Fam, I’m honored to tell you that I have been chosen as one of 7 artists to paint and design large 8′ x 8′ pieces honoring other creative, active, and giving folks. My choice? The People’s Kitchen Collective! But why? What? Peep……
Gardeners of Belonging celebrates people who cultivate growth, flourishing, and belonging: like gardeners, they know that this work is both about tending plants and about tending the soil. The seven participating artists each selected a “gardener” from their life and created a portrait while sharing a dialogue about belonging. The art works were created for the 14th @lifeislivingfest in West Oakland and then moved to @ybca as part of the exhibition Brett Cook and Liz Lerman: Reflection and Action.
Featuring: Gardeners x Artists:
-Roberto Bedoya & Brett Cook
-Sister Peace & Erin Yoshi
-Miss Major & Evan Bissell
-People’s Kitchen Collective & Robert Trujillo
-Joan Osato & Nick James
-Jean Melesaine & Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza
-Amalia Mesa-Bains & Johanna Poethig
October 8 Life is Living
10AM-6PM
Lil Bobby Hutton Park
1651 Adeline St., Oakland CA
October 30th Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
2PM-4PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
Come check it out! Dig this? Check out Brett Cook
Love and Protect: Mural Series in Oakland Chinatown
Bay Area visual artists of Asian and Black descent are producing a series of mobile public art murals in Oakland Chinatown for those impacted by Asian hate crimes. On Saturday, April 10th local artists will gather at Madison Park starting at 10 am to paint large canvas works that can travel for community events and public display. This project is in collaboration with Chinatown Coalition and we are outreaching to seniors and community members in the neighborhood. We acknowledge that the global health and economic pandemic are amplified by systemic injustices that disproportionately hurt immigrants and communities of color. Love and Protect is a condemnation of violence and a commitment to uplift, nourish, fortify and pay homage to our communities so that when we rise, we rise up together.
Artists Cece Carpio of Trust Your Struggle Collective and Tommy Wong of Civic Design Studio and Good Good Eatz have brought together local artists who are deeply rooted in the fight for racial and environmental justice. Emory Douglas and Joan Tarika Lewis, who are revolutionary artists and historical members of the Black Panther Party, bring visibility to the long history of Black and Asian unity. Robert Liu-Trujillo, Elaine Chu, Miguel “Bounce” Perez, Eric Norberg, and Karen Seneferu & Malik Seneferu are contributing their art and deep ties to social justice work. Ming Mur-Ray and Elokin Orton Cheung who are art teachers in Oakland’s Chinatown are bringing their students to help paint. Youth artists Deanna Brownfield and Lauryn Marshall from from the Black Cultural Zone are also bringing their vision and perspective.
Dig this? Check out Asians for Black Lives
Fam, I’ve been invited to read aloud for Celebrity Story time, an online benefit for Children’s Fairyland! They have big plans to better represent *all* families at the park w/ a digital library. And they’re celebrating the 70th anniversary of Fairyland which I went to as a child and took my son to. I’ve also had the chance to read at “Turn the Page”. An annual event held at Fairyland to share great stories and Bay Area storytellers with their loyal attendees and supporters.
Tune in at 6:30 p.m. PST on Saturday, September 26th. Register now at bit.ly/Fairyland70 – it’s
free! You can go to Facebook to get in: https://www.facebook.com/ChildrensFairyland
And if you’re on Twitter or IG the handle is @FairylandCa
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting this man and his partner Amy who run “Amor Eterno” in East Oakland. The vibe of their shop is super chill and creative. My crew “Trust Your Struggle” did a show inside their tattoo shop/gallery and it was amazing. Please watch!