Draw-A-Thon Unites Public + Artists To Bring War $ Home

Draw-A-Thon posters created in 2010 at the Portland Public Library.

Art is in the air! The coming Armistice / Veterans Day holiday, Mon. Nov. 12, will see the full energy of a Draw-A-Thon unleashed as ideas to Bring Our War $$ Home are realized. Envisioning will begin promptly at 10am at the lovely Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine, a converted old schoolhouse that is exhibiting "The War On Peace" with works by Rob Shetterly and Alan Magee, now until Nov. 21.

CODEPINK State of Maine is sponsoring along with the Union of Maine Visual Artists, Veterans for Peace Maine chapters, and the Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space. All are members of the coalition waging the campaign to connect the dots between out of control military spending and unmet needs at home. Together we say stop funding the military and instead build schools, housing, jobs, and provide clean water, wholesome food, and medical care.

Bring Our War $$ Home!

Artists team up with the public to generate ideas and a lot of art is made on the spot. Here's some from past years:

Brian Reeves creating his now classic "Cash Bazooka"

As at a previous Draw-A-Thon held on Armistice / Veterans Day in 2010, veterans may sit for their portrait if they wish.

Also, people wandering by can pick up their own crayon, or tell someone else what they'd like to see.

Photos by Draw-A-Thon artist William Hessian from his Bearded Bunny Blog

Sometimes it leads to t-shirts. You never know what might happen. Join us! Mon. Nov. 12 from 10am to 6pm. Here are more details from organizer Kenny Cole:

The art activist organizers are concerned about the cost of war to Maine taxpayers, which they estimate at $3.5 billion and propose that these war dollars be brought back to the US and repurposed. 

The free event is open to the public with a special offer to veterans to come have their portraits drawn by the participating artists. All are invited to bring creative energy and ideas to help envision how to better spend war dollars. Some artists will draw their own ideas, some will translate requests and ideas into images and others will draw portraits of veterans. Participating artists include Natasha Mayers, Rob Shetterly, Kenny Cole, Nora Tryon, Brian Reeves and others...

For more information on the draw-A-Thon, visit mainedrawathon.blogspot.com.

Waterfall Arts
256 High St.
Belfast, ME 04915
(207) 338-2222
www.waterfallarts.org
Creating community in harmony with nature through the transformative power of the arts - Feel the Power of Art

Finally, here's a video I made of a Draw-A-Thon that turned into a Print-A-Thon at the Portland Public Library in January, 2011. Some of Rob Shetterly's many portraits from the series "Americans Who Tell The Truth" were on exhibit then, too. Good times.

Occupy Here & Now, Not Afghanistan/Pakistan/Bahrain

Occupy Augusta, Maine photo Waterville Morning Sentinel "Arrested occupiers explain stand"

On the one hand I occupy Augusta, Maine, and sleep overnight in a teepee like in ancient times, and my inner voice is  chanting joyfully like the 99% in Oakland did at the very start of their general strike video:

Hella, hella occupy! The system has got to die !

I know in my bones that if the system doesn't, the Earth will. And that is what ultimately matters as far as human life is concerned.

Then, on the other hand, the U.S. Senate proves itself every bit as venal and corrupt as any Roman body of leeches ever was by voting – overwhelmingly, only 7 against – for the U.S. military to be able to detain anybody -- without charges -- on planet battlefield in the war on terror. What rhymes with Indefinite Detention? Could be Extraordinary Rendition. So one more time I write or call my corporate owned so-called representatives, to express displeasure. I could try to occupy their offices, which are now barricaded because my friends occupied them years ago protesting war mongering. Or I could gather with the 99% and make art, not war, and talk about what to do next.

This piece of legislation is horrible, and laws do matter, used as fulcrums for leverage, and you can't let it pass unremarked without the outrage it deserves. But, really -- how much can this surprise us when Bradley Manning has been in jail for one year and five months without a fucking day in court?

Some say, oh, but he was in the military, so that's different. Looks like we're all in the throughly militarized USA now, whether we signed up or not.

The man accused of leaking thousands of files from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the State Dept. all over the globe, the man credited with sparking the Tunisian uprising which ignited Egypt which continues to roll out in great waves of freedom seeking behavior all across the planet will finally have his pre-trial hearing Dec. 16-17 at Fort Meade, Maryland. I will be in the streets for Bradley on that day for sure. (Find out how to join a Bradley Manning support action near you.)

When I contact my senators these days, I never fail to point out something they already know: they don't represent their constituents. Lately I send copies of the Bring Our War $$ Home Penny Poll, showing how people in Maine last election day wanted their federal taxes spent (educations, health care and V.A.) and how that compares with the nearly 2/3 spent on “defense” now. It's a gravy train for drone and other WMD manufacturers, i.e. the 1%, plus salary and benefits for a portion of the working class caught in the maws of the great war machine, forced as National Guardsmen and women to defend the homeland by being stationed in, for instance, Bahrain.

Lynn Redgrave as Mother / photo credit: http://www.veriport.com/galleries/a.htm

Bertolt Brecht wrote "Mother Courage" about the irony of a working class parent losing her three children one by one to the war economy she depended upon to feed them.

We can do better than this. And after reading Truthout's breathtaking interview about the Occupy movement with author Arundhati Roy, I think we will.

As the high school kids say, wait until summer!

Getting organized in Maine

I get to organize with the most amazing people!  At the mural rally yesterday about 400 people raised the roof of the state house and shared hopes, fears, and a bit of good news: the feds want their share of the cost of the mural refunded. Great speeches by many; here's one, Rob Shetterly in Common Dreams today: Return Our Mural, Restore the Names.

Check out this most beautiful re-display of the mural since it was sneakily, illegally and expensively removed from the Maine Department of Labor (here you see one side of the State House, our capitol building):

And in this video many of my favorite people help get the BOW$H message out. Especially great song at the end: Bring our war dollars home ballad written by webmaster Dan Ellis and sung beautifully by everyone -- it always helps to have the Raging Grannies on hand!


Artist Natasha Mayers was a strong presence at both rallies, and shared some Maine art and activism history in an email she sent around today.


The role that artists are playing: a little bit about our Drawathons, Draw-ins, and Printathons
April 4, 2011

The amazing Kenny Cole and I met with Lisa Savage, Bruce Gagnon, and others back in 2009 to see what the Union of Maine Visual Artists could do to promote the Bring Our War $ $ Home campaign. Kenny suggested a Drawathon.

We put out a call for artists to come and draw all day, working side by side, exchanging ideas. A way for us to stretch our imaginations and, in doing that, help other people envision how they would want their tax dollars spent.

You can be deadly serious or seriously silly, we told them, at the UCC Church in Bath. I sketched a "free range chicken in every pot" and more school field trips . Others drew solar panels, school vegetable gardens, and a missile launcher that launched paint brushes.

I think, as artists, we have ways to capture/captivate people's attention that are creative and non-threatening. To catch it in a way that won't put them off. As artists, I also don't think we're just talking about money or politics. We're talking about what military spending does to our souls and spirits.

More than 40 artists made images that day. Some of the participating artists were: Robert Shetterly, Abby Shahn, Diane Dahlke, Barb Sullivan, Brian Reeves, and five students from Unity College. Lisa, Bruce, and others organized the kitchen, and made sure the artists were fed. Lisa, Peter, and Kenny scanned/photographed images and put them on a website, for later production of booklets (zines) to distribute to our state and national representatives.

The art was hung on the wall for all to see. The community arrived for a potluck and evening of poetry with Betsy Sholl, Maine’s Poet Laureate, Martin Steingesser, Henry Braun, Chris Crittenden, and others. The event was attended by about 140 people. It was grand!

We had a Draw-In at the State House in Augusta, and CODEPINK messengers delivered the 4 'zines (booklets) to all state legislators. We were not just calling attention to harmful priorities in spending, but also using our art to thaw the hearts and minds of legislators frozen by fear, budget freezes, and draconian cuts.

"We offer these drawings as suggestions for wiser and healthier uses of our tax dollars," said Shetterly, speaking on behalf of Union of Maine Visual Artists. "We believe that the primary functions of government are to enhance community, protect the environment, care for the unfortunate, provide education..."

We parked ourselves in the rotunda of the State House and waited for the public to pass by. We solicited from them any ideas they had on how to better spend our war dollars. People are disarmed when it comes to live artists! They get very excited to see their ideas visualized before them and then to be able to take their drawing away with them. For the artists it’s great camaraderie and that feeling of using their skills for a noble cause.Singer/songwriter Hana Maris performed and Martin Steingesser recited his poetry.

Next we held a second Draw-A-Thon at Space Gallery in Portland on Veterans Day. Some artists drew portraits of veterans and others, and others drew how they wanted their war dollars spent.

Then we held a Print-A-thon: at the Portland Public Library. An all day gathering of artists to work collaboratively to create silk-screen or other print editions of some of the imagery.

We held a second Printathon at Circle the Square Print Studio in Gardiner with Karen Adrienne’s generous instruction and hosting and Nora Tryon’s experience with silkscreening.

What’s next? We plan to have Steve Burke help us in the spring, spread our posters around the country, maybe wheat paste a few on available city walls, maybe turn our artistic eye to some other pressing problems in the state, too.

We hope you’ll join us.
Thank you.

Draw-in, Hall of Flags, Augusta  April 4, 2011-- Nora Tryon's newest poster design in foreground

War wasting funds, lives, environment

Draw-a-Thon II interview with Kenny Cole, artist whose drone show "The Hellfire Story" at SPACE Gallery in Portland hosted the 'Thon. Here he talks about preaching beyond the choir.

Here in Maine we are preparing for an organizing meeting to check in about what the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign has been up to lately, and to make our plans for the future. The recent Maine Peace Walk with Veterans for Peace and Buddhist monks and nuns in the lead got press throughout the state (links here, here, here and here!) and helped spread the cost of war message far and wide before ending at the Draw-a-Thon on Veterans Day.

Revelations are coming thick and fast from WikiLeaks' trove of U.S. diplomatic cables; it will be impossible to digest all the information in time for tomorrow. So many wasted funds could provide a useful focus: Karzai administration corruption, "aid" to the empire's many client states, and taxpayer funded State Dept. providing intel for private corporation Blackwater (name hidden, unlike your private parts if you decide to fly home for the holidays).

Activist Tom Sturtevant had a great idea recently about focusing on the Blue Angels' colossal waste of fuel, funds, and immense carbon footprint. How are we still affording stuff like this? Let the unemployed eat jet fuel! We will discuss this at the meeting also.

Before the meeting many of us will stand with the annual weekly advent vigil at Bath Iron Works. BIW is the largest employer in the state and one place where it is believed workers put depleted uranium weapons on Aegis destroyers. Is this any way to make a living?

This Sunday evening there is a good informational program on D.U. that Codepink organizer Beth Adams has put together with help from her friends. That event is Dec 5 in Portland, Maine 7:15-9:15pm at Sacred Heart/St. Dominic Church, 80 Sherman St., Portland, ME. 

fmi (413)-522-7505

A Community Discussion and Action Ideas will follow. Identical programs will be presented in Hartford on December 4^th and Portland, Maine on December 5^th. The program is jointly sponsored by: The American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, The Alliance for Peace and Justice, Western Massachusetts Code Pink and the Nuclear –free Future Coalition of Western Massachusetts, and more!

Drawing a crowd

Images from Draw-a-Thon II at Space Gallery in Portland, ME on Veterans Day.

For a good look at the art created by 40+ artists, go to the Maine Drawathon flickr site here.

Day of ArT & activism

Maine Peace Walker & Northampton BOW$H organizer Beth Adams joined Codepink and artists of Draw-a-Thon II making signs to welcome the Peace Walk and Vets for Peace as they passed by in the parade.

Many streams converged on Veterans Day when Space Gallery hosted Draw-a-thon II to Bring Our War $$ Home. 30+ artists + Buddhist monks and nuns leading the Maine Peace Walk with drums and chanting + Pink women + Vets for Peace + general public age 2 to around 90 being artists or subjects + Kenny Cole's amazing show "The Hellfire Story."

 
The show features one drawing for each time a Predator Drone has delivered a Hellfire missile to Earth. These drawing hover overhead and throw long shadows, mounted as they are perpindicular to the walls. They are b&w and yellow. Red paintings of hell cover the white walls at floor level. (Kenny himself is a blue triangle in some photos. Nice job.)

The generosity of spirit on the part of participants started with Kenny and Space offering to host a Draw-a-Thon. Artists come from all over for these events.There were many young artists this time, which was good to see. Our friend and fine printmaker Tamar Etingen came from Cambridge for the day. Poet Martin Steingesser led the crowd in chanting as he recited a poem about what the CEO of General Dynamics does with all that money. Many people had their portraits done by artists who specialize in it. It was fun to watch the process and the reaction of those who posed. The artists worked hard all day. Here's an amazing wall of art to delight the eyeballs and help spread a BOW$H message.

The special presence of Veterans for Peace and Buddhist nuns and monks who had just completed a 130 mile walk through Maine was also a factor. We had greeted them from the sidewalk in front of Space Gallery as the annual Vet's Day parade passed by, and we were honored to feed them before many departed back to Massachusetts or New York. Lovely Vanessa is a new friend from the walkers who was interesting to talk with about education.

Many walk in families with young children joined the Draw-a-Thon. The age range went from 2 to about 90. Homeless youth joined in creating images of beauty and healthy priorities. People were fed. Minds were fed. The national priorities project website was consulted. What slice of pie is transportation anyway? (A depressing 3% for both fy10 and fy11.)

Breakfast and lunch were provided by Codepink Maine's hospitality wagon. Pat Taub is an amazing whirlwind on the Portland scene now and she had cleverly arranged with Local Sprouts eatery to deliver hot soup and trays of sandwiches made from local farm production.Well fed artists are productive artists!

Lora has her portrait made by Rob.

I had a portrait made wearing my pink hair by Paula Dougherty who in Feb. had made a beautiful drawing of a pregnant woman that I photographed. The flash of the photo landed in the center of the swollen belly as an orb of light. We both loved that coincidence.

That picture and others from both Draw-a-Thons are on display until Dec. 5 at the Meg Perry Center of Peace Action Maine, 644 Congress., Portland.

Cori, thank you for the beautiful garden picture.

Many hands make light work

Photo courtesy of Afghan Women's Writing Project. 
Lend your ears to their voices here.

I guess I get discouraged a lot faster than most people. (But maybe I get encouraged faster, too.) The rout of so-called progressives in the mid-term elections was in the cards from the moment candidate Obama went back to his seat in the Senate and voted yes on that year's war supplemental funding bill.

Sometimes it just takes a couple of years for those kind of chickens to come home to roost.

The sold out Democratic Party deserved to lose, and they did. So be it. Read 20th century history of Germany if you want to find out what happens next.

Meanwhile, let's keep joining hands in a circle with people who manifest the power of solidarity, and love for their fellow human beings. That means all fellow human beings, not just the ones with the correct understanding of what's going on. I don't like effigy burnings. 

Here's what I do like:

Peace walking  

Buddhists and veterans and college students and others are doing it in Maine this week. I do it on my local bridge every Sunday for an hour. It fits with my schedule and over time it has become one of the deepest experiences in my life. It also offers opportunities we did not anticipate. Try it and you might find strength in it, too.

Writing

A friend I grew up with and I have been collaborating on a novel for teens about a family with a veteran dad who has PTSD. We are just finishing our first draft and it has been a great learning experience. I've listened carefully to the stories of family members of soldiers who come home thus afflicted. It affects everyone in their family and, really, their community. Our friend Dr. Bob Hayes talked about this with us last Wednesday night in Waterville after a potluck supper for the Maine Peace Walk.

Bring Our War $$ Home campaign

Another wonderful peace walker and news bringer on Wednesday night was Beth Adams, who brought a greeting from Northampton, Mass. where a BOW$H resolution was recently passed. A great public forum with lots of testimony from community members was an important part of their process. During our discussion Bruce Gagnon mentioned that a lot of our fellow citizens are looking around for explanations about why they and their loved ones are in economic distress. "Let's help them find the war spending answer." I said I know people working on the campaign in California, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, PA and New Mexico. And Maine organizer Gary Higginbottom went to NYC this weekend to share BOW$H news with a regional conference of United National Antiwar Conference folks.

Art!

The 2nd Draw-a-Thon to Bring Our War $$ Home will be happening this Thursday (11/11, Veterans or Armistice Day) 10am-4pm at Space Gallery in Portland, Maine. Artist Kenny Cole just unveiled his show on drones and the suffering they cause "The Hellfire Story" to huge crowds and will host the 'Thon there. A potluck lunch for the artists and any peace walkers who are still around will begin at noon, and your contributions are welcome if you are in the area.

Artist Corliss Chastain with her painting of gold coins showering down on student loan debt.

 Pat Taub and Mark Roman installed the show of images from our last Draw-a-Thon.

CODEPINK Maine put up a show of some of the images from last February's Draw-a-Thon in Bath. The exhibit at the Meg Perry Center of Peace Action Maine in Portland will stay up all month, and it is mirrored by a smaller display in the front window of Local Sprouts, a healthy foods eatery across Congress Street.

The prominent national group Veterans for Peace was not invited to participate in the annual Veterans Day parade to Portland City Hall. Last year they carried a banner calling on the U.S. to get out of Afghanistan, angering some organizers of the parade. We shall see how they participate this Thursday before joining us at Space Gallery.

Artist Rob Shetterly will be on hand along with others offering portraits of veterans and peace lovers. Artists Natasha Mayers and Brian Reeves have contributed a lot of energy to this event already. You can see a full list of participating artists here on Kenny's Draw-a-Thon blog.

Last year's Draw-a-thon in Bath: artists at work!

The Union of Maine Visual Artists along with Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and CODEPINK Maine are co-sponsoring.

Join us, because many hands make light work.

Draw-a-Thon II to Bring Our War $$ Home

Draw-a-Thon II to Bring Our War $$ Home

10am-4pm 

Thu. 11/11/10 

Veterans Day

Space Gallery

Congress St.,

Portland

The big day is almost here! Kenny Cole has finished installing his show "The Hellfire Story" which opens this Friday, Nov 5 during First Friday art walk in Portland, Maine. 

Next week on Veteran's Day=====>

Draw-a-thon II (check out the blog)

at Space Gallery, where Kenny makes space for other artists, poets and people to join in creating Bring Our War $$ Home visions.

Portraits of veterans and others, plus new visions of an economy based on peaceful production, not weapons of mass destruction.

List of participating Artists for the November 2010 Draw-a-thon

• Brian Reeves
• Brita Holmquist
• Bud Swenson
• Corliss Chastain
• Karin Spitfire
• Kenny Cole
• Laurie Proctor-Lefebvre
• Lois Anne
• Lynne Harwood
• Melody Lewis-Kane
• Natasha Mayers
• Nora Tryon
• Oran Suta
• Paula Dougherty
• Rob Shetterly
• Robin Brooks
• William Hessian

Sponsored by The Union of Maine Visual Artists, CODEPINK Maine, and Global Network Against Nuclear Power & Weapons in Space.

Draw-a-Thon II to Bring Our War $$ Home

10am-4pm 

Thu. 11/11/10 

Veterans Day

Space Gallery

Congress St.,

Portland

FMI contact us here.