Resistance Art

I often struggle with finding the best way to express myself politically with my art. I think a case can be made that just existing as a woman these days is political. In that case, any art I make is political simply because I’m a woman using my voice. Given how women have been treated throughout history, it’s not surprising. Inside of me are two wolves: one wants to metaphorically burn bras and flags in protest, and the other one wants to make tiny cute books we can all carry in our handbags.

I recently watched an artist talk that Natalie Baxter and Laura Brown did for Auburn’s Biggin Gallery. (Many thanks to to my ALWCA sister Sarah Odens for pointing me to this talk!!) In it, Natalie talks about how her soft sculpture guns gently invite conversations about the difficult topic of gun violence. Laura shows off her cardboard voting booths, which is another gentle entry into tough conversations about voting rights and access. I have thought about this talk literally every day this past week and how I want to use my art to similarly create space for conversations.

Project 2025 stamp

Also during this past week I got it in my head that I wanted to carve a stamp to protest Project 2025. (If you don’t know about Project 2025, here’s a seven minute explainer video.) Thanks to some of the crew at Limitless Horizons Ltd., Celia Bruce, Charles Bruce, Emily Bruce, Kayleigh Bruce, Nicole Bruce, and Topher Bruce, for helping me workshop the stamp phrasing and design!! (That sentence is a giant in-joke for these friends who help me keep my humor intact.)

My first attempt to carve it was SO bad because I was using a block that was way too soft for my low level of carving experience. I tossed that janky mess into the trash.

After a trip to Michael’s to gather some supplies, I ended up with a successfully carved block:

Not Subtle

Talking about political topics isn’t new for me. I have a lot of art pieces and many journal pages where I work through my feelings about different topics:

I’ve been full of rage pretty much continuously since 2016, and it’s been front and center in my art during that time. I can’t hide it because it has to go somewhere, and channeling it into my art seems slightly more productive than standing on the street corner and just yelling 24/7. I think because my rage stays so hot it’s nearly impossible for me to be subtle. Turns out I’m not a delicate flower of womanhood at all, but instead an incandescent ball of anger looking for suitable outlets. I hope I’m learning to temper it, but it’s definitely a work in progress.

Still Not Subtle

I very clearly have a point of view with this stamp. I am against Project 2025. Very against it. It will hurt a lot of Americans. There is no kindness there. There is no expansiveness for our country. I want people to read about it and be as offended by it as I am and then vote accordingly.

I want to gently invite conversations about hard topics, but I am still learning how to do that. So for now this is what I’ve got: a full-throated protest that I am inviting your participation in.

Normally at the end of my posts I ask people to share here, email me, or find me on socials. Because I’m not interested in having trolls on my page, I have comments turned off. If you want to make a protest stamp, you can download the template that I made here. If you do make a stamp and then put the prints up around your community or mail them to get out the vote, please snap a pic and tag me on socials.