
To our artists, clients, community partners, and supporters –
First of all, Black Lives Matter.
The last few weeks we’ve been living as a nation have been tragic, impassioned, & raw. George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police has provoked this moment precisely because insane & disgusting instances of police killing black people are all too common in our country.
And they always have been. Just that now our iPhones are capturing & disseminating the images of it happening.
I also think about how the lack of real discussion and dialogue around race in this country (really since the Black Civil Rights movement), has emotionally paralyzed us as a nation around the issue of racism and American history. Our ability to engage in discussions around healing, equity, structural racism, & real solutions for a way forward has been handicapped.
That said, this feels like it’s about collectively listening, learning, and being part of the cultural majority that actively participates in conversations that have been avoided for too long.
As an organization built on the values of Equality, Creativity, and Collaboration, our all-encompassing ethos is about the fundamental equality of all human beings. As a student of nonviolent movements and having worked in nonprofits for over a decade, I’ve always described what we do at IPaintMyMind as ‘a social justice project through the vehicle of art.’
The foundation of our mission is to create value through art to fuel a machine of activism, engagement, learning, and community. Since Day 1, we have been focused on geographic, economic, & racial equity, creating models to ensure that our efforts prioritized communities that have been divested, ignored, abused, over-policed, vilified, scapegoated, & demonized.
The bottom line is, we can listen, learn, and do more.
Whether you’re a classroom teacher teaching art for the first time or an art teacher who could use a simple refresher, check...
March 27, 2023We love receiving artwork from our Shared Walls partners across the city, showing us what they’re up...
March 26, 2023At IPaintMyMind, we are super passionate about screen prints. When our founder, Evan La Ruffa, first started collecting art, he couldn’t...
March 24, 2023