KENT Conn.—As residents of Northwest Connecticut are joining together in large numbers to fight for democracy, ART: Art Rejects Tyranny, issues a unique call to action inspired by a Maxine Hong Kingston quote: “In A Time of Destruction, Create Something.”
Artists and non-artists alike are invited to create something that speaks to this time of upheaval, in whatever artistic form inspires them: painting, poetry, photography, music, dance, crafting, playwriting, video, quilting, cooking, flower-arranging — any kind of creative expression.
These collected works of creativity will be exhibited, as they are submitted, in an online gallery at ArtRejectsTyranny.org. Selected works will also be displayed in a public exhibition this fall.
“Many people in Northwest Connecticut and across America are shaken up by increasing assaults on our country’s democratic principles,” said Patricia Oris, a director of ART: Art Rejects Tyranny. “Together we are looking for creative ways to resist the forces that seek to undermine those principles, while bolstering a community to help fight for them.”
ART directors and volunteers are committed to the arts and understand the importance of free expression in civil society. Volunteers will manage the website and the public exhibition and organize a series of summer field trips to inspire creativity and foster community.
The first of these will be Thursday, July 10, from 10 a.m. until noon, when Jane Manley, board chair of the Warren Public Library and recently retired arts educator, will conduct a morning walk on an easy-to-navigate nature trail maintained by the Warren Land Trust.
Participants will be invited to either write or sketch their mindful observations, feelings and thoughts. The walk is limited to 12 participants. To sign up, click here.
Creators will retain ownership of their works but agree to allow images of them to be displayed on the Art Rejects Tyranny website and the works themselves to be shown in a curated exhibition in the fall.
Art holds a unique position in resistance movements, said Oris. From Dorothea Lange’s moving photographs documenting the plight of migrants in the U.S. during the Great Depression, to “Guernica,” Picasso’s shocking portrayal of war crimes; from the text-based, street-level installations of Jenny Holzer’s “Protest” to Amanda Gorman’s stirring poetry confronting oppression and marginalization, art.
For further information on the Art Rejects Tyranny initiative and how to submit work or volunteer to help, visit ArtRejectsTyranny.org or email ArtRejectsTyranny@gmail.com.
