C Drew - Street Artist Adventures

View of My Crime - Is this a Felony? (photo by Ron Grenko)

I apologize to Rosemary Sobol of the Suntimes. I broke a basic rule and flipped on the messenger. Of course she couldn’t interview me - they had me buried so far in the system that even my wife couldn’t even talk to me. Ha-ah…. sorry. I laugh looking back. I hope others can, too. I apologize Rosemary Sobol. I was wrong!

The eavesdropping law I quoted was changed to broaden it in 1994. The ugly part of this overly broad law is that it is used in the State of Illinois to squash dissent and quiet speech. This is the law Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office used to charge animal activist Steve Hindi in 2000. He was found innocent of the charge. It was this eavesdropping law that Elizabeth Dobson, a former assistant state’s attorney from Champaign County used to attempt to silence the organizing activity of Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson in the African American community in that region. They later sued the County in Federal Court. It is this law that the Cook County’s State’s Attorney is using to silence my out spoken voice for artists’ rights. This is and remains a free speech case of interest to the world, in my humble opinion.

I apologize to Rosemary again and thank her for pulling the item off the wire and placing it in a prominent location. I went down to the Loop with the best of intentions in mind - you know - to do my civic duty - to fight the laws that are wrong within the court system, as we are taught. In the separation of powers, the legislature legislates and the courts determine the interpretation of the constitution. We can test a law by breaking it and we can make change …. but the police in Chicago combined with top down interests have worked together to make a way to silence me.

Myself and three other artists who documented my actions tried for two months to get the police to arrest me for selling art downtown so we could test the Chicago peddlers license law. The police hesitated for two months because they knew it would mean a federal court case. With this felony charge they are trying to avoid this test an ruin me financially and stain my credibility.

However, to the world, an artist selling $1 art items becoming a felon for trying to protect himself from police brutality looks just like what it is. A railroad job. The world must wonder, “Where does Obama come from? What is this ridiculous charge?” The idea really is laughable on the world stage.

It’s no laughing matter in Cook County. Illinois could very possibly make a felon out of me. Wakeup. Freedom is not free. I am not free to protect myself from abuse by the police in Chicago without risking becoming a felon. But this fight, this is something I will never apologize for. It is to help you protect yourself some day from abusive police. Or do you think we do not have that problem in Chicago?

Thank you Ms. Sobol for giving us a forum.

Please use this forum to express how you feel about this railroad job if you haven’t already. The comments from this forum will be a part of a future art exhibit with the work from the Art Patch Project someday.

(As soon as I sent an apology to the SunTimes thanking them for this forum they canceled the comment feature so we have moved the forum to this blog. You can e-mail me your comments to be included on this blog - link below - and in a future art exhibit with the Art Patch Project patches. Please send us your comments. Please?)
http://www.c-drew.com/blog/comments-on-suntimes-article-creative-felony/

Sincerely - C Drew

ARTISTS BATTLE ON IN ST AUGUSTINE FLORIDA

The battle for artists’ speech rights in St. Augustine, Florida continues. I posted the case of Celli vs the City of St. Augustine, Florida on my blog and in e-mails on this list. A Chicago artist back from St. Augustine reported early last year that that winning case had been reversed by the City simply by passing an amended law again denying artists their rights. His tone was depressed and hopeless. I claimed the case still set a good precedent and that artists need to continually fight for their rights. Well, the artists in St. Augustine are doing just that and the blog linked above lists their actions, their successes and their high level discussions of related First Amendment issues.

Two women abandon their car and dance in the street during the Chicago Critical Mass bike ride Friday, 5/29/09.

Riding down Milwaukee Avenue and she is out of her car dancing photo one

Remember we are organizing at the monthly Critical Mass ride. The May Critical Mass ride was fun. How many of you went on it? The photos I took are on my website.

We will be organizing to find more volunteers to help us put our free speech message in front of June’s Critical Mass riders. If you can help for one hour from 5:00-6:00 on Friday, June 26th please e-mail me at umcac@art-teez.org and put “volunteer” in the subject. Include your phone number in the body of the letter so we can contact you with more info.

Child smiles at bike riders as the Critical Mass rides through the Pilsen neighborhood.

Riding through Pilsen a child watching perched on a car smiles.

We are discussing how and when to initiate legal proceedings against the City for violating our rights to sell our art in Chicago. I set out our case against the City in my blog in my most recent post

“ Artropolis and the Street Art Fight in Chicago “ If you want to be able to argue well on the issue of artists’ rights to sell speech in public this blog post will help you out. Read this and talk up this vital issue.

Volunteers Needed

We need volunteers to collect the names and e-mail addresses of artists you meet in art fairs and neighborhood festivals to be added to this mailing list. When you go out this summer on weekends take a pencil or pen and collect artists info and e-mail it to us.

We need help on Sundays 3-6pm at 1630 W. Wilson Avenue, 773/561-7676 or umcac@art-teez.org, to print art-patches.

Help us - submit a design to the Art Patch Project.
We need help distributing fliers for our T-shirt Art Harvest Festival this September 25-27th where we will feature all the art-patches submitted by that date. Get involved even if it is only one hour a month. You can do this. Do it to fight for freedom here at home for at least one hour a month. Just one hour. One hour … umcac@art-teez.org

Enjoy
chris d

Hello Free Speech Artists’ Movement People,

Merchandise Mart Security Guards Watch C. Drew outside Artropolis

Merchandise Mart Security Guards Watch Over C. Drew

This is a short note to inform you of developments in the fight by New York City artists to maintain their speech rights to sell art on the streets and in the parks.

Jenaba, Poala and Will at Critical Mass April 2009

The Free Speech Artists’ Movement hit the streets during Critical Mass for the April 24th ride with volunteers performing the Patch Art Project to organize region-wide awareness that artists do not have their full speech rights to sell their art in Chicago.

*Florida law suit won by artist* - Celli v. City of St. Augustine, Florida - decided 2000. Since this time artists in St. Augustine have allowed the City to pass new restrictive laws without response and have lost some of their First Amendment rights. However, the court case Celli won is still a valid precedent for us to use as needed. Eternal vigilance is needed to maintain your speech rights because powerful interests are ever ready to pass new local laws that impact your rights. You need only read into the many messages of the second link below to learn how New York City artists have resisted the attempts to take their rights and, thereby, their livelihoods away. The same tricks may be used by our opposition.

Weinberg v. City of Chicago (when all the National Sports Leagues joined with the City to appeal and lost when the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.) Weinberg - the Chicago author - won.
http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/weinberg1.htm

*NY Artist and Organizer* - Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T.,
or Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics – This Yahoo Groups page links to ten years of messages about all the New York City actions and court cases over the years.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCStreetArtists/

NYC Street Artist Freedom Videos
Check out these videos about how NYC artists won our rights in NYC see:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=artistpres

Sundance II by Monica Brown

I had fun printing Monica Brown’s design entitled Sundance II at our Workshop Sunday.

Volunteers will be wearing Free Speech Artists’ Movement t-shirts and skirts (for the ladies) at the Critical Mass ride on Friday, 4/24. They are passing out patch-art and collecting contact info from those expressing support for artists’ speech rights in Chicago. This is our push to encourage new volunteers to join us. We have lots of work to do from printing patch-art to passing out free patch-art. Our screens of patch-art are growing in number. The volunteers we sign up from this event will be needed to print them for future events. The artists we meet will be invited to submit their art for patch-art designs.

We expect to get a sizable list of petition signatures and will need a volunteer to put input their names and contact information into a spreadsheet file.

The next weekend Artropolis and May Day activities will be exploding around us. As the weather permits I will be printing patches all weekend outside Artropolis. Do you want to help? Volunteers to print in public at Artropolis and other events are requested. We have kits for volunteers who have studied at our workshop and new comers can help support them. This Sunday, 4/26, from 3-6pm we will be planning those art-actions. Get in on the excitement of making change in Chicago using the art as our method. Email me at umcac@art-teez.org with “Volunteer” in the subject line if you can help.

*Florida law suit won by artist* - Celli v. City of St. Augustine, Florida - decided 2000. Since this time artists in St. Augustine have allowed the City to pass new restrictive laws without response and have lost some of their First Amendment rights. However, the court case Celli won is still a valid precedent for us to use as needed. Eternal vigilance is needed to maintain your speech rights because powerful interests are ever ready to pass new local laws that impact your rights. You need only read into the many messages of the second link below to learn how New York City artists have resisted the attempts to take their rights and, thereby, their livelihoods away. The same tricks may be used by our opposition.

Weinberg v. City of Chicago (when all the National Sports Leagues joined with the City to appeal and lost when the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.) Weinberg - the Chicago author - won.
http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/weinberg1.htm

*NY Artist and Organizer* - Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T.,
or Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics – This Yahoo Groups page links to ten years of messages about all the New York City actions and court cases over the years.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCStreetArtists/

NYC Street Artist Freedom Videos
Check out these videos about how NYC artists won our rights in NYC see:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=artistpres

Greetings Supporters of Free Speech in its Fullness,

I want you! by Carlos Cortez

My weekly report is up on the Street Artist Adventures blog. Visit us to find out how we will present everyone’s art to the public. Volunteers are needed to pin together the patches with our Patch Art Project fliers (see dates/times below).
The topic of videotaping the police is important to us because we will need to prepare volunteers in wise ways of taping police and other authority figures. This letter by Mr. Lederman is a great essay that covers the required major issues as a start for this discussion. Those who intend to volunteer for us this summer giving out the patch-art should read it.

In his article Mr. Lederman mentions the NYC law – based on our First Amendment rights - that allows the public to photograph and video tape police on duty. Those lawyers who support our cause can help us by pointing out links to, or quoting equivalent Municipal code, or giving us state statutes that grant us the right to shoot video of police who are harassing us in the public way as we give out our art.

Videotaping the police: Is it legal?
by Robert Lederman
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCStreetArtists/message/1504

Our immediate needs are clear. We need to print patches.

PRINTING VOLUNTEER PERIODS (1630 W. Wilson Ave)

Friday 3/27 5-8pm

Thursday 4/2 5-8pm

Friday 4/10 5-8pm

Tuesday 4/14 5-8pm

Plan on coming one of these evening to help us print the patches. We have already made many screens. Never pulled a squeegee before. Come and learn how and make Chicago more friendly to artists in the process. Sunday from 3-6pm are always volunteer hours. Come have some fun.

Click umcac@art-teez.org and put the word “volunteer” with the date you want to help in the subject line of the email and send to to us.

EDUCATE YOURSELF WITH THESE LINKS
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech.htm

*We made it in the Reader.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thebusiness/080724/ *Good site for artists’ rights overview *

http://www.ncac.org/action_issues/Public_Spaces.cfm
which leads you to New York’s precedent setting case - Artists win.

*East Coast Case:* BERY v. CITY OF NEW YORK, 97 F.3d 689 (2nd Cir. 1996)
http://www.ncac.org/art-law/op-bery.cfm
*West Coast Case:* Perry v. Los Angles Police Dept,, 121 F3d 1368 (9th Cir 1997)

http://www.buskersadvocates.org/saalegalCtPerryappeal.html Artist wins.
*Nevada Case:* Steven White v. City of Sparks (Nevada) Artist wins.
In /White v. City of Sparks/, painter Steven White challenged the
constitutionality of a city ordinance that required him to obtain a permit
before selling his paintings in public parks.

http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech-movement/white-v-city-of-sparks-opinion.pdf
*Florida law suit won by artist* - Celli v. City of St. Augustine, Florida - decided 2000. Since this time artists in St. Augustine have allowed the City to pass new restrictive laws without response and have lost some of their First Amendment rights. However, the court case Celli won is still a valid precedent for us to use as needed. Eternal vigilance is needed to maintain your speech rights because powerful interests are ever ready to pass new local laws that impact your rights. You need only read into the many messages of the second link below to learn how New York City artists have resisted the attempts to take their rights and, thereby, their livelihoods away. The same tricks may be used by our opposition.

Weinberg v. City of Chicago (when all the National Sports Leagues joined with the City to appeal and lost when the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.) Weinberg - the Chicago author - won.
http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/weinberg1.htm

*NY Artist and Organizer* - Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T.,
or Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics – This Yahoo Groups page links to ten years of messages about all the New York City actions and court cases over the years.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYCStreetArtists/

NYC Street Artist Freedom Videos
Check out these videos about how NYC artists won our rights in NYC see:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=artistpres

The Patch Art Project (PAP) is in progress.

Pilson Street Art-Action