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Artsy Tuesday: Three quick things

Julia Smith

25 Feb 2025 — 2 min read

Cross-posted from Substack, originally published there on Tuesday 2/25/25.

Housekeeping item: In the next day or two, I plan to move the newsletter off Substack and onto a platform called Ghost. More about the decision later. The posts should keep coming to your inbox seamlessly, but if you notice a lack of posts for me later this week, please check your spam filter and/or reach out. Thank you!

Letterpress print with magenta graphic floral designs and a big slogan KEEP MAKING THINGS in black capital letters — 😍 Print by Sarah Matthews 😍

Item 1: Support an artist

If you’re in the position to invest, surround yourself and your people with cheeky beauty, earnest beauty, or both!

➡️ Imagine one of these Sarah Matthews letterpress prints on your wall and thus in your Zoom background. Are you kidding me? (Hat tip: Stacy-Marie Ishmael, whose Sunday newsletter is a can’t-miss liferaft in an ocean of inbox overwhelm.)

➡️ Brownie Points is having a sale on cheeky jewelry, gifts, and more. Brb, buying all the $4.99 “take up space” rings for the kids in my life.

➡️ It’s pub day for Jamia Wilson’s Make Good Trouble: Discover Movements That Sparked Change. I should have put this in yesterday’s post about Black History Month books for young ppl! Tour dates here; purchase here.

Cover of Make Good Trouble, which features a young person with dark brown skin kneeling and holding a hand up to their mouth as if to chant or yell the title. They wear bright pink and purple clothes and sneakers and are surrounded by stars. — I mean. Look at this cover!

Item 2: Spread art around

My friend Heidi recently reminded me that Martha Beck says creativity stops anxiety. Maybe one of these ideas would be a win-win for your nervous system and your community?

➡️ See if your local abortion fund has stickers you can put up, or design and print your own.

➡️ Start carrying chalk around with you and decorating the sidewalks with slogans or URLs to local mutual aid groups, grassroots orgs, etc.

➡️ Print some flyers and make some wheat paste, or print some zines. Garrett Bucks has a roundup of flyers and zines here. Queer Archivist offers notes on the history of zines + their potential. And @MondayMcGee has a couple of great links to templates in this thread:

Have a creative Tuesday,

Julia

Under a blue sky, protesters hold up signs with anti-ICE logos, such as NJ SAYS NO DICE TO ICE!

Friday's two things: Protective steps, collective glimmers

Item 1. Weekend wish That in our gatherings–in-person, virtual, whatever they may be–we access glimmers like this. (J. Wortham's newsletter) Item 2. Safety at protests If you're taking your phone ➡️ consider these tips from Electronic Frontier Foundation or this guide via @imperfectactivista on Instagram.

Thursday's two things we love

Item 1. We love a checklist Here's a new list with some key ways to care for yourself and others, from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and Zack Teutsch: Care for yourself and others!Checklist 2.0Life is a Sacred TextRabbi Danya Ruttenberg Item 2. We love situating ourselves in

It's a sign! Wednesday's three things

Here's this week's art fix, since I was out canvassing yesterday and didn't make it. Item 1. Suggestion Are you making a protest sign this week? Monica Trinidad has advice (starting around the 14:15 mark in How to Make Art for Social Change

Monday's things

Item 1: What do we mean by "mutual aid"? Here is a chart from Dean Spade (and he expands on the concept a lot in this book), and here is a quick explainer from Moms Clean Air Force. It might mean starting or joining an ICE Watch program