CAN SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER UNRAVEL

THE AGE OF DISILLUSION WE FIND OURSELVES IN?

SESSION THREE | 3:00 – 4:00 PM

This Is Not A Gun: Cultural Trauma,
Racial Equity, and Collective Creative Action

Led by Jennie Lamensdorf, Becky Laughner, Cara Levine, Jade Thacker and Moms Demand Action

Note: No advance registration required. Sessions will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis

Forward Union will host a discussion and art-making workshop relating to gun violence and gun control with socially engaged artist collaborative This Is Not A Gun and the non-profit advocacy organization Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America. This discussion aims to create meaningful dialogue around race equity and gun control while demonstrating Forward Union’s social practice and mission as a coalition-building initiative connecting social justice organizations, artists, and creative communities. A facilitator from This Is Not A Gun will then lead the inclusive art-making activity. The workshop will uphold a non-judgemental space, with hands busied, participants can speak openly about their anger, fear, concern, loss, and hope.
 
Jennie Lamensdorf is a Co-Founder of Forward Union based in San Francisco.
 
Becky Laughner is a Lead Organizer of Forward Union based in New York.
 
Cara Levine, an artist, is the Founder and Director of This Is Not A Gun based in Los Angeles.
 
Jade Thacker is a creative producer and writer based in New York.
 
Volunteers from Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.

October 17 – November 10

The Lye Residence / 2014 Delaware Street, Berkeley, California  94709

Open Thursday – Sunday, noon – 6:00 PM

Select programs October 24 and November 8, details below

Triggered, a group exhibition and related program presented by SPHERE, brings together art and dialogue responding to gun culture in America. Triggered reflects upon and reveals the impact that guns have in our lives through the works of contemporary artworks in a range of media that comment on the history and psychological impact of guns.

November 8, 2019 Closing weekend This Is Not a Gun creative art workshop with Cara Levine and Angela Hennesey 4:00PM – 6:00PM. Followed by an autumn dinner for Brady with Erica Rice, Brady’s Oakland Crime Gun Project Manager and Jessica Gerber, Brady Community Donor Engagement 6:30PM – 9:00PM. RSVP HERE

Freedom Fest: A student organized art show for education equity. This year in solidarity with our striking teachers. Attendees, bring your revolutionary spirit!

Join us at the Marciano Art Foundation on December 12, 4-7pm for the upcoming TINAG event!

RESERVE TICKETS HERE

The event will be co-hosted between Cara Levine, Eka Ekong and Homeboy Industries.

Levine, the founder of #thisisnotagun, is an artist and educator working in Los Angeles CA. Ekong is a writer, activist and Internationally renowned yoga teacher. She is the editor in chief of WOKE. Magazine, a periodical focused on bringing wellness, yoga and social change to diverse communities.

Homeboy Industries is the largest and preeminent gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. Homeboy offers an “exit ramp” for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration, helping them develop the strength and skills to transform their lives and become contributing members of society. The organization's holistic approach, with free services and programs, supports nearly 9000 men and women a year as they work to overcome their pasts, reimagine their futures, and break the intergenerational cycle of gang violence. Therapeutic and educational offerings (case management, counseling, and classes), practical services (e.g., tattoo removal, work readiness, and legal assistance), and job training-focused business (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café & Catering, and Homeboy Electronics Recycling) provide healing alternatives to gang life, while creating more inclusive and healthier communities.

http://www.forwardunion.org/

Details TBA

https://bampfa.org/event/not-gun-ceramic-workshop-cara-levine

This Is Not a Gun: Ceramic Workshop with Cara Levine + Eka Ekong

Programmed by Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo

A sandwich is not a gun. A hairbrush is not a gun. A wallet is not a gun. In this workshop, artist Cara Levine encourages participants to give presence to objects that have been mistaken for guns by police officers in civilian shootings, calling out their not-gun-ness by sculpting their shapes in clay. The gathering, cohosted by Ekaette Ekong, founder of Woke Magazine, offers a nonjudgmental space to site the issues of this historically dense and complicated crisis within our own bodies and stories.

Cara Levine lives in Los Angeles. She is an artist exploring the intersections of the physical, metaphysical, traumatic, and illusionary through sculpture, video, and socially engaged practice. She is currently a lecturer on the sculpture faculty at Otis College and an instructor at Exceptional Children’s Foundation in Inglewood, California, working with adults with developmental disabilities. She received her MFA in sculpture from California College of the Arts (CCA) in 2012. Levine’s work has been exhibited at venues including the Wattis Center for Contemporary Art in San Francisco, YoungArts Miami, Art Basel, and the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv.

Ekaette Ekong, from ekaekong.com: As a dedicated student, I have studied various yoga traditions(Ashtanga, Bhakti, Anusara), with my primary focuses being Ayurveda, Yogic Philosophy, and Hatha practices. In 2007, while completing the YogaWorks 500hr Professional Program, I met my current teacher, Yogarupa Rod Stryker, and began studying ParaYoga (Tantra/Sri Vidya lineage). In 2015, I completed my Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor training.  I am Yoga Alliance registered at the E-RYT 500 level, YogaWorks certified, and lead 200 and 300-hour level teacher trainings, workshops and retreats around the world. My classes are an intentional intermingling of ParaYoga, Hatha, Philosophy and Ayurveda with principles of mindful sequencing and alignment awareness, to help the practitioner feel at ease in their bodies and at home within themselves.