Art Update: Weaving (Some) Threads of Relations & What's Coming Up
Yes, I got some events. But really this is all about connections & connecting. And I share a bit about a really deep connection with my comrade Andrea Juarez.
Hey Family, Comrades, and Neighbors:
This week, I’ve been doing massive outreach for the upcoming November Events with Queering Dreams. As a result, I am reconnecting with comrades near & far, some of whom I’ve known for decades, others of whom I’ve only recently met. As I reach out, others reach back. We engage in conversation, dialogue, the dialectic. In this space of exchange & connection threads become revealed & exposed. Seeds planted are finally seen as fully grown plants & trees fully alive & flourishing.
This was really exemplified for me this week in an exchange between my dear, dear comrade Andrea Juarez and me over Instagram. I’ve know Drea for almost two decades. We first met when she worked in the Excelsior, I believe, on a youth leadership project that was in collaboration between LYRIC, the Boys & Girls Club, and Bay Area Community Resources. I was at the OMI/Excelsior Beacon Center trying to figure out where to send some middle schoolers.
But we really started connecting and co-creating through the After School for All Technical Assistance Collaborative when I worked for the Youth Development Peer Network around 2008 or so. Drea was part of a cohort of youth workers that helped co-create peer-based trainings for out-of-school time professionals. I remember Drea specifically encourages arts-based practices into the lesson plans and curriculum. Working with Drea was a dream, and 13 years later Drea is doing amazing work and research in ethnography, arts, and family separation of all kinds. She’s fucking inspiring!
I’ve also been working with Rupy C. Tut to support immigrant artists across the country. Last December 2020, we hosted an Immigrant Artist Salon. That Salon featured six artists, some of whom I would go on to form the Queer Arts Salon with. I also met Tanika Williams, and artist in New York City creating work about immigration, separation, ancestry, family, and memory.
When I met Tanika, I knew immediately that I needed to connect her to Drea. Drea’s PhD program is in New York, and I hoped that even with COVID there would be some possibility of deep and lasting connection. I sent an email and forgot about it.
Now, thanks to Queering Dreams and all of our fabulous Co-Creators, we are launching a whole series of events this November. One of those events is Tea with Rupy & Me, an Immigrant Artist Network event. I wanted to invite Andrea to the event, so I pinged her on Instagram.
AND….guess what?
Andrea & Tanika actually collaborated together last year, and it resulted in Andrea publishing an fucking incredible article on the BRIClabs website titled, “Her Departure, The Gap, Testimony”. It is beautiful, poetic, and poignant. And you should go read it now.
These connections fuel me. They are why I do what I do. They are my art form.
So come and connect with me through either Queering Dreams online or this weekend at the Ingleside Gallery Group Art Show (more info below). I would love to just connect & see what develops. Who knows what really is possible in the grand scheme of things.
In grief & joy & rage & love,
Jason
Art Update: Vlog!
Hey Y’all. Here’s a short video
Queering Dreams November Events!
There’s a whole lot to love in the Queering Dream November Calendar of events. From A Space for Applied Dreaming to the launch of an Immigrant Artist Network to a conversation about Queer Art and even QUEERSPELL, there’s something for everyone.
And with only 12 spots per event, each workshop is an intimate space of camaraderie & belonging. All our workshop are pay-what-you-can, and if you can pay more.
BONUS: Check out An Emerging Guide to How Queering Dreams Holds Space & Time to learn more about what you can expect at all our November events.
Group Show at Ingleside Gallery - THIS WEEKEND ONLY
I’m in a Group Art Show at Ingleside Gallery (1507 Ocean Avenue, SF) this weekend, so come see my shit! I’ll be at the gallery today around 4pm. I will be back again on Sunday with my mom! Come say hi and check out a QUEERSPELL & some Queerly Complex merch!
Best of all? It’s off Ocean Avenue, home of the OMI. And I <3 the OMI!! I cut my teeth in youth development and community organizing at the OMI / Excelsior Beacon Center. And I was the host for almost a decade at the OMI International Family Festival produced by the OMI Cultural Participation Project, lead at the time by Maria Picar. (Just a little bit of OMI history.)
Help a queer out & please share my shit. Any ol’ shit will do cause there is literally tons of shit. And I’ve organized it all into one long list. Pick some shit & share the shit out of it.