Political Poster Jam

On February 25, 2011, the Oakland Standard honored the history of political posters and the Museum’s acquisition of the All Of Us Or None (AOUON) collection with an evening of printmaking and conversation. The evening paid homage to the iconic images of the Black Power movement, and the legacy of Bay Area political poster activism.

 

We commissioned local artist-activist Jesus Barraza to create a special poster for the event.

Jesus Poster

The San Francisco Print Collective, Great Tortilla Conspiracy, and street artist Eddie Colla each hosted drop-in workshops. Volunteers from the SF Print Collective led a screenprinting workshop, producing a print about Francisco Torres, and another in support of the revolution in Egypt.

The Great Tortilla Conspiracy printed on edible mediums with edible inks. Visitors received Fig Newtons printed with the edible likeness of Huey Newton, along with chocolate prints on tortillas, jam prints on paper, and single roses, all graciously provided by the Great Tortilla Conspirators: Art Hazelwood, Jos Sances, Rene Yáñez, and Rio Yáñez.

Eddie Colla worked with spray paint to create a large-scale stencil print of Julian Assange, the infamous founder of WikiLeaks.

We also projected images of work by local poster artists, along with a few historical clips, including a 16mm film by Henri Chauvin (see below). The film shows the proliferation of political posters during the Paris student revolutions in 1968.

At 9 pm, we packed the room for presentations by Carol A. Wells, director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics; archivist Lincoln Cushing; artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez; and eminent poster artist and former Black Panther Minister of Culture Emory Douglas. Here's a short excerpt; panelists speak in the order in which they're listed above.

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Special thanks to Amoeba Records for providing expert DJ services.

The Political Poster Jam was part of the Museum’s quarterly O Zone celebration happening the same night; see that line-up here.

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