A CALL TO ARTISTS!

A CALL TO ARTISTS AND VOLUNTEERS

Deadline to submit: Monday April 6th, 2013, 7pm
Opening Reception: Friday May 3rd, 2013, 6-11 pm,
On View: May 3 – May 25th
Venue: PÄS & Hibbleton Galleries at the Magoski Artists Colony
Address: 223 W. Santa Fe, Fullerton, CA 92832
Media Contact: Stephan Baxter, stephanbaxter@me.com, 714/342-3052
Website: ArtWithAnAgenda.org

Motivation for Exhibit
In 2008, Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the State of California, passed with a little more than 52% of the vote. Fullerton, combined with our neighbors in the northern most parts of Orange County, however, passed Prop 8 by 63% (see source below). It is important that those who aim to monopolize love and marriage understand to whom they are denying a fundamental social institution. In a small way this exhibit hopes to further acceptance and understanding through art which is inspired by the belief that all non-exploitative love is beautiful and valid.

Artists Requirements and the Agenda
The attached promotional Call to Artists card depicts a beautiful and soft portrait of two men kissing. This work by Valerie Lewis perfectly sets the tone for our 2nd Art With An Agenda exhibit, which will take place in May 2013, entitled LOVE. SEX. UNITY. RESPECT. With the announcement of this exhibit we hope to attract artists who are appalled by the current state of legal and sanctioned homophobia which today denies one segment of the population equal access to marriage. It is our hope that when given the opportunity to submit art for this project, these artists will be inspired to create a work of art which furthers our common goal softening hearts and ending discrimination.


It is our belief that continued discrimination against individuals because of their sexual orientation is the civil rights issue of our generation. Whether we ourselves are straight or gay, we must work together to correct this wrong and to promote acceptance and understanding of all members of our community. Homophobia exists only in an environment in which ignorance and fear are allowed thrive. It is this condition that is our enemy, not any one individual who may suffer from it. Unlike the previous Art With An Agenda exhibit, The Life & Murder of Kelly Thomas, which attracted over 1,000 guests on opening night, despite the difficult subject matter, and which was in part conceived to hold those involved in the murder of a local homeless man accountable for his death, with this exhibit, we do not feel compelled to demonstrate the abuses, legal or otherwise, to which the LGBT community is too often subjected.  In light of this, artists who are considering participating in this exhibit are encouraged to create art in any medium they choose, and to have the subject of the work be the LGBT community, rather than those who discriminate against them. We aim to focus on the beautiful and ordinary private lives of our subjects, not to punish or to embarrass those who today are on the wrong side of history.


 “LOVE. SEX. UNITY. RESPECT.” hopes to accomplish the following:

• Soften the hearts of those who today may not relate to what they believe is a lifestyle choice.
• Unite like-minded residents in the common goal of legalizing same-sex marriage in California.
• Raise significant funds by donating 50% of proceeds from the sale of art to OC AIDS WALK, which is taking place the weekend of the exhibit’s opening, and to raise further funds by establishing an Art With An Agenda AIDS Walk team (*) for sponsorship.  The remaining 50% of proceeds from the sale of any work will be returned to the artist whose piece sold.
• Continue to bring attention to the Fullerton Art Walk, participating artists, galleries, and the power of art.

To be considered for the exhibit, please submit high resolution JPEGs of your work, or recent work, and a description of what you plan to create specifically for the show. Also include a brief bio and link to your website. This exhibit is open to all established and emerging artists working in all media. Artwork will be selected for display based on its quality, support of the show theme, as well as venue and show design limitations. For shipped artwork, the artist must make their own arrangements for return shipping and insurance. Artists will be notified no later than April 12th if submitted artwork will be included.

We appreciate your interest and support. 

  
Stephan Baxter                                                  
Exhibit Organizer/Co-Curator                                       
stephanbaxter@me.com                  

And

Valerie Lewis
Magoski Arts Colony Artist
Exhibit Co-Curator
vlewisart@gmail.com


 

*Note: We are looking for positive work that celebrates the LGBT community. Although money is being donated to OC AIDS Walk, the work in the exhibit is not about AIDS or about Homophobia. These issues will are addressed by our donations and our advocacy.

**Prop 8 Results for Fullerton and it’s closets neighbors  based LA Times Election results for Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, LaHabra, LaPalma, Placentia, Stanton & Yorba Linda taken from the following LA Times http://projects.latimes.com/elections/orange-county-prop-8-results-by-city/

 

Artists in the exhibit

Huffingtonpost ongoing coverage

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/kelly-thomas/

Links to info on the beating

Click here

KCET Documentary and article

Art With An Agenda: An Exhibit Inspired by Kelly Thomas

Bax at Kelly Thomas Memorial Concert

The Ballad of Kelly Thomas

Worldwide exposure

Guardian shows CCTV footage

Security footage

Press release

A talk to the city council

http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/02/baxters-talk-to-the-fullerton-council-about-kelly-thomas-and-police-spokesman-andrew-goodrich/

The Agenda

ART WITH AN AGENDA, THE LIFE AND MURDER OF KELLY THOMAS, AN ART EXHIBIT We are very pleased to announce that Art With An Agenda, an art exhibit which is inspired by events surrounding the life and death of Kelly Thomas will have it’s opening reception at PÄS Gallery, located at 223 W. Sante Fe Avenue in downtown Fullerton. The opening reception will be held from 6pm to 11pm on Friday July 6th, 2012,  which is in conjunction with July’s Fullerton Art Walk and the 1 year  (+ 1 day) anniversary from when Kelly Thomas, a local homeless man who was suffering from mental illness, was assaulted by six Fullerton police offices.  PÄS along with The Hibbleton and The Violet Hour galleries, make up the large Magoski Art Colony and attendees should be prepared for a powerful and emotional artistic experience. We, the participants and organizers of this exhibit, have an agenda, but we do not have any official affiliation to any other organizations or political parties. We are brought together by our love of art, our love of Fullerton, and our desire for justice.                 

  The Agenda:

1.   To Peacefully demonstrate that by giving voice to a   cause, through art and creative expression, our community will prevail over violence, bigotry and those who abuse their power.

2.   To bring attention to the Justice for Kelly Thomas Movement and Police Brutality

3.   To raise money in support of the Orange County Homeless

4.   To celebrate the Fullerton Art Walk and the Talents of the Participating Artists

Art With An Agenda will feature the original work of over 40 artists from L.A. and Orange Counties. Among the list of artists with a long resume of prior gallery showings, are Valerie Lewis, William Zdan, Stuart Perlman, Hagop Najarian, Mike Myers, Andrea Bersaglieri, muralist Rene Cardona, and the wonderfully prolific still life painter, John M. Sollom. In addition to other paintings John has submitted to the show, there are fourteen 8 x 10 oil paintings depicting the unnecessary escalation of the encounter between the Police and Kelly Thomas at the Fullerton Transportation Center. This encounter  ended  45 minutes later, the last 10 minutes of which,  was the brutal beating that put Kelly into the coma, and five days later took his life. John’s painted panels increase with their intensity until we see all six officers standing around the body and a pool of Kelly’s blood. John Sollom has loosely painted the images off of the city surveillance video in the familiar gray scale of surveillance footage. With this, Sollom has created a latter day Stations of the Cross.  John’s work was created immediately after he watched the tape for the first time, and  this series of paintings be one of the more emotionally charged pieces included in this exhibit. There will be paintings which depict the truth, and the truth in this instance is uncomfortable. These works will, however, be juxtaposed with beautiful and sentimental  paintings, like a teenage portrait of Kelly before he got sick, which captured the spirit of Kelly perfectly. One portrait in particular which is being submitted by Valerie Lewis, a working artist at the Magoski art colony, is exceptional in its poetic reflection of Kelly. When I recently let Kelly’s mother, Cathy Williams Thomas,  look at a picture of the painting on my phone, it brought tears to her eyes.

 Also submitting work to the exhibit, and confirmed to be in attendance  on this night, are two friends who are both united in their commitment to helping those who are most marginalized in our society, as well as seeking justice for Kelly.  They are radio host and animal welfare advocate Susan Olsen, who was first introduced to the public through her role as Cindy on the Brady Bunch, and is now a much sought after pop artist. Susan’s friend, Cherie Currie, an actress who was also the charismatic lead singer in the 70’s all girl rock group, the Runaways, has now added chainsaw sculptor to her resume. Cherie is a master at taking a chainsaw to tree trunks, and producing masterpieces. As documented through a serious of photo’s which Cherie posted to her Facebook page, Cherie spent the better part of two weeks carving a beautiful and ornate, life-sized bench in tribute to Kelly Thomas. I suspect that this bench will be the high dollar ticket item of the night. Susan and Cherie have been wonderful in their support of our cause, and they are making themselves available for interviews and other PR opportunities in order to get the word out regarding this important exhibit.

To varying degrees we are all desensitized by the violence on TV, but through this exhibit, I’m learning that if a similar image to a violent scene from the Fullerton city surveillance tape is depicted on a canvas, it hits us to a greater degree, in some cases like a punch to the stomach. Our minds have not yet been conditioned in other mediums to the point where they can tune those things out which make us most uncomfortable. Any Art Walk participants who somehow managed to avoid an emotional reaction to scenes of the tape on the nightly news will not be spared that luxury at the exhibit. If in the collection we can find the right balance of  truth and compassion with regard to what happened on the night of July 5th, 2011, a compassion which will result from the paintings that humanize Kelly and make him more than a wild haired homeless man or battered face, and the art we are exhibiting has been done with artistic sincerity, guests of the exhibit will then be invested in such an emotional way, that even if they managed to avoid these feelings about Kelly’s murder previously, they will now feel the appropriate amount of empathy and outrage that the acknowledgment of how Kelly died demands.  These emotions can only result in a feeling of frustration, as one realizes that Kelly Thomas’ death was senseless and cruel to such a degree that one is compelled to demand an explanation and to seek accountability.

It is at this point that we hope visitors to this exhibit will wander to the back of the gallery, where the walls will be covered with photographs and  the homemade protests signs and banners from last summer which members of “Kelly’s Army” have been tracking down for the last several months. My hope is that after seeing the human side of Kelly, and what these uniformed men did to him for no understandable reason, patrons/supporters, who before were able to dismiss what happened as just one of those unfortunate things in life, will finally understand why their friends and neighbors made these protest signs, and stood in front of the Fullerton Police station demanding answers. Answers that, to date, have still not come.

I know that with this exhibit we will raise money for the homeless, and I know that we will raise awareness of the harsh realities to which life on the street translates, but if this exhibit is successful in liberating just one person from their denial that this was a senseless murder and attempted cover-up, we will have done serious work and furthered the cause for justice.

With Kelly’s family in attendance, surrounded by art which was in one way or another was inspired by their son and brother, the participation of so many artists of great caliber, who invested their time and their emotion so they could donate meaningful work, I believe this opening night has the potential of being among the most emotionally powerful, collective artistic experiences most of us will ever participate in. We invite you to attend our opening and experience this for yourself.

All expenses associated with the exhibit and it’s promotion have either been waived by the gallery owners, or covered by the organizers, which will allow for every dollar raised from the sale of art to go directly to the *Kelly Thomas Memorial Foundation charity for Orange Counties’ homeless. Neither the Thomas family, nor the Gallery owners, are responsible for any of its content, or the views which I am expressing here.

Thank you for your interest.  It is with your help through donations to KTMF.org and by bringing attention to these events in the media, that we further our cause for justice, and we bring a little love and empathy on the one year anniversary of what, in our minds, was the ugliest day in Fullerton’s 108 year history.

To anyone that thought all but Kelly’s family would have moved on to by now: This is more than a cause, this is loyalty. We knew Kelly and we liked Kelly, and we are just getting started.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the concert or the art exhibit.

Justice For Kelly!