4 Events with WEHO ARTS!

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This year, the LA Pride Parade will be replaced by a Resist March. The #ResistMarch will be on June 11th, 2017.
RSVP for the March here: https://www.facebook.com/events/280603222354825/

SparkleBlob is proud to work with The City of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival celebrating Pride in 2017 with the festival theme “Go West”.

In the continuing history of people using handmade posters and signs to raise awareness of contemporary issues and to inspire change, SparkleBlob’s CraftNight will be at  FOUR EVENTS leading protest poster painting party workshops between May 22 (Harvey Milk Day) through the end of June Pride month. Click here for street closures.

Monday, May 22nd at The Abbey from 5-9pm: It’s Harvey Milk Day, and The official kickoff party for One City One Pride! The Mayor and City Council are going to make comments at 7:45pm so that’s a great time to be there if you can. Our guest artist to help make signs with you and show you some tricks of the trade is Lori Meeker: Artist, Costume Designer and Fabricator Extraordinaire!

RSVP at the Facebook invite here: https://www.facebook.com/events/296723707443358/

Friday, June 2 at the Long Hall from 7PM – 9PM: Opening Reception for ‘Lesbians to Watch Out For: ‘90S L.A. ACTIVISM’ 2017 marks the 24th anniversary of the historic National Dyke March in Washington DC and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Lesbian Avengers. These two events inspired national activist efforts and a legacy of Dyke Marches across the country – giving renewed public visibility to lesbians and queer women and calling attention to our issues and contributions in American political life and culture. CraftNight will be there with paints and poster board so that you can make your own signs and buttons!
Location: Plummer Park, Long Hall, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. Free admission.
RSVP at the Facebook invite here: www.facebook.com/events/270091986782556

June 3rd at City Council Chambers from 11am to 5pm: It’s an ALL DAY Protest Poster Painting Party!!! Come see us before, during or after the Stuart Timmons LGBTQ History Tour and make your own protest sign! Two ONE Archives LGBTQ History Exhibits will be on view in West Hollywood Park, trans artist Yozmit will stage (TOTEM) the first part of a three part performance artwork, and there will be an opportunity to provide feedback on preliminary results from WeHo Arts: The Plan.
Location: City Council Chambers at the West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 6PM to 9pm: DYKE MARCH 
Come and make a sign and then march with it that very evening! The annual Dyke March begins with a program at 6pm, and march down Santa Monica Blvd. at 8pm.
Location: Sal Guarriello Veterans’ Memorial, 8447 Santa Monica Blvd. www.weho.org/pride

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Science Stickers from CraftNight!

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Download your Science Coloring Stickers HERE! 

In honor of The March for Science, and our never ending quest for learning about the world around us, I’ve illustrated SIX fun-filled pro-science printable graphics that you can print and color! GO SCIENCE, GO!

I printed a LOT of them on sticker paper, cut them up into kits and debuted them at Yuri’s Night 2017 at the California Science Center. We also colored them last week at CraftNight. Therefore, it only makes sense to keep sharing them, so here they are for you!

Featuring: Einstein, A Polar Bear, Body Parts, A Dog, A Proton, and Schrödinger’s Cat, you’ll find these stickers will either have you laughing, or asking why people are laughing. Print them out and hand them to friends, or pass them out at the march, or make them into stickers and STICK IT to those who think we don’t need science!

They’re downloadable, sassy, silly, and nerdy! Feel free to bring extra crayons and share them with all ages of people who are fans of science! Color ’em on the train, at a restaurant, waiting for the march to start, anywhere you like!

We need science to cure diseases, find solutions to famine and hunger, prepare for more extreme weather, and secure findings and solutions to a whole host of other incomprehensible concerns. We also need to keep reaching ever outward, since we’ve only learned that our gift for learning is also our gift for messing everything up, as humans go. Currently, the scientific method and the search for truth is being challenged, by those in power who are somehow not convinced by fact-based research. This kind of thinking seems to be motivated by some sort of weirdo nationalist worldwide manifest destiny on multiple fronts, as well as good ol’ greed … I’m not sure, but it’s dangerous for the planet, and for all creatures living on it.

More than ever, it is time to stand up for science.

~JP

 

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Protest Poster Painting Party!!! We DID IT!!!

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Getting off to a GREAT start of the year on January 16th, SparkleBlob’s CraftNight had it’s biggest CraftNight EVER.

I decided that once a month at least, CraftNight would take part in at least one “Craftivisim” to get the public focused on fighting for social justice, civil rights, human rights, planet rights, and basically, the right to be treated like human beings with benevolence and tolerance for each other.

I think it was a good idea, because for our first attempt at rallying people: Akbar was stuffed to the gills!

People wanted, needed to put their thoughts and feelings on poster board, and do it along with other people having strong feelings about the new administration. We’ve never seen anything like it. David LeBarron and Bill Cole were my trusty cohorts, they were shellshocked about how many people we had busting down the doors to make signs! We couldn’t pour paint and replace water fast enough, we didn’t have enough brushes! We had to create a line to keep it from getting too crowded!

The experience was powerful and telling. For many of us, we haven’t had to work our activism muscles this much in a long time. Some of our younger participants had never put paint and brush in hand to express their first amendment rights. It was great to see people involved in the political process, and SparkleBlob will keep finding ways to keep our community engaged. And no, signs alone and marching are not the answer to the world’s problems.

Protesting is merely one branch of activism.

We also have phone calls to make, petitions to sign, and we need to lean on our politicians and journalists to do right by the planet and its inhabitants.

Because you know what?!?

If we destroy the earth, there will be no one left to argue about this stuff anyway, so let’s start by saying something about it!

~JP

 

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