Why I Dropped Out of Art School

artactivistnia:

In 2005, I began school as a hopeful illustration major at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I was once of very few students of color in a school populated by upper-middle class white students located in the heart of a poor Black city. I encountered racism at every turn, especially in my illustration class in particular. There was one student who was regularly bringing in racist caricatures of people of color and calling it art. When I tried to speak to the professor about it, she had a hard time understanding the racist nature of the illustrations. When I spelled it out for her, she replied, “I see what you’re saying, but I really feel it’s a kind of ‘benign racism.’ I mean, it’s not like he’s part of a hate group or something.”

I realized that as a woman of color in an institution that refused to see racism (and it’s inherently non-benign nature) I would be fighting an exhausting uphill battle all four years I had planned to spend there.

I went to the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs to speak to their the school’s one staff member assigned to deal with “race issues.” She seemed extremely confused by my presence in her office, perhaps because she thought I was white. She talked over me as a tried to tell my story, repeated everything I said back to me in a dubious tone, and could not understand why I was so upset by racism. When I finally explained that my dad was black and my mom was white, something seemed to click for her. Her response? To suggest I check out a Black Student Union meeting. “We have students from Africa, Venezuela, we even have one student that’s just like you!” I left her office in tears.

The only person that helped me deal with racism at MICA was the person whose job it was to convince me not to leave. He didn’t try to convince me to stay, he didn’t even make me recount my experience of racism at MICA as justification for why I wanted to leave. He just let me go. That was the biggest favor any one could have given me at the time, not having to explain racism to one more person on my way out.

Since leaving MICA, I have transferred and completed my BA in Ethnic Studies. I have had the privilege of graduating from an institution where I did not have to explain racism, and was surrounded by other politically astute students and faculty of color, who accepted me and my stories without question.

But as I begin to re-enter art-making spaces, I am remembering that the arts can be a hostile place for women of color, and queer women of color in particular. If you want to talk about racism, transphobia, or anything of substance, it will be an uphill battle. People will tell you it won’t sell, it’s a “niche” market, that people want art to entertain them, not challenge them. It is these kinds of messages that make it so women of color in the arts become disheartened and give up, and their stories don’t get heard. I think this is why it is all the more important that I pursue my dreams of becoming a political queer woman of color film-maker, so that our stories will no longer be suppressed, and that non-queer, non-female, non-people of color audiences can start to understand what it is we go through.

gingerhaze: there’d better be a part in The Hobbit 2 where Thranduil and Thorin have a kegstand contest and then Thorin wins and Thrandy gets mad and sends him to the dungeons because he’s a sore loser and then gets obsessed over training Legolas to hold his liquor so that if he ever gets in a drinking contest with a dwarf he can win back his family’s honor. someone reminded me it was Tolkien day so I drew that thing. I’m sure ol’ JRR would be proud if he were here today.
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gingerhaze:

there’d better be a part in The Hobbit 2 where Thranduil and Thorin have a kegstand contest and then Thorin wins and Thrandy gets mad and sends him to the dungeons because he’s a sore loser and then gets obsessed over training Legolas to hold his liquor so that if he ever gets in a drinking contest with a dwarf he can win back his family’s honor.

someone reminded me it was Tolkien day so I drew that thing. I’m sure ol’ JRR would be proud if he were here today.

What is interesting, is that the Frida Kahlo venerated by American feminists is a very different Frida Kahlo to the one people learn about in Mexico, in the Chicano community. In her country, she is recognized as an important artist and a key figure in revolutionary politics of early 20th century Mexico. Her communist affiliations are made very clear. Her relationship with Trotsky is underscored. All her political activities with Diego Rivera are constantly emphasized. The connection between her art and her politics is always made. When Chicana artists became interested in Frida Kahlo in the ‘70s and started organizing homages, they made the connection between her artistic project and theirs because they too were searching for an aesthetic compliment to a political view that was radical and emancipatory. But when the Euro-American feminists latch onto Frida Kahlo in the early ‘80s and when the American mainstream caught on to her, she was transformed into a figure of suffering. I am very critical of that form of appropriation.

Coco Fusco on her Amerindians piece from 1992 with Guillermo Gómez-Peña (via mayalikeskafka) 

Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña by Anna Johnson, BOMB 42/Winter 1993, ART Interview/performance[bombsite.com]

(via tortillachronicles)

(via petitsirena)

Source: bombsite.com

gingerhaze: I’m going to make my own reboot of Sherlock Holmes: SHERHAWK HOLMES AND HULKSON: HULK SMASH PUNY CLUE. They would just wander around and get confused at things and smash/blow stuff up, unless the clue is a door, and Hawkeye will have a brilliant revelation about doors opening from both sides. Black Widow will be Lestrade and she’ll just go ahead and solve the mystery for them and then make them think they did they did it so that they feel proud of themselves.
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gingerhaze:

I’m going to make my own reboot of Sherlock Holmes: SHERHAWK HOLMES AND HULKSON: HULK SMASH PUNY CLUE.

They would just wander around and get confused at things and smash/blow stuff up, unless the clue is a door, and Hawkeye will have a brilliant revelation about doors opening from both sides. Black Widow will be Lestrade and she’ll just go ahead and solve the mystery for them and then make them think they did they did it so that they feel proud of themselves.

Nails For CeCe [again] | FreeCeCe McDonald

numol:

https://www.facebook.com/freecece.mcdonald/posts/332674920156292

This Sunday, down at TheExchange Minneapolis come and get yr nails done! All proceeds go directly to our girl. Check the event page out for some fabulous examples of the nail art!
https://www.facebook.com/events/168471269952484/

please pass this around even if you cannot go.

also:

facebook post about more ways to help (link):

Folks are asking: What’s next? How can we help CeCe? www.supportcece.wordpress.com Below are some solid ways to help CeCe while she serves her time in prison. Please spread the word, post and re-post. Don’t let the world forget about her, don’t let her be just another news story you read about once. She’s a human being who needs her community, she needs to know she’s still loved.

*Write letters & send books to CeCe in prison to show her yr love. https://www.facebook.com/notes/freecece-mcdonald/cece-admitted-to-st-cloud-send-her-mail-today/288290337933203

*Write letters to the editor asking them to write responsible articles about CeCe’s case. We NEED to keep her story in the news.

*Write yr own articles and blog post, post, re-post, forward, spread her story far and wide.

*Start a CeCe Support Committee in yr area! http://supportcece.wordpress.com/get-involved/start-a-support-committee/

*Organize a contingent in yr local PRIDE Parade to carry signs of support and hand out flyers telling folks about her case.

*Organize a fundraiser for CeCe. It cost a lot to survive in prison. She needs money for commissary, phone calls, writing materials and to fund trips for her family and supporters to visit her. She is also being forced to pay for her attackers funeral! Let’s not let her start her new life in debt to the state.

*Donate directly to her. This is a link to the only official CeCe McDonald donation site. (Or you can go to her website & there’s a link there. www.supportcece.wordpress.com) https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=gyKH7WOoXPQWY58xoiixnUSfWU_e9_2o2I7bV4HbKOl__WRfyimqkoUlC6i&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d195a86f1d217942f7415cf1b2a661693

[donations page direct link]

if the facebook link to the page about writing letters & sending books does not work, here are links to those pages on the wordpress blog:

[WARNING: the front page of the wordpress blog (www.supportcece.wordpress.com) has talk of racist/transmisogynist physical violence & slurs, as well as talk of abuse by police and the prison industrial complex.]

(via )

Source: numol

girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info
girljanitor: Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier. The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves. You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.
Zoom Info

girljanitor:

Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found

The Daughter of Dawn, an 80-minute feature film, was shot in July of 1920 in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, southwest Oklahoma. It was unique in the annals of silent film (or talkies, for that matter) for having a cast of 300 Comanches and Kiowas who brought their own clothes, horses, tipis, everyday props and who told their story without a single reference to the United States Cavalry. It was a love story, a four-person star-crossed romance that ends with the two main characters together happily ever after. There are two buffalo hunt sequences with actual herds of buffalo being chased down by hunters on bareback just as they had done on the Plains 50 years earlier.

The male lead was played by White Parker; another featured female role was played by Wanada Parker. They were the son and daughter of the powerful Comanche chief Quanah Parker, the last of the free Plains Quahadi Comanche warriors. He never lost a battle to United States forces, but, his people sick and starving, he surrendered at Fort Sill in 1875. Quanah was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, the daughter of Euro-American settlers who had grown up in the tribe after she was kidnapped as a child by the Comanches who killed her parents. She was the model for Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves.

You can watch the first ten minutes of the film here. It is over 90 years old, and was produced by, directed by, and stars only Native American people.

(via queergiftedblack)

Source: girljanitor

filipinafemme: DIY CHEVRON PRINT WALL ART~ i made these with my niece earlier today and it was easy, fun, and incredibly affordable! it was a great bonding experience for us and now i’ll have some cute + sentimental pieces of art to hang when i move into my own apartment. :3 it’s also a great form of self-care, if that’s part of your routine. here’s all you need — canvas boards, whatever size you want! acrylic paint, whatever colors you want! painter’s tape white acrylic paint paintbrushes when i went to hobby lobby, canvas boards were on special sale (2 packs for under $5) and acrylic paint is always around $1 per bottle. here is a link, additionally, to a coupon for 40% off any regular priced in-store item there. i used it for the painter’s tape and my total for ALL materials was just under $15! that’s a ridiculous steal for four pieces of art that take virtually no time to make. for these four boards, i purchased five different paints (turquoise, lime green, orange, purple, and a metallic bronze). i used the bronze in each board, but left out one of each of the other four colors out on the four boards so that each would have its own color scheme but they’d all coordinate with one another when they were finished! pictured above are two kinds of chevron print wall-art you can make. the top right and bottom left are the quicker version — take the painter’s tape and tape out the chevron pattern on the board. go nuts with the paint! just paint what feels nice to you.  wait about a half hour once you paint, and then peel off the tape. voila! done! for the other two boards (the top left and bottom right—can you tell which one my ten-year old niece put down the tape for? ha ha), it takes a bit longer, but not much! no need to lay the painter’s tape down right now. paint away! again : whatever colors you want, whatever pattern you please. wait for the paint to dry for about a half hour. start a load of laundry, take a nap, whatever! NOW it’s time to put down the painter’s tape. paint over the entire board with white paint.  wait for it to dry for about a half hour, peel off the tape, and you’re done! now all that’s left to do is choose where to hang your finished masterpiece. ^__^ hope you try it out, and let me know if you have any questions!
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filipinafemme:

DIY CHEVRON PRINT WALL ART~

i made these with my niece earlier today and it was easy, fun, and incredibly affordable! it was a great bonding experience for us and now i’ll have some cute + sentimental pieces of art to hang when i move into my own apartment. :3 it’s also a great form of self-care, if that’s part of your routine.

here’s all you need —

  • canvas boards, whatever size you want!
  • acrylic paint, whatever colors you want!
  • painter’s tape
  • white acrylic paint
  • paintbrushes
when i went to hobby lobby, canvas boards were on special sale (2 packs for under $5) and acrylic paint is always around $1 per bottle. here is a link, additionally, to a coupon for 40% off any regular priced in-store item there. i used it for the painter’s tape and my total for ALL materials was just under $15! that’s a ridiculous steal for four pieces of art that take virtually no time to make.
for these four boards, i purchased five different paints (turquoise, lime green, orange, purple, and a metallic bronze). i used the bronze in each board, but left out one of each of the other four colors out on the four boards so that each would have its own color scheme but they’d all coordinate with one another when they were finished!
pictured above are two kinds of chevron print wall-art you can make. the top right and bottom left are the quicker version —
  1. take the painter’s tape and tape out the chevron pattern on the board.
  2. go nuts with the paint! just paint what feels nice to you. 
  3. wait about a half hour once you paint, and then peel off the tape. voila! done!
for the other two boards (the top left and bottom right—can you tell which one my ten-year old niece put down the tape for? ha ha), it takes a bit longer, but not much!
  1. no need to lay the painter’s tape down right now. paint away! again : whatever colors you want, whatever pattern you please.
  2. wait for the paint to dry for about a half hour. start a load of laundry, take a nap, whatever!
  3. NOW it’s time to put down the painter’s tape. paint over the entire board with white paint. 
  4. wait for it to dry for about a half hour, peel off the tape, and you’re done!
now all that’s left to do is choose where to hang your finished masterpiece. ^__^ hope you try it out, and let me know if you have any questions!
femmewithavengeance: Hi again! Hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to submit the male version of the Fuck Natural print. Also, I ended up not selling all the prints at the festival I made them for. So, I’m selling the extras on Etsy. I may make it a permanent print, but I haven’t decided. Thanks for publishing the first piece! I’ve gotten a LOT of positive feedback from that one post! Again, I’m ToxicNotebook, and my art tumblr is CandyAcidArt. Keep up the good work! Don’t mind at all! More femme art!
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femmewithavengeance:

Hi again! Hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to submit the male version of the Fuck Natural print.

Also, I ended up not selling all the prints at the festival I made them for. So, I’m selling the extras on Etsy. I may make it a permanent print, but I haven’t decided.

Thanks for publishing the first piece! I’ve gotten a LOT of positive feedback from that one post! Again, I’m ToxicNotebook, and my art tumblr is CandyAcidArt. Keep up the good work!

Don’t mind at all! More femme art!