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Art and Activism: 1930s and Today

Art Hazelwood

Paul Boden
Organizing Director, Western Regional Advocacy Project
and 
Art Hazelwood 
author of Hobos to Street People

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Hobos to Street People

Art Hazelwood
Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present


$25.95 Comment: 

Hobos to Street People offers a comparison of the culture and politics of homelessness as seen through artwork since the Great Depression. The book is based on the touring exhibition of the same name that first opened in early 2009-the time of the greatest economic downturn since the 1929 Stock Market Crash. As the numbers of people living in poverty continues to swell, this book looks to the past for lessons for today. A wide range of artists have brought attention to the issue, including historical figures such as Rockwell Kent, Fritz Eichenberg, Jacob Burck, Dorothea Lange and contemporary artists Kiki Smith, Sandow Birk, Eric Drooker and many more. The text, written by artist and curator Art Hazelwood, places the artwork within the history of social and political responses from the New Deal, through McCarthyism, to the rise of modern homelessness in the 1980s. Sections of the book focus on different aspects of homelessness including day to day life, displacement, rural poverty and political struggle. Emphasis is also given to the means by which artists have been able to get their message out whether through publications, government programs of the New Deal, street posters, exhibitions, or alliances with activist groups. 

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the books will be donated to homeless advocacy groups. Donors can direct the donation using the comment box above. (enter: WRAP, COH or Spirit)

The book is based on the traveling exhibition of the same name.The exhibition is on tour until 2012 and began at the California Historical Society in San Francisco in February of 2009. California Exhibition Resources Alliance (CERA)  is the touring company. The next exhibition date for the tour is below.

July 29, 2011 – December 4, 2011
de Saisset Museum University of Santa Clara,
500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053

The exhibition is online at Western Regional Advocacy Project.

Reviews of 'Hobos':

The Never Ending Tale: Images of Despair and Hope from the Great Depression to the Great Recession
by: Paul Von Blum on November 29th, 2011
Tikkun Daily

Hobos to Street People: Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present
by: Harvey Smith

Hobos to Street People: Artists Uncover Hidden History of Poverty
by: Margot Pepper, on September 1, 2011
Street Spirit

Homelessness in Art from the New Deal to the Present
by: DeWitt Cheng on September 1, 2011
Street Spirit

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More with Less

Eric Robertson

            Do More with Less

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OccuPant Rant

Eric Robertson

            I just returned from Occupy Oakland in downtown. What can I say? It is not immediately inspiring. Not clean. A bit muddy. Lots of straggly dressed youth mixed with older street people, radicals, liberals, anarchist kids with black rags covering their faces flying black flags. But there is order in the chaos. There is an excitement in the people there who are building community. (Remember that thing that we used to think we were a part of and then gave up on it when everything didn’t go the way we wanted.)           

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A Nicaraguan Farce

Clifton Ross
            Daniel Alegría still thinks of himself as a Sandinista, “a Sandinista, no Orteguista.” He looks pretty much the same as he did when I first met him at Comedor Sara in January, 1984 where he spent his evenings drinking beer and talking politics with the internacionalistas who gathered there in the evenings. The big question in those days, was when, or if the US would invade the country, and Daniel, who worked as Sandinista National
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Earth Day Oil Gusher--BP

Jester

Below is the intermittent live feed from BP's own rover camera over the leak. It's horrifying. Once it starts to move you can double click for a full screen view.Today, June 13, the image is almost completely black except for a couple of white lights.  That's oil you are looking at.  A few days ago you could see the blowout "preventer" now the image shows just a swirl of black.  Occaisonally the robot moves around and you can see the pinchers opening and closing and the camera operator changes the angle and enlargement. You can visit the compilation of 12 different seafloor feeds at the following addresses.  The BP media player seems to work on more platforms the .gov website compiles them all together.

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Seeking New Ground

Clifton Ross
Please see the attached flyer on the event "Seeking New Ground," two perspectives on the catastrophe of our present and our need for transformation, featuring talks by Lierre Keith and Curtis White,  Friday, November 20th at Berkeley City College, not quite a block down from Downtown Berkeley Bart Station at 2050 Center Street.
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Hanging Out

Eric Robertson
ClotheslineBandanas.jpg

About a year ago I joined this group called the Laundry List. Laundry List advocates for people hanging out their laundry. I dig it big time. There are some amazing stats on what would happen if everyone stopped using their drying machines. There would be some serious immediate reductions of greenhouse emissions if everyone took up this habit…along with the personal sense of well-being that comes with spending quality time with your laundry and the great outdoors (indoor hanging and using racks can be satisfying too).

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