C Drew - Street Artist Adventures

Unfinished - check back to see the changes)
This dull stretch across from Harold Washington College on Lake Street has room for 10-20 vendors taking up the space that I do, and certainly, 7-10 art vendors would make this strip lively and fun. That would be my measure of the way community art raises a people’s standard of living. We do it by inserting fun, different, inspirational and intellectually challenging art into the public life. But only where allowed. But only if licensed. But not near big money. But not if aldermen object. But… But…

In this sterile spot a cafe is allowed to take up half the public sidewalk for a non-speech related private business. While I - the public - am not allowed to sell my First Amendment protected speech in a sixth of the width of the sidewalk and a twentieth of the public space used by the cafe. The City argues in court without a smile that my rights must be restricted because my activity does block traffic and causes a public safety hazard.
Over the ages tyrants and tyrannical governments have found many ways to discourage open market places for ideas. Our technological society has stressed the monopolistic methods of broadcast TV (until recently with the Internet). Computers and the growth of the Internet have diverted attention away from age-old street art activity.

In many places of this nation art has not been treated any differently than non-speech protected products like candles or umbrellas. In the large cities municipal codes cut through artists speech rights like a hot knife through butter. In Chicago, in the shadows, Daley, with the City Council in tow, gutted our street rights in the name of urban development through the peddlers license requirement they passed in 1994.

They treated us as if we had no First Amendment protected right to sell our expressive art - as if our rights were really privileges to be granted by the city as it likes - like a liquor license. There is a big difference legally between a right and a privilege in our courts. Speech is different in our nation or it should be. But only if people care enough to fight for their rights.
This Chicago policy has helped to produce a sterile, generic city where the local artists are unseen in public. We must take back our rights and our streets, for Chicago’s sake as well as our own.

Breaking out the small screens

My challenge is to be mobile. It is to be able to set-up fast and to breakdown fast to move on to the next spot. There is a lot of territory to cover in the loop to explore all the small rectangles or even triangles of space where an artist, like myself, is able to display and print without hindering the traffic flow at all. I can fit into a 2 foot by 3 foot rectangle and smaller if required. So, I made the smallest frame that would hold a patch image to avoid carrying more than my leather bag and still being able to setup to print with all my bells and whistles like fliers, press releases, pins and startup patches ready.

I took the Purple Line downtown. At the “Library” stop I stepped to the street looking for a good location. I seek out places where other First Amendment protected activity is going on. Wherever the free newspaper and magazine boxes are located is a great place for me to locate. In fact – the times that the City has gone to court with the publishers of these publications are a valuable resource of case law for us to examine as we develop our case for artist scenes in Chicago.

I passed a lady shaking a cup and a man selling Streetwise newspapers. Both these groups, pan-handlers and Streetwise salespersons had won their speech rights in the Loop through court action. These cases should be part of our future research. They point our way to freedom.

Once I printed at an out-of-the-way spot next to magazine boxes where a particularly aggressive pan-handler irritated the public by standing on the corner directly in the flow of traffic as it stepped from the street. Even though I was giving my art away, I was the person the cop who passed threatened. That day my camera’s light sensing chip gave out. It was two months before I could afford another camera and again document my activities.

The money the City charges us for a license to sell our speech is a tax and a burden that many citizens, like myself, cannot afford without losing my speech rights for a period of time. When I had a peddlers license, it expired because I didn’t have the money in my hand for it. I went three months before trying to renew it. When I did - they wanted me to pay for the three months I went with out a peddlers license. It is an unjust barrier to speech in my humble opinion.

I selected another spot next to magazine boxes in front of the Adams Street entrance to De Paul University. It only took me seven minutes to set-up before I began printing. This was the first time I used a small screen and the first time to print one of my new series entitled “Yes We Can.” So far I have six “Yes We Can” designs. The public seemed largely indifferent on this day. I printed without much contact with the passersby until an elderly lady stopped by to talk and to ask about the technique I was using.

I told her about screen-printing, about our free screen print workshop for artists and I gave her a patch. It was the “Yes We Can – change the mindset that starts mindless wars” patch. She liked that patch and began to tell me about her daughter who was very creative. She should come to our workshop , I told her. Then I explained why I was giving my patch art away free. I said I was not free to sell my patches because the City of Chicago misused their need to control traffic to pass a peddlers license law that prevents me from selling my speech (art) at this location. “My proof,” I told her, “is that we are not inhibiting traffic at this moment. Do you see a traffic problem?” She shook her head smiling at the obvious evidence.

A second lady watching from across the sidewalk stepped closer with curiosity. I offered her a patch. She accepted it and examined it with an intelligent eye for detail. “This is free?” she asked. When I told her it was she said that I would be rewarded three times over for my work. “You are doing God’s work,” she said. The three of us talked and I explained to her that our goal to create art scenes where artists from all of Chicago’s communities could sell their work and survive by this. Art scenes where musicians and poets and visual artists, performing artists and culture creators could meet the public and all could build an audience. She agreed that all Chicago would be the benefit of this art activity.

My enthusiasm infected her and she let out that she had just received her diploma today from DePaul in Sociology. “I am 52,” she bragged. “And I am very happy to have achieved this goal of mine.”

“Ahh, so you understand the importance of art scenes to the social structure of Chicago, as an economic engine and as a quality of life enhancement,” I noted. She nodded modestly. Our conversation ended after a while but not before she repeated for a last time that I would be rewarded three times over for doing “God’s work.” I thanked each of them for showing interest while others had rushed by unseeing.

When they had gone I piled up the patches I had printed and passed out half of them to passersby. Most people brushed by without looking. As usual, however, those who accepted them did not throw them on the ground within my sight. This is the difference between my patches and most of the literature passed out downtown. Watch those who accept ad-literature. A few moments later many realize they do not want to carry it around all day and many drop them by the way. My work and my looks do polarize people. This is good because when I meet someone – even just to hand them a patch – they are primed to think about what I have handed them. They do and few throw my patches down. They take them home and tell someone about where they got it. I have no idea how many of my patches are being used. They are each like a bottle with a note on it being thrown into the sea that is humanity.

I packed up when the last patch left my hand to some accepting person. Maybe there are better places to proclaim artists’ rights then in front of a business school, I thought. My path took me to Wabash Avenue. Several blocks north I found a spot out of traffic by a corner next to a lamp post and a trash can. I was visible to a flow of people walking e-west and north-south yet out of their paths. After a while of printing a college age man stopped by to ask what I was doing. I gave him my speech. He admitted that he really just wanted directions to an all-night coffee house where he could cozy up until 2am. Then he would meet a friend of his who was working an evening shift downtown. He had come down from Grand Rapids Michigan for work-related training and stayed on to attend a wedding of friend. We got to talking and he started to give me advice of what I should do to get media attention.

“Ahh, the media in this town do not want to support street artists rights against their status-quo partners,” I claimed, issuing an overly broad judgment.

He jumped on that claiming I needed to be more creative and create the kind of excitement that the media loves. That made sense to me so I conceded the point and parried with another. “There are organizations that should be helping to represent artists on this issue that are dragging their feet and I believe it is because they get funds and favors from the City.“ He did not argue the point. He argued the proof of the point.

“How do you prove intent?” he asked. Again, he had me. We talked for forty-five minutes while I printed patches. When I explained I had a 7:00 appointment with a member of the press who would be speaking at a meeting hosted by the Open University of the Left, we parted ways. Before we did, he signed our petition. Thanks man.

The day was sunny and I found myself free. So, I decided to visit the Loop to print patches and give them away. ”Where to print?” I pondered. Should I test the Merchandise Mart spot again to find out if my Artropolis treatment is consistent or some other spot? My reasons for giving my art away can be found in previous posts.

Columbia College has its Manifest Urban Arts Festival this Friday (5/16/08). Maybe I’ll print there to build support among their student body for artists speech rights, I thought. Co-workers who attend Columbia at my part-time photo gig encouraged me to be around Columbia for Manifest. Columbia College became my destination.

When I arrived I saw the sun was shining on the street before Columbia where students came outside to relax, smoke cigarettes and talk. The mail box and a postal storage box in front of the entrance created a shadow just large enough to protect my printing from the sun which dries the ink in the screen forcing frequent cleanups making printing difficult. Ink cakes up in the screen and a layer of drying ink coats the screen surface. Then, letters fill in and do not print. Rubbing the bottom with a damp cloth may loosen the ink up and allow you to print more. Continuous quick printing shaded from the sun is the best solution. Interrupting the printing to talk promises difficulties.

No sooner then I setup, a security guard came out to ask if I was with the “College.”

“Definitely not!” I told her. She asked if I was selling something.  I asked back why she wanted to know this before explaining that I was giving away patches. In retrospect, I should have emphasized I intended to give my patches away. This might have set a different tone. I also should have displayed my “free patches” sign at all times to make my intentions very clear.

I added red ink on top and blue ink on the bottom of the design and then splashed a dab of yellow on the blue. Another dab of yellow was placed in the lower corner away from the design. This yellow ink I intended to use to wipe splashes of yellow with a strip of card stock wherever needed to keep the print colors alive as I pulled the squeegee. It occurred to me that I should have gotten a photo of the security guard. I took out my camera to be ready. Sure enough, she came back out to ask if I had a permit to give away my patches.

As I picked up my camera, I framed my answer in my mind. It was my intention to say to her that the City does not require a permit to give art away. At the first sight of the camera before I could make my statement she changed the subject to what was I taking pictures of. When I said I was documenting my art activities she fled for the door allowing me only the image of her back. This was best as it is the system I wish to expose and not the individual employees who deliver its repressive message.

I began printing as fast as I could inviting passersby to take a free patch. I expected a policeman to be showing up soon and wanted to establish clearly my activity. Several people did pick up a patch. I saw him coming before he reached me. He was a big strong man in the same college security uniform as the lady. He began gently. Speaking softly, leaning toward me to smile. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m giving away patches,” I said simply. His first question made sense to me. The next confused me. He wanted to know if I were taking photos around out front of the College. “Why do you want to know? Is there some law that says I can’t document my art activities on the public way?” I asked.

We repeated ourselves this way twice more. Then he got on his phone to ask the first officer to tell him what rule I was supposed to be breaking. When I continued talking he barked, “Shut Up!”

This convinced me to focus on printing while he sought legal support from the first officer over the phone. “…I’m not s’posed to be doing this…” he muttered under his breath while he waited for her to explain what law I was violating. As the tension eased up a student poked his head the other side of the officer and asked if he could have a patch.

“Yes! Yes, take one!” I urged him. In a moment a small arch of students asking for patches conversing amongst each other collected around me. Then, I heard a familiar voice. It was an art instructor I knew from the College with some of his students saying goodbye to each other for the summer. By this time the security guard had disappeared not waiting for any more guidance from his coworker. I take my hat off to him. He acted well. The rest of my stay went very well. Another instructor listening to my conversation urged me to return Friday for Manifest - the school year ending art exposition of Columbia College. I promised her I would and did. I received an excellent reception by students who understood the value art scenes in Chicago could have to emerging artists.

Thanks to all who came by and talked or let me talk. Those who signed our petition – thank you. A volunteer will call you or email you for our summer and fall petition drive. Wear your Free Speech Artists’ Movement patches. Speakout about our right to sell art on the streets and in the parks of our nation. Help make Chicago more friendly to artists.

Artropolis is Chicago’s celebration of art, antiques and culture in late April every year. Ten foot by ten foot stalls are rented to artists for four days for $1,500. Galleries and high flying artists mingle with antique dealers and wealthy patrons while the public is invited to buy $100 tickets to view it all.

Artropolis 2008 for me is the first step in a study of Loop sites as potential sales sites for artists who have fought for and won their full speech rights. The fact that we do not yet have our full speech rights to sell our art/speech means I will have to give my art away to play. The spot I occupied, by the Kedzie/Wells corner door, is the best spot available around the Merchandise Mart. It has the traffic from the El stop, from two streets and the Mart traffic flowing past. High above me in the Mart at Artropolis art is being sold for thousands of dollars per work. Surprise, this choice spot on the street is open to me without competition because I am the only artist who is willing to give away my art this day. In legal terms - this is called the “chilling effect” that Chicago’s laws have on use of our full speech rights.

This space could easily handle 5-10 artists. The entire area for blocks around should be designated an arts district. Artists should be encouraged to find spots on the surrounding streets to add to an open air arts market. This would not destroy the business climate of the Mart. It would increase it by making it the center of a fine arts street district more friendly and attractive to tourists and the public thus increasing the wealth for all. This is an aspect of what wise urban planners mean when they talk about the power of the arts to boost economic activity. But it can not happen if you strangle the hen that lays the golden egg – if you ban artists from the street.

The weather was pleasant Friday 4/25/08 after a morning rain storm passed. I did not have a blanket to spread out because I arrived expecting to be printing inside in comfort with a steady flow of people curious about my prints and eager to know more about artists speech rights. That did not work out, so I volunteered to do the same thing I did last year, sit outside and print patches. But last year I was only around for a short while on Friday evening. This year I decided to make a larger impact.

I figured to set-up, print some patches, pass some patches and then pack-up to head home. I wanted to grab a blanket, and what I needed to set-up outside in comfort. Then, I planned to return for the evening rush.

I had four screens with eight designs packed with blank patch material into two plastic Aldi’s grocery bags. My leather bag had the other supplies I needed to print. I designed my worksite using the least space possible and found plenty of room on a single concrete slab to operate. My jacket became my seat. My patches sat on the Aldi’s bag that had held two screens. I started to print. I printed lots of “Free Speech Artists Movement” patches and then a pile of “More Art – Less War” patches.

My summer plan is to print in various locations and to document the traffic flow as I do so. Also, I am testing that I have my speech right to give away my art and to collect donations for our non-profit arts group, Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center, that is supporting the Free Speech Artists’ Movement. The City insists in court that the reason for its tough Peddlers License law that prohibits peddling in so many districts around Chicago is due to the City’s need to control use of the public way to allow foot traffic to proceed. But they routinely allow non-profit organizations to collect donations in public. Each time I am allowed to give away my art in a location that the City says it must prohibit artists from selling at due to traffic considerations, I disprove their claim. This blog will publish my photographs from those spots and show the traffic to illustrate my point.

It is not only for the legal issues that I want to do this. I am literally using the screen printed art to create this Free Speech Artists’ Movement. While printing in public and passing out free patches I am finding supporters and gaining contact information for volunteers who can help build a movement. This is grass-roots arts activism. You are free to help out (e-mail:umcac@art-teez.org with free-speech in the subject line and contact info in the body).

Down the way close to the corner of Kedzie and Wells stood a tall square puppet shack attached to a custom built bike frame. Inside the tiny shack a puppeteer pulled the strings. The puppets danced to blues tunes and tourists were invited to give dollar bills to the puppets who entertained passersby. I enjoyed the music and the company.

My pile of prints grew as I printed. As I reached to add yellow ink, I noticed the security person for the Mart watching me as I worked.

This is a common pattern. First a security guard is seen observing me. Then, not long later a policeman shows up to run me off.

About 10 minutes later the policeman showed up. “What are you doing here? He asked.

“I’m giving away art!” I exclaimed proudly.

“What makes you think you can do this here?” he asked.

“I feel like I have my full free speech rights today,” I answered with confidence.

“Well, you can’t do that here. You will have to leave.”

I could feel the anger welling up in me. He had no right under the law to run me off yet he appeared to be intent on doing just that. “What is the statue that states I can not give away my art on this street in Chicago?”

“Itinerant Merchant code?” he said unsure as if surprised I did not back down or get belligerent. “I don’t know. I am calling in to find that out.” He held his phone to his ear. After a tense minute the officer looked down at me and said, “You can continue.” before walking off.

“Thank you.” I said as he left. It was not a shallow thank you. I meant it. He had done his job. I had just taken a step forward in this summer’s plan. I had established my right to be on the street, if only to give my art away. I had also established my right to accept donations for the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center while giving away my art. With that established for this moment in time, I was happy to pack-up to head home to prepare to print and organize outside for the rest of the weekend.

After eating and grabbing a blanket to layout my things on and another to sit on I returned by 5:00 to continue where I had left off. I had patches already printed, so I started off by passing out patches before printing more.

To those who stopped to take a “More Art – Less War” patch, I handed a Free Speech Artists’ Movement patch with a 10-30 second pitch on artists rights to sell on the street. “Do you know artists don’t have their full speech rights in Chicago?” I might ask. If they looked interested I gave more detail mentioning the court cases the City has already lost relating to our speech rights to sell First Amendment protected expressions. If they showed great interest I invited them to sign our petition explaining that it was for organizing and not a formal petition and not only for registered voters. I stayed around until a thunderstorm soaked me forcing me to pack-up for the night around 8:00pm.

Saturday I arrived before noon. Artropolis was in full swing. After setting out my blanket, patches, pins and signs inviting the public to take a free patch, I decided to start out passing to Artropolis bound persons fliers and the patches I had printed Friday evening. No sooner did I start to pass than I noticed a rivulet of water coursing through the expansion gaps in the side walk right up to and under my blanket. At first I was inclined to ignore it but then I realized it was enough to soak a large portion of my blanket if I did not act immediately. A quick glance following the water led to the guilty party. A crew giving away free bottles of Coke had pored their excess water out on the sidewalk up stream from me. I tossed aside just what I needed to to pull the blanket out of the way of the moving water. Then, I let them know there was a community they had to respect today. Their response was to move down to be closer to the Mart door and more of a distraction just across from me. They were paid employees and only hung around for about two hours.

When I was out of patches, I put my squeegee to work printing more patches. Now that the Mart’s security personnel had learned they could not call the police to remove me, I was not bothered again all weekend. I determined to return some time in the future to test and see if I was being treated with special kindness because Artropolis was in town. It is possible that those making decisions did not want to be embarrassed by squashing a free art give-away during their event. After all, I was, by my existence on that corner, helping to promote Artropolis. I fit their designs this weekend. Oh – and I was legally within my rights under City law, as well.

The weather had turned colder. The wind was strong but I was used to printing in a wind. Nickolas from the Finch Gallery brought me food and relieved me. The Finch Gallery and Nickolas deserve a big thanks and a shout out for inviting me to join in reacting to Artropolis and its excesses by printing my patches and talking about Free Speech in Chicago. His support made it possible to pull a long shift on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday it actually warmed up as the day went on. But when Nickolas relieved me, I was in deep need of a warm-up and a restroom break.

A friend I met at a workshop teaching media skills asked when we spoke if I had been upstairs to Artropolis yet. “I can’t afford a $100 for a ticket to go up there,” I answered. She had an extra ticket that she was not going to use which she gave me. She introduced me to her friend and they both signed my petition. Her friend, it turned out, worked for the Tribune. That’s why I do these things I thought when I saw this.

Three ladies I judged to be in their forties, stopped by to admire my patches and they overheard my conversation as I explained to an artist signing my petition how our intent to create art scenes was actually beneficial to the City by many measures. They were laughing with me as I said “…we’ll have to drag the City kicking and screaming to cultural sanity and an artist friendly stance…”

One of the three ladies chimed in, “I would think that Mayor Daley would support that. He is very supportive of the arts. He supported Gallery 37, and the Cows exhibit, and ….” she went on listing several other overly well publicized examples of Mayor Daley’s support for the established arts.

“Well, actually,” I responded, “Daley and his captive City Council passed the present law in 1994 that is violating our free speech rights at the moment. He has centralized community arts funding by establishing, though his wife’s non-profit, Gallery 37 and After School Matters, both of which have sucked up most of the support previously available to small arts non-profits leaving those small arts groups no choice but to ask Daley’s wifes big non-profit for a grant. These are administered in a political fashion when they feel so inclined. Daley announced when running after the death of Harold Washington that he would follow the ‘Washington Agenda.’ His first cultural policy act was to throw in the trash “The Chicago Cultural Plan” that embodied the community arts agenda of the Washington Administration. Daley is the problem not the solution,” I concluded. “However, if you have contacts with Daley or his Administration and you set up a meeting for me with the Mayor – I will be happy to ask him, face to face, to change Chicago to make it friendly to artists. You have my contact info on the patch – just e-mail me.” I added laughing.

They admitted this was news to them before continuing on there way. No one in the media has ever dared criticize Daley for his arts policy. No one has asked grass-roots artists. No organization supports grass-roots artists which is not accepting City money with all its political strings attached except the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center. I stayed until 8:30 pm. I must have had fifty conversations and gave away hundreds of patches and fliers.

Sunday was more of the same. I could not stay long on Sunday. I had to run back to meet artists attending our free Screen Print Workshop for Artists at 3:00. On Monday I visited the show during the last few hours. It was enormous and I only visited a fourth of the booths to pass out my Free Speech Artists’ Movement literature before a security person charged down the aisle demanding to know if I was an exhibiting artist. He insisted I walk to the nearest elevator immediately. Artropolis was over for another 361 days.

22

I printed for the first time the “Free Speech Artists Movement” patch which emphasizes that there are zero open air art scenes in Chicago. Despite initial nervousness by host and building management - to their credit - they allowed me to continue. I was able to speak briefly after a panel discussed the talk and achieved a wide distribution of patches to a cross-section of Illinois arts administrators.

The topic was as follows:

“What roles do arts organizations play in making our cities and regions more livable, competitive and sustainable places?” The featured speaker was Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, and host and producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show Smart City. The title of her talk was “The Creative City.”

In brief she said that if Chicago wishes to compete with other cities worldwide it must emphasis its distinctive character. This fit into our argument for encouraging Chicago’s artists to be seen and heard from on its streets. Only with a lively open-air arts presence will the character of Chicago’s diversity be on display for visitors and the public to see.

Naturally, when I spoke about the few opportunities for artists on Chicago’s streets and the missing first rung of grass-roots opportunities latter for artists in Chicago, the initial knee jerk reaction was to deny this fact.

Yet, after the talk my beautiful patches were accepted by all but two or three people. One man even put his arm on my shoulder and recommended my words to panelist Tony Jones, President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This was a great session, I thought.

However, it was the young person who approached me afterward representing CYMP, the Chicago Coalition of Youth Media Partners, who was the most important person for me to meet at this event. I believe it is artists near the street and the creative voices of the youth are who will lead Chicago to become more friendly to artists. They need to know it is their right - their First Amendment right to do so.

You can not get maps of the areas where vendors are prohibited from selling at City Hall or online anywhere else. You would think the City of Chicago would provided vendors with maps of the “prohibited areas” but they do not! This works well for the police who are called by store owners because they can just claim anything. Who can read the municipal code and know what areas are prohibited and what areas are not prohibited areas? I could not without several days of study. Now you can see outlined in black where peddlers are banned from. There are eleven maps. I will need to confirm a few of the boundaries. For example - where is “Depot Street?” I could not find it on any map. It is not listed in the telephone book list of city streets. It is on mapquest.com as a street in Chicago. The City will not tell you under what conditions they will deny a person a peddlers license. Legally, there is no doubt, that this license is a prior restraint on speech. This is an illegal law which we need to fight if we intend to respect our full speech rights.
You can read the Peddlers License Municipal Code at:

http://www.c-drew.com/blog/free-speech-artists-movement/peddlers-license-municipal-code.html

View the maps at:

http://www.c-drew.com/blog/free-speech-artists-movement/chicago-art-prohibited-areas-list.html

Naturally, the Peddlers License Municipal Code is also listed in our information links on the right column of this blog.

The “Free Artists’ Movement” patch changed last night. I went to screen-print at Columbia College (Chicago - 1104 S. Wabash) and to pass out free “Free Artists’ Movement” patches to those in attendance at the Democratic Vistas Forum produced by the Center for Arts Policy.

I met a man there and gave him a minute long rant ending with the statement, “There are zero street art scenes in Chicago.”

“You should put that on the patch.” he insisted - his tone hinting he thought it was a gross over-site on my part.

“I’ll try and find some space for it.” I growled thinking - “Doesn’t my patch say everything already?” The criticism got under my skin, even though I knew I shouldn’t let it. Behind that thought lurked another that said - “He’s right fool! You should have included that from the get-go!”

He made me think again about a design I thought I’d finished when the present version actually required another stroke of the pen.

This is why we show our work. The fact that I came out and printed in public rewarded me with honest criticism.

Who else but a stranger would tell you exactly what he/she feels without a touch of remorse for your feelings. Ha-ha, but that is what I needed.

The design needed a reference point to become a quantum level more potent. Why is there a movement? What is the need? Of course, how could I forget that?

In my struggle to limit my words I had yet to find out how to summarize all the reasons we need an artists’ movement in Chicago into a short phrase.

So I had left all that for the website to explain. An idea began forming as I rode home.

My “Stop WW3 - Stop Bush” patch screen was still wet from development. When I arrived at Union Park at 12:45pm organizers and volunteers were already plentiful and busy preparing the stage. A long line of Port-A-Potties stood waiting for the crowd to come. I could only imagine the logistics and cost of organizing a protest rally for thousands of people. The press and even the protesters themselves rarely give the organizers their due.

The stage was set up on the north end of the park. I decided to lay my blanket down on the sand of a baseball diamond along the third base line, far enough away from the stage to avoid the crush. A volunteer immediately warned me that the park officials had ordered organizers not to let protesters walk on or camp on the sands of the baseball diamond. Then, I moved my blanket onto the grass and flew into action printing my first design within minutes of sitting down.

I had brought several handfuls of patches to satisfy protesters until I could print more patches on the spot. The pre-printed patches went fast. The park filled up swiftly, as well. People were crowding out toward me even though I was as far back from the stage as possible. Even at the far end of the field, I was able to hear the speakers easily. After printing around 75-100 “Bring the troops home NOW!” patches, I switched to printing “More Art - Less War” patchs.
The fresh screen, which I’d laid aside to soak up sunlight in order to harden its emulsion before taping for printing, was ready by the time I finished printing my second design. I cleaned up the screen I was printing and taped my latest screen playing on Bush’s own warning of WW3. Naturally Bush claims to blame the possibility of WW3 on other world stage actors but we know who is the real negative motivating force in the world.

A lady in her 60’s with several friends came by and saw the “Peace on Earth” patch I had pinned to my sweatshirt and asked me for one.
“I don’t have any more of those with me.” I told her. She was heartbroken.

“That is so beautiful, are you sure.” she pleaded.
She looked as if she came from a financially comfortable background. The crowd seemed to me to have a large number of less-likely protesters today in comparison to previous protests I’ve printed my patches at. There were many older people in attendance today. This I decided was a good sign. “Here, take it as long as you will display it proudly.” I requested as I unpinned the patch from my sweatshirt and offered it to her. “I have more at home.”

Three o’clock arrived and the people began marching off toward Federal Plaza. I had only a small pile of patches left from the two and a half hours I’d been printing. When I stood up slowly my feet were numb from sitting cross-legged for so long. I packed up and walked briskly to the El station at the north corner of the Park and caught the Green Line to Wabash and Adams. A short walk later I came to the protest site at the marcher’s destination - Federal Plaza. My estimate had the marchers 15-25 minutes away. I set-up immediately at a foot of the orange sculpture at the end of the plaza away from the stage that promised to be crowded when the marchers arrived later.

While the press interviewed organizers before the crush, I prepared by printing as fast as I could in hopes of having patches for those who would soon swarm around seeking them. That time came shortly. As the line of marchers snaked onto the Plaza barely ten minutes after I set up. Soon people filled the entire plaza and stepped gingerly around my blanket. Many stooped to pickup patches.

Some commented, “What a great idea!” Others thanked me over and over for coming to print at the protest. They put dollar bills and change in my donation hat. This was the first protest where I printed but did not have to call out to people to take my free patches. It appeared to me that the people finally seemed to understand and accept my presence as a positive contribution to the protest. Could it be the crowd accepted my protest patches as art and as a means for them to protest into the future by wearing my patches? I could not print enough. They took the patches wet as I laid them down. They walked away waving them in the breeze to dry the ink. I printed continuously looking up briefly and responded to questions while I worked.

The patches of the design I had just finished printing disappeared while I printed the next design. “More Art Less War” was a very popular patch. Requests from the crowd encouraged me to return to printing that design several times. I followed suggestions from the crowd whenever possible.

From time to time I remember during the frantic and frenzied, fog-of-war-protest-printing, friends and acquaintances stopping to say hello. I chatted as I printed without breaking stride. The four designs I printed were “Bring the Troops Home NOW”, “More Art - Less War”, “Stop WW3 - Stop Bush” and “Invest in Peace Not War.”

By the end of the protest, people had filled my hat many times over and taken all the prints I could pull. Other artists said I inspired them to use their art to speak-out. One told me “A movement is only as good as its art!” I stood up very slowly to pack up, amazed that the time had gone by so swiftly. It was past 7:00pm.

The patches I printed on this day would travel far and wide. Artists be able to have a daily presence in the Loop. I should move from corner to corner on a weekly basis selling my “speech” patches in every sector of the Loop but municipal codes make this impossible. Artists have not worked together to take advantage of even the reduced opportunity the City does provide. Perhaps this is because the peddlers license the City requires is costly to those most likely to benefit from a street art scene. There should be pockets of artists working the Loop and the lakefront during the summer. People in the city should be able to see Chicago’s artists.

Not only do Chicago’s artists suffer, their natural audiences suffer by not being able to meet up with them. The harm laws that prevent artists’ scenes do can be estimated. Multiply the potential artists in the Cities art scenes by their average annual public art scene selling/exhibit time and multiply that by the average number of persons who stop to talk with an artist per hour to get the total annual number of times citizens were ripped off of contact with their local artists. Once a scene is established these figures would go up dramatically as members of the public find the artists who inspired them. This figure is enormous.

Our goal should be to establish a breach - at least one true street art scene in a good location in Chicago where there are no fees or licenses required of an artist to sell art (art is speech). We need to educate the public that the art scenes they are missing should be encouraged to thrive instead of discouraged by City policies. Doing this will create venues for the people to speak to each other. This a part of creating the full freedoms we deserve and need. It is a social key to a lively market place of ideas in the City of Chicago. Presently, we are censored by treatment as commodity vendors.

A friend came by to introduce me to a lawyer who claimed to be an expert on First Amendment law. He was negative about our chances to fight the City of Chicago claiming that recent cases allowed cities to charge fees to those who would sell their speech in the public way. We exchanged contact information. I e-mailed him to have him refer me to the cases he spoke of but he never wrote back. Further research of my own discovered a website by a Boston artist who has been doing the same thing in Boston for ten years. His website lists many cases in which artists have won back their speech rights from cities around the country (http://communityartsadvocates.org/saaNewYorkCity.html). Not all the lawyers we meet will be willing to defend our free speech rights. Until we organize - no one is likely to believe in our cause.

This mistake was the only one of this patch left at the end of my day of printing in public.

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.

I had a tooth pulled this week and I am still recovering from the T-shirt Art Harvest Festival. A week ago we had our first rally for the “Free Speech Art Movement” Three people came. However, they were so threatened they insisted that I could not display a sign to the public on the entire block of the Daley Center. They claim the Daley Center is “private property.” My question is who did they give it to after the tax payers paid for it? We are so adjusted to having our speech limited that they tell us anything.