"I'm Feeling My Feelings" Coloring Book!

On Monday I launched an Indiegogo campaign for my coloring book, and now 2 days later it's more than half funded! Thank you so much for the support from friends, acquaintances, and strangers. I'm so glad to fill the void that was wanting a genderless raceless coloring book of creatures. HERE IT IS, in time for the special days at the end of the year that many people celebrate.

The book has 30 unique drawings that can be easily torn out, becoming instant personalized art prints. WHAT A GREAT GIFT. Each book is $20, and you can find deals on the site for multiple books, so send your mom this link to make sure you get one for the holidays: www.igg.me/at/feelingmyfeelings

I'm so proud to be printing this book locally at a small business in Philadelphia. Support local artists and local businesses!

I also just made a very quick video (a little corny, I know...) with a little bit about the project, so take a peek, and please share!

Love,
Joey

59 Days of Independence

Artist/Badass Heather Layton and her husband Brian Bailey started a social art project this year called 59 Days of Independence. They are asking people all over the world to celebrate the independence days of countries that have declared independence from Britain. Can you believe there are 59?!

I am honored to be taking part in this project. I started participating early in the year, celebrating Nauru's Independence Day on January 31. I added small Nauru flags to several flag posts on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway here in Philadelphia. Nauru is the smallest country in the world-- 8 square miles, with a population of 10,000 people.

Today I celebrated another island nation in Oceania, Kiribati. Kiribati is recognized as the first country that will be "wiped out by climate change." The nation has purchased land on one of neighboring country Fiji's islands for food security and possibly evacuation.

Kiribati is made of many islands. The country's name is pronounced "Kiri-bass", the local pronunciation of "Gilbert's".

Today I replicated the islands in Clark Park, Philadelphia, featuring some of the words from Kiribati's beautiful national anthem, and the English translation.

The words:

Teirake kaini Kiribati, Anene ma te kakatonga,

Tauraoi nakon te mwioko, Ma ni buokia aomata.

Tauaninne n te raoiroi, Tangiria aomata nako.

Tauaninne n te raoiroi, Tangiria aomata.

Reken te kabaia ma te rau Ibuakoia kaain abara,

Bon reken te nano ae banin Ma te i-tangitangiri naba.

Ma ni wakina te kab'aia, Ma n neboa i eta abara.

Ma ni wakina te kab'aia, Ma n neboa abara.

Stand up, People of Kiribati
Sing with jubilation
Prepare to accept responsibility
And to help each other
Be steadfastly righteous
Love all our people

We will know peace

when all our hearts beat as one,
Love one another
Promote happiness and unity

#YesAllWomen

#YesAllWomen

#YesAllWomenLive

This speaks to this sudden movement / shuffle / burst

of energy and stories speaking out against misogyny and male violence,

all the gender issues we've forgotten about, and normalized.

Not All Men are rapists.

Yes All Women live with the threat of being raped.

If you are in Philadelphia, please come to a speak out / art out event this weekend:

#YesAllWomen LIVE - Philly

Saturday 5/31

4 PM - Meet at Clark Park

West Philadelphia

Facebook Event

Creative Commons:

Please use this graphic for #YesAllWomen sensible use, 

but don't make money off of it.

ART VS. LIFE

i was so happy to share a workshop with young adult friends (quakers) this weekend. i'll let you figure it out from the pictures. p.s. can you guess which one is mine?

Seriously

I won't do it. it's just pee and there's not enough water. OBVIOUSLY.

In other news:

LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE

and tell your college roommates about it.

and also

there's FREE SHIPPING on my society6 shop until Sunday at midnight. Use this link.

More Human

Feeling a little more human than artist today-- still making art though. Just watch out it might get a little real.

In the meantime, trying to figure out the best way to give empire the bird while trying to survive. Other thoughts include:

• Probably moving out of the United States of America, which is stolen land, and send all the American Indians a letter that says sorry about all the stuff I took while I was here.
• While I'm penpal-ing I might as well write to Obama and tell him how I feel.
• Poor guy.
• Building up the courage and confidence to give away all my things
• in general attempting to be more

That's it for now, have a great day !

The Famous Heather Layton

The 8 chicks who are U of R senior art majors 2012 have been without our mother hen this week... What I'm trying to say is Heather Layton is in Pakistan.

C.U.S.P -- a Collaboration between the United States and Pakistan, is another baby chicken (I should stop...) of Heather and her husband Brian.  Heather is a master of social intervention art, as you can see on her website, and this week she is at a conference at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, doing all sorts of great things on behalf of humans. Follow her adventure on her blog.

 

http://heatherlayton.com

Whose Land is Your Land (ft. James Luna)

One of my more enjoyable and stimulating classes this semester was "The History of Food and Eating," which is part of my agenda to fulfill my minor in Environmental Justice & Sustainability.

Earlier this semester we read Changes in the Land, by William Cronon which analyzes the ecology of New England over time under the feet of Indians and English Colonists between 1620 and 1800. It did start out as boring as you're imagining, but it got better.

The point is, as I waded through the book I starting getting really uncomfortable with the fate of the indigenous people of this land as it's been documented. As frustrating as it is for me to understand people who put their own comforts and habits before simple justice as far as the environment, I honestly can't think of anything more unfair than what happened to the Indians.

The artist that immediately comes to mind is James Luna. The "Writing on Art" course I took sophomore year gave him a particular spotlight when we talked about performance art, and The Artifact Piece, perhaps his most famous piece, really stuck in my head:

Yup, that's actually an alive human... (the artist) also with some documents about his life, like a high school diploma.

The piece has a clear message but of course it brings me back to my what-is-art question... I like it, but I'm not really sure where to place it.  You know?

http://www.jamesluna.com/

(image with permission from James Luna)

Face 2 Face: JR in the World

JR is a French street artist putting social art in your face (or your face in social art, as it were… read on).

The artist, who remains anonymous, pastes big paper portraits on walls and houses in cities all over the world to create a dialogue (or a multilogue-- which I'm pretty sure should be a word) about conflict.

All of his projects are great but Face 2 Face is the bold materialization of questioning the Middle East conflict.  In 2007, JR went with his friend Marco to challenge the possibility of his project in a dangerous and illegal public exhibition of photos.  They posted portraits of Palestinians and Israelis who had the same jobs in their respective communities, making faces, displayed next to each other on both sides of the Security Fence/Separation Wall.

Another phenomenal piece is Women, which uses the images of women in Africa to share their stories and connect them directly to the media.

If you have time to be totally inspired, watch JR's TED talk which goes into greater depth about his projects: