Women who ROCK (kpete birthday thread & kpete UNVEILED!!!!!)

Land Shark

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Sun Dec-02-07 12:25 AM
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Women who ROCK (kpete birthday thread & kpete UNVEILED!!!!!)

Edited on Sun Dec-02-07 12:40 AM by Land Shark

Not a lot of people know that DU's illustrious news-lady kpete shares a birthday with a quiet yet courageous and determined ACTION that helped set in motion the modern civil rights movement: the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on the bus on December 1, 1955, 52 years ago today.

Even fewer know of kpete's profession and passion: Teaching Art to elementary school kids, some quarter million of them, over the last 20 or more years. www.artcorpssd.com

A lot of folks DO know that kpete rocks the DU world with almost daily rockets up the greatest page: The numerous kpete appreciation threads never fail to embarrass kpete because she practices something she preaches: some healthy humility.

But what can DU do, but express their appreciation when they FEEL it?

But, until today, basically nobody here on DU has seen exquisite kpete UNVEILED.

Kpete, never one to acrimoniously defend her threads, speaks softly and carries a big news stick. But kpete, when she wishes to truly speak, uses her chosen medium of ART. Paintings, especially.

Kpete has recently been working on a series of paintings on politics today, entitled "Freedom in Love." Galleries around the country are receiving slides and letters of proposal, but DU deserves a sneak peak, a first look at the truest voice of kpete: kpete unmasked, pouring her soul into the paint.

Kpete endorses the resolution on Open & Honest Elections, contained in the RollCAll4Democracy.com a site launching today in rough form in honor of a couple of extraordinary women, Rosa Parks (who subequently worked for John COnyers for over a decade) and kpete.

You can see several of kpete's paintings on the site: www.RollCall4Democracy.com

The resolution there is an important one for democracy, written by Land Shark (www.permanentprogress.org) at the request of Judy Alter of Protect California Ballots and ElectionDefenseAlliance.org, and is endorsed by around 300 organizations, including but not limited to:

1. Afterdowningstreet.org
2. Democrats.com
3. Progressive Democrats of America
4. the Latino Congreso
5. The California NAACP

But heck, it's even endorsed by Republicans -- at least ones who believe in representative democracy or a "republic" (same thing) -- such as election official Bruce Funk, and Melinda Pillsbury-Foster. IT's being endorsed by anybody who believes that We the People are the only rightful rulers of this country. of course, this IS and HAS TO BE the case, or else not only are we not a republic, and not a democracy, we're not free if we're not free to elect, and kick out, the representatives who hold our power AT WILL, and as paragraph 2 of the Declaration of INdependence clearly states, it's the government's reason for being instituted in the first place to "secure these rights." But these days, the government would rather keep the counting of the vote a complete secret and implicitly but unmistakably deny that We the People are their boss, their employer, the taxpayers of their salaries of the government employees who merely Hold OUR power, in trust.

You've got to see kpete's two drawings on that particular topic, on the home page of www.rollcall4democracy.com if you want to see the power of an artistic statement, in action.

PLEASE K&R This thread for kpete's birthday, please visit the rolcall site to see her 2 pics on the home page, and be sure to see her painting "Staged Elections" on the page that contains the actual resolution that has been endorsed by organizations with membership in the millions, collectively.

But these paintings by kpete are the tip of the iceberg, really. As good as the samples are, those who've seen her body of work are often astounded. If you want to see the real deal, the whole show, you will need to bookmark www.kpete.net (her upcoming gallery site) and stay tuned because this site will be up before the end of the year. It takes some extra technical skills to do great art justice, so although a few more pics are available NOW, it's really best to show them in their best light, as it were.

But, it may fascinate you to know that there's method to kpete's work here on DU:

DU is part of kpete's artistic process, as explained in the artist's statement, below.

To be sure you know when the gallery for kpete comes on line with her gallery, you can signup at the contact page for Rollcall4democracy.com and you'll get an email notice of when kpete.net is available. Be Sure to express this interest in the comment section and we'll pass it on to kpete.

DU, show kpete some birthday love! Check out her sample paintings, and sign up for more, and you'll be pleasantly surprised when you see the rest too! And thank kpete for teaching art to a quarter million kids while you're at it.

Happy Birthday, kpete!!!!!!

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For those who want to get a feel for what kpete's art is all about, the best thing is to read her articulate, moving, and passionate Artist's Statement as a prelude for what is to come:

ARTIST�S STATEMENT (kpete)

"Freedom in Love" expresses love and betrayal of country in the form of 7 multi-media paintings. Painting and teaching art for over 22 years, I have been relying heavily on freedom, yet I have not been directly attentive to it until now. This inattention is my own silent betrayal of Liberty. Without Liberty, I could not do my art or my teaching. Denying ourselves Liberty, or denying others freedom we ourselves want, disrespects Freedom and human dignity, atrocities against the wellsprings of art and of rights. Returning to my canvas, and having always insisted Art is Truth, this series ruthlessly documents the majesty of Liberty and atrocities against Liberty.

About 220,000 San Diego area schoolchildren in grades K-8, along with my own two children, taught me the values of freedom and authenticity. All of these students completed the Artcorps program which I founded in 1985. www.artcorpssd.com In the 22 years of Artcorps, and with the help of around 1000 parent and community volunteers annually, Artcorps has followed three cardinal rules of freedom: (1) Never change or interfere with a child�s art, and (2) Never call any child�s artistic response a �wrong answer� in any way, and (3) Never allow erasers, because there are no mistakes. By honoring the freedom of the artistic spirit in these children, the student art shows never fail to convince doubters about the vital power of Art.

My earlier artworks explore Freedom of the inner path (the soul) rather than the outer path (community and/or democracy). Every person has inner and outer paths, and hopes to find acceptance inside themselves as well as in the world. My artistic process all my life has been to turn myself inside out, to pour guts on canvas, and paint intensively and passionately for days at a time. I paint what pours out of my source, what feels right; I paint as the paint tells me to paint. I feel best while creating. I have always tried to rise above the constant motion of life to find truth or balance, uplifting others in the process.

Before putting paint to canvas for this latest series on the outer path, my preparatory process included (1) four intense years of research, (2) posting tens of millions of lines of political discourse and images among over 12,000 blog posts, and (3) actively listening to the opinions of others contained in the responses to my posts. I learned much, and the core of this is present in �Freedom in Love.�

Notable similarities emerge between my earlier work on the path of the soul and my present work on the path of freedom and democracy. In both, windows represent seeing, or ways out, and pathways symbolize journey. Trees traditionally represent soul, their gnarled qualities a reflection of the forces that buffet them. Birds are wildness, but also observers, the �nonvoters� of nature who still see with dignity and a worthy opinion. Stars and moons are elemental forces of nature and soul-guides. In democracy they are the guide-stars of ideals or principles, lighting the way down the path of democracy. I feel this series of paintings reveals both inner and outer paths as the same journey.

However, turning myself inside out on the subject of freedom and democracy exhibits stylistic qualities never before present in my work. One new quality has been described as �hip-hop sampling� because the busy-ness of the painting accurately reflects today�s informational environment of high speed media. For this effect, I used juxtaposition and limited white space, with materials including acrylics, pencil, pen, inks, paper, image snippets, string, sand and paste. Sometimes one can see our nation�s core principles in these paintings, at other times one can not. President McKinley said, �Our differences are politics. Our agreements are principles.� Authentic American politics discusses the actions that best uphold our shared principles.

Given American agreement on principles, when we can not see our most important shared ideals in the media or in the paint of �Freedom in Love,� we may ask �Why are our most important principles missing?� This absence of principles from politics was never intended. The Founders warned that �frequently recurring to fundamental principles is necessary for the preservation of liberty and free government�. Besides separation of church and state, the Founders believed every person was created in the image of God, endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, and contained a divine spark in their soul which could be brought to the flame that ultimately sustains progress.

"Freedom in Love" is my desire to spark soulsearching discussion and responses, wrapped in my unutterable conviction that democracy is a path that honors us all. I�ve learned Freedom doesn�t take sides, but rather humbly invites the wrong and the right equally. We keep freedom alive by honoring that gift and speaking from the heart. Freedom is only betrayed by silence on things that matter. That silence snuffs out the divine spark in us all.

I long for meaningful discussion of our shared values as Americans; I fear only the sound of silence. In the spirit of progressive hope, and while honoring tradition, I poured out my life, heart and soul into the hope of showing the spark of democracy within the paint. I submit my deep longing for the fireworks of a greater democratic deliberation, one that serves us all, as the hoped for result of the sparks in "Freedom in Love."