***updated post with images and video from OccupyNL event as well as photos from our Aussie friends... if you have photos, videos, poetry, etc. that you would like added to this post, please get in touch with us!***

Occupy Newfoundland and Labrador begins a day of events in solidarity with Occupy Art #F12: international day of creative action. Occupy Art events kicked off in Australia, the US, and other Canadian cities. It's a beautiful summer day in Aussie from the look of some wonderful images coming out. If you're going to the events here @OccupyNFLD today, be sure to bring a camera and whatever other artistic supplies you need to get creative! Follow along on facebook and on twitter as the day goes on.

Check out the excellent Telegram article by Justin Brake on Occupy Art day. 

For images/video and a recap of the day, see our post at this link.

On February 12th, Occupy NL will be hosting a day of arts events in downtown St. John's as part of a world-wide day of creative action (#F12). All events are free of charge and everyone is welcome to participate. Events include:

12-2pm -- Art in the Park (Harbourside Park). Snow sculptures, music, magicians and clowns, as well as plenty of hot chocolate to keep us warm! Family event.

2-3pm -- Random Acts of Art (Water Street). Buskers, banners, guerrilla theater, stomp drumming and more. For an hour we will set up an artistic insurrection downtown!

3-5pm -- Poetry Slam (Rocket Room, above Rocket Bakery). An open event for local poets, storytellers, and spoken word artists. Come out and cheer on some of the province's most innovative wordsmiths. If you want to participate and spin us a yarn, please keep your poem or story under 5 mins in performance time so we can accommodate as many performers as possible.

7-10pm -- Art is my Occupation (Eastern Edge Gallery). This event includes performances and presentation of works by local artists working in various mediums. The evening show provides a forum for entertainment as well as education, a few hours when artists can come together to celebrate successes as well as to discuss common pitfalls and difficulties of the artistic occupation. 


OPEN CALL TO LOCAL ARTISTS

Occupy NL invites artists of any stripe to take part in our events. No matter what medium you work in or how much work you have produced, we want to hear from you!  Artists, please see the call to creative action.

Backdrop

Love it or hate it, graffiti has been around for thousands of years. They say anyone can read the writing on the walls. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These aphorisms, along with stencils, paint, and a message are all that it takes for a graffiti artist to be born.

The video below, an extract from Style Wars, offers a glimpse into the evolution of contemporary graffiti and street art. The title of the film oddly proclaims that it is "a hip hop documentary", even though the majority of the film is discussion with the graffiti artists and break dancers in Brooklyn. Truly, the documentary does take hip hop as a culture, more so than just a genre of music.
Local Scene

Less known today, Arlo Guthrie was a major figure of the 1960's protest movement in the United States. This status is largely due to one song -- a song that at almost twenty minutes long is more like an ambling tale told to the rhythm of a guitar. Quirky, catchy, but poignant, "Alice's Restaurant" encapsulated for many the spirit, and also the pitfalls, of the era. Below is a version in two parts, nicely illustrated by Andrew Colunga.