Resist

Posted by moonminded on March 30, 2017 in Art, In My Head | 3 Comments

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” 

Before this quote was on every greeting card and coffee mug this side of 1995, and generally considered not to be from Goethe, it was a little  photocopy in a locket that I had in college. The only thing of lasting value from the textbook Masters of International Political Whatever.

I can be boringly dutiful. I will wade in and trudge on when I don’t know where to start.  I did it two years ago after Ferguson with a volunteer training council with my local police bureau and finally, once again last Sunday. I convened ten talented people to facilitate the beginning of a more purposeful, sustainable approach to, well …

 America. As it is right now.

This is a weird piece, no doubt. It was supposed to be vivid, modern flowers from an ink and collage Creative Bug TV workshop with Lisa Congdon. (See Part 2 example to see how far afield this went.)

The base of collaged triangles went smoothly enough. I had, however, used a mailer from Bitch Media that I’d saved for the colors. Throw in an abundance of washi tape, a love of fluorescent orange, and the daily news, and fists start to sprout from the loamy feminist fury. Good times.

This was a long process of iterative problem solving. The pages wouldn’t take ink because they were previously pasted together. The composition evolved based on  sequential elements, not an overall idea. By the end, I really liked finessing the tape a bit. The eyes and nose on the head to the right really satisfy me. 

Gold foil washi tape in itty bitty pieces. As annoying to work with as you might think.

If you haven’t heard of the Draw The Line project, check it out. Artists capture all the different ways one can be inspired to work for change in our communities. I discovered it at the blog myf draws apparently and you can find it on Twitter @DrawLineComics or #drawtheline. Instagram is drawthelinecomics.

Wherever you are on the political spectrum, I hope you can find inspiration to spend time creating good things for a great number of people.