Art is More Than a Pretty Picture
Sure, the art we create can look really good over the sofa, but our art can do much more than that if we want it to. My mom is forever telling me, "Art is more than a pretty picture," and I think she's right. Great art can energize us and make us think differently. Sometimes it can help to effect much-needed change.
I often feel powerless to do much good in this world—and yet I want to do so much. We don't always realize it, but artists, writers, musicians—all of us—can have extraordinary power when we create from our convictions. We can donate our time and talents on a local level or work on a larger scale for the causes in which we believe. What follows are a few examples of upcoming events and mail-art opportunities that might interest you. (And if you don't find your personal passions or belief systems represented here, I hope you will be inspired to start a movement of your own!)
Calls for Entries
Retro 60's, Stamp ART for the Cure
Enviropapers and the San Diego ARTStampagogo 2003 are asking for mail art that addresses the free nature that was so well expressed during the 1960s, while making a poignant statement about finding a cure for breast cancer.
Deadline: April 2, 2003
Media: Rubber & Eraser-Carved Stamps, Surface Material: Any (paper, polymer, glass, etc.)
Credits: If designs are not your own, please credit all suppliers. We love to give credit where credit is due.
Donation: This mail art call will directly benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. As such, please include a postal money order, made out to: San Diego Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, for $2.00. This much-needed donation—along with the cost of the stamp(s), money order and materials—are all tax-deductible.
Maximum Size: 8" x 11" No fees, no returns, no jury, no awards
Documentation to all, on-line and in select print media
Exhibition: May 23-24,2002 during San Diego ARTStampagogo 2003, a collaborative eclectic arts festival
Send work to: Stamp Art for the Cure; c/o Box 81891; San Diego, CA 92138
For more information, visit www.artstampagogo.com or e-mail artstamp@artstampagogo.com.
Illegal Art
Calling all artists, rockers, and creative types. Stay Free! is organizing an exhibit, "Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age," to take place this fall in New York, of works that appropriate copyrighted or trademarked material. The Illegal Art exhibit is being held in honor of Eldred v. Ashcroft, a Supreme Court case that will be heard in the fall. The case challenges the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright act, which extended copyrights another 20 years to benefit Disney et al.
Media: zines, collages, audio, film—anything that flouts intellectual property law. (See www.illegal-art.org for examples.)
Send work to: stay.free@verizon.net or Stay Free!; P.O. Box 306 Prince Street Station; New York, NY 10012.
Items will not be returned.
After the Fall: Artists for Peace, Justice and Civil Liberties
The Arts Paper, a cultural and arts advocacy journal in Boulder Colorado, is seeking visual fine art and performing art, as well as poetry and essays related to the ongoing "War Against Terrorism" for our website, Artists for Peace, Justice & Civil Liberties, at www.taparts.org. Also, let us know about artists-for-peace public activities (e.g., street performances, poetry readings, visual arts exhibitions, etc.) for our "Actions" pages.
Keep in mind that peace, justice and civil liberties include issues of diversity, racial profiling, human rights, censorship, and ecological justice among others. All artists' websites will be linked.
Send work to: Submissions may be sent to: The Arts Paper; 1838 Pine Street; Boulder, CO 80302. All works should include a short biography and contact information for the artist.
For more information or for electronic submissions, visit www.taparts.org/Submit.cfm or email the webmaster with questions at admin@taparts.org.
Deadline: ongoing
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