Amidst the chaos there is so much I am grateful for.
In this month's newsletter:
Opulent Mobility at Brand Library
2 calls for art
A disability led protest and exhibits in process
And great sources of information/action items.

Many thanks to everyone who came out for the opening and the mini tour of Opulent Mobility at Brand Library & Art Center! If you missed it, the show runs through June 21, 2025. Email to set up a guided tour and join us online May 15th for the ASL interpreted artist talk. As always, thanks to the artists of Opulent Mobility past, present, and future and to all who make this show possible.

Two calls for art coming right up: 
Enter the Goddesses 3
We could use some Goddess energy right now. Submit your art that celebrates your goddess/es of choice! Deadline August 1st, $20 flat fee to cover gallery rental.
(30% sales commission to the gallery, 70% to the artist.)

Opulent Mobility 2025
Once again we challenge you to re-imagine disability as opulent and powerful! Deadline August 31, $20 flat fee to cover gallery rental but contact me if the fee causes hardship.
(30% sales commission to the gallery, 70% to the artist.)
 
Upcoming events and exhibits:
Hope & Rebirth exhibit May 10
Bed-In Virtual Hands Off Protest May 17th
Disabled Artist Cohort May 21st
Spring Invitational artist talk May 18th

And stay tuned for two openings on June 7th- the Voodoo Doll show at the Los Angeles Makery and the Summer Salon 2025 at Art Share LA!

Some excellent resources to help ourselves and others in these turbulent times:

Overall help from Mutual Aid LA groups (look for mutual aid in your area)
Actions and good news from Americans of Conscience, Jessica Craven and 5 Calls
Substacks for news and info:
Erin In the Morning, Popular Information, Jessica Valenti, DropSite News, and many more

Again and always, please be softer with people and harder on the systems that cause us harm. As my friend Pam says, keep that hope alive.
XO Laura

It has been quite a time and we've only just begun. Let's mend with thread, art, mutual aid, and by taking action.

Mending and making with love:
-Visible Mending workshop at Underdog Bookstore today from 12-2 PM PST. Bring something to mend. Space is limited, so sign up now!

-Embroidery Basics Feb. 9 from 2-2:30 PM PST at the Los Angeles Makery- get up close and personal with embroidery stitches.

-And Embroidery Basics with Fun-A-Day LA online February 21 at 5 PM PST, streaming live on YouTube!

Art to remind us of joy and creativity:
Playtime 3 opens at the Los Angeles Makery Sunday, Feb. 2 from 2-5 PM.

Join the TELEPHONE artist game and be part of an international arts event!

Mutual aid for folks affected by the LA wildfires:
-California creatives! Donate art supplies to artists who lost their studio spaces in the fires, or pick up supplies if you are in need at the Los Angeles Makery.

-A list of links and information (also check the comments)

-And a full list of resources and folks who need help courtesy of Mutual Aid LA and many others.

And excellent advice from sociologist Jennifer Walker:
1/ Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.

2/ Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.

3/ Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.

4/ Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context

5/ Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.
Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance.
 
Take action AND take good care of your hearts, my friends. We need each other.
XO Laura

Some events as a soul soother after the LA wildfires:

This afternoon come and sew with us online! Embroidery Basics, 5 PM PST.
Livestreamed on YouTube. Get started with embroidery basics! Learn chain, stem, and your basic stab stitch to outline images or spell out your deepest desires and fill them in with ladder and satin stitches. If there is time, we'll cover feather stitching and french knots. Create your own small artwork and get out some built up rage by stabbing fabric multiple times. To join in the fun, bring embroidery needles, embroidery floss, fabric, and scissors. Nice to have but not required is thread wax. If you have an embroidery hoop, great, but if not I'll show you how to fake an embroidery hoop with cardboard and straight pins or tape.

Sunday January 19th join us at the Los Angeles Makery!
2-5 PM PST, 260 S. Los Angeles St, 90012.
There's a group show on the ground and second floor, a solo show by Julie O'Sullivan in the SubTerra gallery, art therapy with Monica Marks, and donations of art supplies for artists and others affected by the LA wildfires. Donate art supplies or pick up what you need; we got you.

Saturday January 25 join us in the Zoom room for Genius Teatime and Favorite Foods!
3:30-4:30 PM PST
This Genius Teatime we're asking for your genius in feeding your community! Let's talk about your favorite food preparations and ideas that A. are low cost, B. can be used in times of low supplies/access and C. taste amazing! This is also a good place for talking about alternative food supplies, home growing, and mutual aid. Could prove to be both useful and tasty in the times to come. As always, NOTAFLOF (no one turned away for lack of funds), but if you have it to spare donations will go to the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Take good care of yourselves in these turbulent times, my friends. We need each other.
XO Laura

I had a newsletter planned… and then the LA wildfires happened. I’ll get to it later. So far my home is safe, we got power back, and the water is good to drink. We will see what happens when the winds pick back up but it is okay for now. Many thanks to the many people who offered me shelter and help!

My old neighborhood in Altadena pretty much burnt to the ground and so many friends have lost everything they had. The air is awful and the RSV I got two weeks ago is not improving quickly. PLEASE use KN-95 or better masks out there and use steam to clear our your lungs- a lot has burnt, and many of the places that did had plastics and asbestos and who knows what all in them.

I can offer folks fresh filtered water, since many of our neighbors can’t use theirs due to contamination in the water treatment facilities. We also have a LOT of windfall avocados. Get in touch if you need either thing.

I am in shock and in mourning, but I am here and and alive and grateful I can help spread good information, since there’s a lot of miserable nonsense going on around about LA. Stop that, please. The truth is bad enough. According to Katie Stubblefield (thanks for this):

“The rumors are exhausting. Let me help.
1. The federal response is great
2. The governor is doing a wonderful job
3. The mayor is on top of this
4. If this was arson, both it and climate change can both be the cause of this nightmare.
5. We are better lifting each other up than tearing each other down.
6. You can get accurate real-time fire information with the Watch Duty app.” (Can verify, Watch Duty is awesome, and if you have it to spare these volunteers are doing amazing work.)

Also, LA housing prices are obscene. Don’t use that as some kind of gotcha metric. We are dealing with that here everyday and most of us (myself included) can barely manage rent.

On to links and information for wildfire help…

-Super helpful links from Mutual Aid LA.
-LA Artists, sign up here if you are able to help with temporary housing, storage, clean up, and/or paperwork and info relating to insurance claims.
-Mask Bloc LA is handing out masks to help with the smoke- and of course disease prevention!
-Hollywood Food Coalition is continuing their terrific work in keeping folks fed.
Great links and advice from Elizabeth Aquino.
-Terrific information from a wildfire veteran on navigating insurance and other claims.
-Good advice from another fire veteran- thank you, Leah Knecht!- on managing insurance claims and dealing with debris/clean up after the fires. It’s super toxic ash out there, my friends. Seriously.
-These are lists of Go Fund Mes for the many folks who have lost everything in the Eaton and Palisades fires from Renee Reizman and Rachel Davies. More lists: Black families displaced in the Eaton fires; Latinx families displaced by the fires; Disabled people displaced by the fires; and a master list of LA disaster support compiled by the folks at Mutual Aid LA, among others.

I have not verified these personally (there are too many) but I know several ones from the Eaton fire that are valid and that I’ve seen cross referenced in other lists. It is always worth checking to make sure. If you know of other ones, please help out and add them to the list!

And for the love of all things good, do not force toxic positivity on folks. When your friends and coworkers have lost everything, it is profoundly unhelpful to tell them that their feelings and their things don’t matter. Let them feel how they feel and see what you can do to help.
Be careful out there, my friends. Love you.
XO Laura