Meadow 2008 (dyed painted and stitched cotton) 18x22"1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't.
2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other lessgendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."
3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)
4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.
5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.
6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.
7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.
8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.
9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.
10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).
Sources:
1. "'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding," The Huffington Post, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206084&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=6
"Extreme Abortion Coverage Ban Introduced," Center for American Progress, January 20, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205961&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=7
2. "Georgia State Lawmaker Seeks To Redefine Rape Victims As 'Accusers,'" The Huffington Post, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206007&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=8
3. "South Dakota bill would legalize killing abortion doctors," Salon, February 15, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206102&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=9
4. "House GOP Proposes Cuts to Scores of Sacred Cows," National Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206103&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=10
5. "New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion," Talking Points Memo, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205974&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=11
6. "Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should be Married and Home with Kids," Think Progress, February 16, 2011
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/gop-women-kids/
7. "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli," The New Republic, Feburary 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206104&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=12
8. "House GOP spending cuts will devastate women, families and economy," The Hill, February 16, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/144585-house-gop-spending-cuts-will-devastate-women-families-and-economy-
9. "House passes measure stripping Planned Parenthood funding," MSNBC, February 18,2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206122&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=13
"GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206105&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=14
10. Ibid.
Birth Control for Horses, Not for Women," Blog for Choice, February 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206106&id=26177-6703040-9Q6buNx&t=15
One Week Only!
This event is co-sponsored by Woman's Caucus for Art!
Smart Phones and Dumb Laws:
Will Your Cell Phone Make You A Criminal?
The Rising Wave of Repression Against Documenting Dissent and Police Misconduct
Friday, February 18, 2011 at 7pm
Tom Robinson Gallery
2416 W. North Ave., Chicago
As cellphone video recording becomes easier and more popular, police and prosecutors are taking increasingly repressive steps to counteract the ability of everyday people - as well as independent and citizen journalists - to document police misconduct, political protest, and newsworthy events. Are you in danger of arrest, even a felony conviction, for pulling your cellphone out in public places to record the police, acts of political protest, or newsworthy events?
Come and learn how you can take a stand for our rights — and help make law enforcement accountable. Join us for a forum with Gregory Koger, Chris Drew and their attorneys, Jed Stone and Mark Weinberg. Both Gregory and Chris have been arrested for recording public acts of political protest.
Gregory Koger was arrested and sentenced to 300 days in jail for recording a speaker making a political statement with his cellphone before a public event at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago. He is currently out of jail on appeal bond after serving nearly 2 months of his sentence and continuing the legal battle by appealing his conviction. (www.dropthecharges.net)
Chris Drew has been accused of a felony crime for using an audio-recorder while being arrested for selling art for $1 on a public street. His story was featured in the New York Times on Jan 23 (http://tinyurl.com/4m9k3rr). He faces up to 14 years in jail and is set to go to trial on in early April. See his website at art-teez.org for more information.
Sponsored by the Chicago Women's Caucus for Art, The Ad Hoc Committee for Reason, World Can't Wait - Chicago & Evanston Chapters
Endorsed by the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism
Lois Weisberg, the last remaining member of Mayor Richard M. Daley's origional cabinet is leaving her post.An article from Greg H, from Chicago Business states:
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lois Weisberg -- who has served as City
Hall's cultural czarina since the Harold Washington days -- has
submitted her resignation, effective Feb. 1.
She's not going quietly.
In an interview and a statement, Ms. Weisberg made it clear she
strongly opposes recent moves to charge admission to Taste of Chicago
and other downtown festivals, privatize festival operations and merge
her department with the Mayor's Office of Special Events.
And she's equally upset that, in her account, Mayor Richard M. Daley
didn't really seek her input on any of this.
"I am not on the same wavelength as these other people," Ms. Weisberg
said. "That's why I'm leaving. I felt bad that the mayor never asked,
never talked to me about how to fix Taste of Chicago. I don't believe
in privatization."
Ms. Weisberg, 85, came to City Hall in 1983, when Mr. Washington named
her head of the Mayor's Office of Special Events. The daughter of a
prominent family, who to a large degree had her own political base,
Ms. Weisberg apparently impressed. When Mr. Daley was elected in 1989,
he brought her along, making her head of the new Department of
Cultural Affairs.
An arts maven who, as a New Yorker profile once put it "seems to know
everybody," Ms. Weisberg was a founder of Friends of the Parks and led
the stunningly successful renovation of the old central public library
at Michigan and Washington into the city's Cultural Center, where she
kept her office.
As commissioner, she not only expanded and nurtured festivals but
created the Cows on Parade public art display of a few years ago,
which went viral worldwide. Her department helped program Millennium
Park as well as numerous other venues.
More recently, as reports came out that the festivals have lost money
in recent years, Mr. Daley ordered changes. The city already has ended
Venetian Night, the only firm bidding to run Taste and other fests
wants to charge a $20 admission fee, and the new city budget merges
the department and the special events office.
Ms. Weisberg says the latter won't work because the two city units
have different DNA: One belongs to the politicians, the other to the
fine-arts set.
Ms. Weisberg reminded me that Richard J. Daley's special events chief,
Col. Jack Riley, once famously turned down Time magazine when it
asked for tickets to an event honoring Queen Elizabeth of the United
Kingdom during her visit here. "He said, 'How many votes do they
have?' " she recalled.
More seriously, Ms. Weisberg said charging admission to the big
downtown festivals will change their very nature.
"The festivals have given the city an image of being a place where the
people of Chicago can be together and be uplifted, all the different
races and religions," she said. "You can't do that if it's not free."
Beyond that, she continued, there already is an admission fee of
sorts: a surcharge on Taste food tickets. Some city departments may be
charging too much for their services, she added, and either way, "I
looked at the festivals as a city expense, just like picking up
garbage."
Ms. Weisberg says she's now going to work on writing a book -- "about
my experiences." If she's candid, it could be a good read.
Now open for enrollment!
A great way to travel and work with a wonderful artist!
Curated by Christa C. Mayer Thurman
The Art Institute of Chicago and The Textile Society present 11 tapestries by June Wayne, a multifaceted Chicago-born artist who founded Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles in 1960. This exhibition presents the artist's fascination with the tapestry medium between 1970 and 1974.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
4:45 p,m.
Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room,
The Art Institute
Reception with Christa Thurman and June Wayne followed by a viewing of and remarks in the textile galleries
Kindly respond by October 26 by leaving a voice message at
(312) 443-9198.
June will also speak on Friday, November 5th
CHICAGO IN THE '30S - THE WPA, MARSHALL FIELD'S, AND
THE LAUNCH OF MY ZANY CAREER
Morton Auditorium, The Art Institute
Friday, November 5th
12 - 1 p.m.
Free with admission
(no need to RSVP)
Visual artist June Claire Wayne was born on March 7, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois. She was raised asJune Claire Kline by her divorced mother, Dorothy Alice Kline, a traveling saleswoman in the corset business. At age fifteen, June dropped out of high school, wanting to become an artist. Avoiding the last names of both her parents, she used her first and middle names, June Claire, for her first solo exhibition in 1935 in Chicago, followed in 1936, by a second one at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. By 1938, June Claire was on the WPA Easel Project in Chicago - and had become a 'regular' in a cutting-edge culture of writers, actors, artists, and scientists, some of whom were becoming world famous (Richard Wright, James T. Farrell, Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, Irene Rice-Pereira and many others).
Circa 1939, she moved to New York, working as a designer of costume jewelry in the garment industry while continuing to paint at night and on weekends. In mid-1941, she married an Air Force Flight Surgeon and substituted his name, Wayne, for Claire. From then on her identity remained June Wayne even though that marriage did not endure. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, she left New York for Los Angeles, intending to work in the aircraft industry. To that end, she became certified in Production Illustration at Cal Tech/Art Center School but a job opened in radio writing at WGN in Chicago which she took, scripting several programs a day of music continuity and interviews with war heroes and movie stars on War Bond shows. Nonetheless production illustration was infiltrating her aesthetic imagination resulting in signature works of optical art ("The Tunnel" and the Kafka series) starting in the mid 1940s. As for the WGN experience, it honed her literary talent and eventually she would write influential essays on artist's rights, art criticism, and feminism.
When WWII ended, June Wayne returned to Los Angeles to stay and became an integral part of the California art scene. She took up lithography at Lynton Kistler's facility, meanwhile painting and exhibiting intensively. By 1957, she also had become a familiar artist in Paris, collaborating with Marcel Durassier, the great master printer with whom, in 1958, she did a livre d'artiste on the love sonnets of John Donne. In 1959, W. MacNeil Lowry of the Ford Foundation suggested to Wayne that she write a plan to revitalize the art of lithography which was floundering in the USA. The result was the Tamarind Lithography Workshop (named for her street) which opened in 1960; Wayne as its director and the Ford Foundation as its financial support. By the late 1960s, Tamarind had become an international force in the printmaking arts so Wayne transformed the Workshop into a permanent format as the TAMARIND INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO where it thrives to this day. Her own lithographs are widely recognized as masterpieces of the medium.
In 1970, Wayne turned to designing tapestries in France. In them as in the rest of her art, she expressed her avant-garde linkage of art and science to issues of the times. In many media, optics, the genetic code, stellar winds, magnetic fields, tsunamis and temblors appeared in her work, often linked to metaphors for the human condition such as the lemmings series, fables, justice and love. On a feminist level, her "The Dorothy Series" (twenty multi-color lithos that she described as a "documentary film in twenty freeze frames") includes her much praised video which together with the suite, recently shown in Tokyo.
"Sects In The City" is the first political artwork ever made by June Wayne who, in principle, avoided topical content in her art until now. "Sects" makes you aware of the burgeoning of "faith-based" religious groups within five miles of her Tamarind Avenue studio in Hollywood. Some sects are well-established in expensive churches, temples and mosques; others are itinerant parishes in bungalows, store fronts, abandoned movie theatres, trucks and station wagons.
June Wayne's art is represented in many museum collections in the USA and abroad. She has received dozens of awards as well as honorary doctorates. She also is a Visiting Professor of Research at the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper but she still spends much of the year at her Tamarind Avenue studio in Hollywood, California. THE ART OF EVERYTHING, a catalog raisonné of her art (1935 to the present day) was just published by Rutgers University Press. The book is authored by Robert P. Conway with essays by Arthur Danto and Judith K. Brodsky.
This ongoing struggle of Drew - an artist guy who simply recorded his arrest on his cellphone - is so important!why was he arrested? Because he was trying to sell his little $1.00 art patches on State Street (and has in fact been working on the issue of free speech for a long while now) but the prosecution is trying to get him on the grounds that he had no right to record his arrest.
Hearing on Motion to Suppress Audio Evidence
The outcome of this motion will determine if I go to trial on a 1st class felony, one step below attempted murder, 4-15 years in prison, for audio recording my own arrest for selling art for $1 on State Street in Chicago.In his opening arguments the prosecutor began around 12:30pm by claiming that he should be allowed to bring in evidence from our Youtube video postings and my blog to prove I intended to be arrested for selling art in public. He had a huge digital TV standing ready. He contended somehow that if I intended to be arrested that this would allow the police to violate my real privacy rights to review the contents of my audio recorder without my permission.If they arrest you for selling art on the train while you have a laptop in your possession, they are not allowed to search your files and e-mails on your laptop for incriminating evidence of other crimes without a search warrant from a judge.My lawyer, Josh Kutnick, brought the arresting officer to the stand and questioned him. The prosecutor cross examined him. The objections flew back and forth from each in turn and the hearing dragged on. At 2:30 the judge called recess for lunch. During this portion of the hearing it came out that the prosecution not only had the two officers my lawyer wanted to question waiting in another room but three of the four female officers who ticketed me on November 13th. We have the answer from Anita Alvarez to the ACLU suit. The State is making every effort to apply the eavesdropping charge against me. Why does Anita Alvarez and the State hate art in public to this extent? Or is it they want to keep you from attaining your basic rights? It is your First Amendment right to use your cell phone to protect yourself with audio evidence that she is attacking.Then Josh Kutnick took over. His stated the obvious. The State needs a warrant before searching the recorder or they must forfeited the evidence they found when they violated my privacy rights. He contradicted the points made by the prosecution. He summarized our case and tossed it up to the judge to decide by pointing out that there are unique and interesting aspects to this case to be considered seriously. The Judge smiled and agreed it was interesting and worthy of his study. He gave himself until November 22nd to rule and our hearing was over around 4:00 in the afternoon.This is more about you than it is about me. It is about your rights. No one came to this hearing in my support. However, it is better that you are watching from the sidelines than not watching at all. Although my lawyer performed to an empty court room we will buy the transcript and post it for the world to read. This case has national implications and international interest.What can you do? Forward this message or the link to my blog or to my facebook page (facebook.com/FreeSAM) to your friends and tell them about this struggle for their rights. Stay tuned to hear what Judge Stanley Sacks decides on November 22nd. Prepare to attend my trial. That is when I will need your support. Talk with your state reps and senators about changing this eavesdropping law. Everyone should be able to use their cell phones to record what police say to them in public. Contact your US congressman and your senators about H.Con.Res.298 – the sense of Congress resolution that waits in committee for their support. Donate to the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center which supports the Art Patch Project that helps to educate the public about First Amendment rights. We are the artists who are fighting for your rights. Help us. Thanks again if you have read this far for continuing to make yourself aware. Your voices are powerful.
Moscow Treats its artists better than Chicago. There is not one free open-air art market in Chicago.EDUCATE YOURSELF WITH THESE LINKSThe Accidental Poster Child - Courting arrest to protest street-art laws, Chris Drew stumbled into a more serious fight.Jerry Mead-Lucerno reports for Free Speech Radio NewsPress Release: Comment on audio-recording police in public at the T-shirt Art Harvest Fest “Party for Freedom” http://www.art-teez.org/pr/harvest_fest-10.htmNPR Strikes: You can Film Cops, just don't record them!
Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center Website with links to court documents for C Drew's felony casehttp://www.art-teez.org/free-speech.htm
In These Times: Free Speech, for Art’s Sake
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5325/free_speech_for_arts_sake/Chicago Tribune on the ACLU suing Cook County State's Attorney, Anita AlvarezTribune editorial by their editorial board in support of our view of the audio-recording of police issue.Michael Stephen reports on C Drew on 1/6/10 athttp://www.outsidetheloopradio.com/
The Urban Coaster - Rogers Park Community Newspaper - prints my response to 1st class felony charge.
http://theurbancoaster.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=560
Nancy Bechtol video: C Drew Answers Eavesdropping Charges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-K_dTlzs5M
Chicago's Thick Blue Wall - Radley Balko writes for Reason.com on C Drew's arrest
http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/14/chicagos-thick-blue-wall
SunTimes: Felony Charges Charges filed against Artist Activist
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1918823,peddler-taping-cops-arrest-120309.article
Comments published below - e-mail comments to umcac@art-teez.org (for coming exhibit)
http://www.c-drew.com/blog/comments-on-suntimes-article-creative-felony/
Video by Nancy Bechtol showing the arrest of C Drew on 12/2/09. You judge if a felony was committed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72_ZzJCfESc
Nancy Bechtol video from Friday November 13th when I challenged
the City and received a ticket to Federal Court
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDT336Jw3Vs&feature=email
Video: C Drew on Chicago cable TV explaining artists' speech rights with a screen printing demo
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1838238050552647653
* Streetwise article - October 28, 2009
Http://www.art-teez.org/pr/091028-4-Streetwise.pdf
Streetwise Article Goes International
The article appearing in Streetwise October 28th was reprinted on a website with an international audience that serves street newspapers from around the world - the Street News Service.
http://www.streetnewsservice.org/index.php?page=archive_detail&articleID=4636*The San Francisco Examiner wrote about Chris and the FreeSAMhttp://www.examiner.com/x-16859-Chicago-Performing-Arts-Examiner~y2009m7d29-Chris-Drew-Fights-for-Artists-rights-one-patch-at-a-time
*We made it in the Reader.* View the article (link below)
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thebusiness/080724/
*Good site for artists' rights overview *
http://www.ncac.org/art-law/index.cfmMoscow Treats its artists better than Chicago.
Which leads you to New York's precedent setting case - Artists win.*East Coast Case:* BERY v. CITY OF NEW YORK, 97 F.3d 689 (2nd Cir. 1996)
http://www.ncac.org/art-law/op-bery.cfm*West Coast Case:* Perry v. Los Angles Police Dept,, 121 F3d 1368 (9th Cir 1997)
http://www.buskersadvocates.org/saalegalCtPerryappeal.html Artist wins.
*Nevada Case:* Steven White v. City of Sparks (Nevada) Artist wins.
In /White v. City of Sparks/, painter Steven White challenged the
constitutionality of a city ordinance that required him to obtain a permit
before selling his paintings in public parks.
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/white-v-city-of-sparks-opinion.pdf*Florida law suit won by artist* - Celli v. City of St. Augustine, Florida - decided 2000.
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/celli-v-city-of-st-augustine-opinion.pdf
Since this time artists in St. Augustine have continued to fight for their rights against stiff government opposition from big-money interests.http://artinthemarket.blogspot.com/2009/04/artists-vs-st-augustine.html
*Weinberg v. City of Chicago* (when all the National Sports Leagues joined with the City to appeal and lost when the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.) Weinberg - the Chicago author - won.
http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/weinberg1.htm
*Berger v. City of Seattle* A federal judge in Seattle ruled in 2005 in favor of a balloon-artist that the Seattle regulations violated the First Amendment, considering that Seattle Center's outdoor space is a public park. A 12-member panel of the appeals court agreed 8-3.
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2009/berg062509.htm
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0535752pv3.pdf
* Santa Monica, California modifies its street performer ordinances to allow the activity to take place on public sidewalks without a permit.
http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2009-10-14-63540.113116_Council_relaxes_street_performer_rules.html
* ACLU sues the City of Fort Lauderdale for a street artist. (more to come)
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/07/aclu_sues_fort_lauderdale_on_b.html
*NY Artist and Organizer* - Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T.,
or Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics – This Yahoo Groups page links to ten years of messages about all the New York City actions and court cases over the years.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCStreetArtists/
* NYC Street Artist Freedom Videos
Check out these videos about how NYC artists won our rights in NYC see:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=artistpres* “Free Speech in an Open Society” by Rodney A. Smolla is a great primer toward understanding First Amendment case law. Google it for a great read on the topic.
