C Drew - Street Artist Adventures

Welcome to the end of October in Chicago. This is a good planning time. A time of preparation for winter, a symbol of difficult days ahead. We have had our warning that our voice for citizen’s full speech rights will not be welcomed by the gatekeepers. This is part of the fun.

Yes, the cat and mouse of creativity vs bureaucracy. Hello out there? Does anyone want to play?
Are there artists who might find worth the effort in exchange for permanent on-going art markets creating street art scenes for the public to be able to meet the artists and the artists to meet each other. Who out there would like to see all the community arts and artists continuously able, encouraged, to sell to their communities in the streets and parks of Chicago. This is the minimum the 1st Amendment of Free Speech and democratic discussion demands to have a vital market place for ideas and innovation.

So I came out with my first “Free Speech Artists’ Movement” patch. Its first printing was at the “Festival of Democracy” held at the Experimental Station at
6100 South Blackstone Avenue Saturday (10/20/07). I printed outside so I missed much of the program. I had several very interesting conversations and I met Mario Gonzalez, Z, who exhibited with us in the very early years. He was around when we started with nothing, when Laillah Abdullah and I held our first exhibit Artists Against Homelessness that was curated by a committee of artists led by Sue Ying. Sue was in her seventies even then. She was tirelessly supportive of community arts organizing. This first exhibit was a success. Our second exhibit, “Art of the T-shirt” was asked downtown to the offices of the “Community Renewal Society.” Mario - he’s back! Mario….call - email cdrew@c-drew.com cause we’ve got to talk.

Yes, time to clean up the garden and get ready for the winter.