism, it states, "While others skirt the edges of what we traditionally think of as politics: raising questions, opening spaces, and providing perspectives. Some are more affective, some more effective, some are delightfully affective"(Ducombe & Lambert pg. 43). Compared to the past two projects,  Let's Paint About It combined the political survey of the first intervention and the interview of the second intervention. Still, it focused on the fun of the participants, making it delightfully effective. After all, "It is important to bring creativity, joy, pleasure, and play into activism"( Ducombe & Lambert, pg. 128). This method is the best because, during my first intervention, people were scared about discussing their politics or asking what they believed in. This project is more open and invites artists to draw whatever they want while we talk casually about gender and LGBTQ topics. In addition, I was inspired by Kimberly Drew's blog, Black Contemporary Art, because this project is connected to my Intervention Two, where I cataloged gender performance. In addition, Drew states, "Small actions can foster change. Our activism, like any other part of ourselves, develops into something bigger than a singular experience. Activism is a collective action and an investment in the lives of other people" (Drew, pg. 61). Kimberly Drew speaks volumes about what I am attempting to achieve with this final intervention; I aim to create projects that other artists can participate in and build upon.

 I am also inspired by the JC Mural arts program I participated in in the summer of 2019. The program creates murals as a student collaboration about important issues. For example, the mural featured next to the West Side light rail is all about gun violence. Keith Harrington is also one of my inspirations because his work is very public, and I invite people to doodle their self-expression. Kate DeCiccio is an inspiration because her art is made specifically for protest, while Let's Paint About It is not explicitly for protest; I admire her dedication to activism through her graphic design work as I am currently working in graphic design. 

Five resources that helped inform and inspire my project are the artists listed above with the addition of Tumblr, Art 21, historical video essays talking about gender on YouTube, Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, and Bell Hook's "Understanding Patriarchy."

Wednesday Update: 

Sources:

Duncombe, S., & Lambert, S. (2021). The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible [Book]. OR Books.

Drew, K. (2020). This Is What I Know About Art. Penguin Workshop.  

Hooks, Bell, 1952-2021. (2004). " Understanding Patriarchy." The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, And Love. New York :Atria Books, 

[Kaz Rowe]. (2021, January 17). Terror and Vice: Los Angeles’ Painful Gay History [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohimKsIFT7M&ab_channel=KazRowe

Nasr, G. A. (2021, December 13). The Evolution of Drag: A History of Self-Expressionism. Arcadia. https://www.byarcadia.org/post/the-evolution-of-drag-a-history-of-self-expressionis