Remembering jes sachse: disability activist, artist and maker of good trouble | CBC Arts Friend and collaborator Gabrielle Moser reflects on the late Toronto artist who approached life and work with 'radical freedom.' They died earlier this month at the age of 40.

jes forever www.cbc.ca/arts/remembe...

“‘Either Joly was lying to us when she said that she wasn’t going to let these types of weapons deals go through, or she’s incapable of implementing her promises elsewhere in the federal government,’ Bueckert told The Maple.”

📷 “butterfly milkweed, past and future” trace monotype with artificial gold leaf on kozuke, 1/1, 2025.

A green line drawing with a slightly fuzzy quality depicting a butterfly milkweed plant with glinting gold flowers on a light warm paper.

Available now via @uniongallery.bsky.social’s small + mighty silent auction. We’re celebrating 30 years as the little gallery that could with some of our most cherished artists who make the space what it is today. Check it out at uniongallery.ca! 🦋

Image detail from Kellyann Marie, 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘨; 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘢 𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵, 2024, quilted second-hand and found textiles, applique, ink, ballpoint pen. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

We're closed this week and next while we install Nyssa Komorowski's 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘚𝘸𝘢𝘯 (Project Room) and Queen's graduate student group exhibition 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 (Main Space) 🌻

Opening reception: Saturday, March 1, 3pm (RSVP link below)

Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, March 4!

Two freshly-printed greeting cards sit on Union Gallery's Wandering Art Station next to two tubs of pink and green ink. The card on the left features a green print of a stair ladder with googly eyes and bushy eyebrows wearing a party hat next to a disco ball (his name is Eugene, after UG, and we love him). The card on the right features a pink print of a happy flower being watered by watering can, with the text "THANK YOU" written below.

on a related note, I love my day job! I get to tell people my silly ideas, and then they take those ideas and make them into silly + beautiful things 🪩🪜🌻🚿

(lino designs by @magpieprintshop.bsky.social + @wedderspoon.bsky.social for @uniongallery.bsky.social's fundraiser this weekend)

Help Yasser, Najla, and their 5 children survive in Gaza Follow @human_simulosum on Instagram for more frequent updates! Yasser's Instagram account has been suspended.

This Gazan family hopes to evacuate. Support this campaign to help them make this a reality. chuffed.org/project/1131...

Saturday! Buy a ticket & take home an original artwork right off the walls of our gallery. Proceeds support our mission & pay our beloved community of artists. #ygk

Quoting the book by amb: “What moved me to publish these pieces in this way is that, more than anything, I want to invite us to get excellent at being in conflict, which is a healthy, natural part of being human and biodiverse.”

“We cannot take risks and make dangerous art. These things are forbidden in Canada. They will get you banned by the CBC and ignored by the Globe and Mail — at the exact moment that Canadians need, and want it, the most.”

“It’s wild that in an era where Canadians have never been more diverse, our cultural production has been crushed…replaced with nothing in an era where we’ve never had more talent and more stories that need to be told.”

See also: ep. 217 - Trash! (2020) by @srslywrong.bsky.social “We live on a planet with each other. We live in cities with each other, communities with each other, countries with each other. There's nowhere else for these people to go. Like you can't throw them out.” srslywrong.com/podcast/217-...

A screen cap of the Libby app displaying the bright pink cover of adrienne maree brown’s 2020 book, “We Will Not Cancel Us: and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice“

Finally reading “We Will Not Cancel Us” by @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social. Necessary reading for all of us today. “I have felt us losing our capacity to distinguish between comrade and opponent, losing our capacity to generate belonging.”

Kingston city council just approved a bylaw to keep tenants’ units under 26C but here’s the catch—they have to *have A/C* and there’s no requirement to provide it. Those without are still going to roast. A toothless idea that does not protect our most vulnerable from increasingly hot summers.

How Library Economies Work YouTube video by Andrewism

NEW VIDEO: Can you imagine libraries of tools, clothing and even housing? The library economy can be the bridge to an entirely new world of human flourishing. Let's explore what the library economy is, what may and may not be included, and what it might take to bring it to life.
youtu.be/vW5EVNT--DA

Gaza’s future: President Trump declared Tuesday that all Palestinians in Gaza — some two million people — should leave, describing a permanent relocation to countries like Egypt and Jordan. As he hosted Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the White House, Mr. Trump framed the relocation as necessary because of the devastation wrought by Israel’s war with Hamas after the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023: “Gaza is not a place for people to be living,” he said. Read more ›

The president calling for a complete and total ethnic cleansing of Gaza with full support from the Israeli PM. Absolutely beyond horrific.

“Why is it that our economy can be so destabilized by another country making a decision that has nothing to do with our own democratic processes?”

The cold tariff war Podcast Episode · Sandy and Nora talk politics · 2025-02-04 · 45m

This episode is full of our burning questions—like what was that nonstatement from the NDP and why won’t the CBC actually try decent coverage/reporting of this issue? Sandy hooked me early in the ep. when she asked… 1/2

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s...

“This is not about aiming for a nationalist form of sovereignty but one that is based on collectively and democratically determining what kind of society we want. This cannot be achieved within the context of formal sovereignty but substantive dependence.”

“The point is that the radical is today the only practical; it is the only hope.”

Gently: the Canadian flag continues to be a symbol of colonization. I wish Canada had stood against US Imperialism when it comes to the genocide in Gaza rather than being wholeheartedly complicit. As @laurieadkin.bsky.social pointed out, we actually survive if we rearrange what this country means

A grey linoleum block carved with an image of a stout little smiling flower who is gratefully being watered.

Derpy flower takes a shower 😊 #linocut

Good and cheap by Leanne brown is a great resource! (She’s Canadian too)

leannebrown.com/good-and-che...

Time for Gen X who grew up in 1980s blue collar income families to step up & give lessons.
1) No, you don't need strawberries in January.
2) buy the rice, potatoes, carrots & onions in the 10 kg sacks.
3) A lot of protein in beans. You don't need steak, dammit! Chicken leg quarters are a treat.

We must give people dreams instead of just resistance. Resistance is a survival state. Dreams are aspirational and that motivation drives revolution; they are the fuel for the amazing potential we all have to build a world that doesn't require you to survive, but rather to thrive!

TheHome | Made in CA The made in Canada resource to quickly find Canadian products, services and retailers, so you can use your dollars to support the Canadian economy.

Made in Canada searchable guide.

madeinca.ca

The new “Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do to Counter Fascism—Yes, You! Yes, Now!” zine makes a great gift for your liberal fam, friends, neighbors & coworkers!

Read, print & distro freely!

Full text & PDFs on @igd.bsky.social:

itsgoingdown.org/dont-just-do...

Stop Imagining the Apocalypse — Future Mending Radio If we want a better future, we need to stop imagining the apocalypse and start imagining winning. Solarpunk is an emergent science fiction genre and social movement that asks us to do just that.Matt s...

Imagine… Soup hubs! 🥣 #solarpunk overcast.fm/+BKuuvf0m3k/...

Slide 1: Red screenprinted banner that reads Liberation for All, with an olive branch within a Palestine sunbird. At the bottom on a olive green band in white text it reads Artists for Liberation, recap of January 27 demonstration

Slide 2: LAST NIGHT - JANUARY 27, 2025. The City of Kingston knew that a small group of local artists were planning a peaceful demonstration at the Mayor's Arts Awards at City Hall. The City knew some of these artists very well, in fact, and had worked with them in the past. Their response? Increased security, 2 police vans, and an RCMP vehicle at an event attended by members of multiple marginalized communities.

Slide 3: Artists for Liberation is a group of local artists and community members who gathered together with a collective ambition to address the ongoing genocide taking place in Palestine. Because Mayor Bryan Paterson and City stakeholders would be present at this year's Mayor's Arts Awards, we knew this would be an impactful platform to share our direct message. It was our intention to both celebrate the achievements of the artists receiving the awards as well as demand that Paterson make actionable steps to call for a permanent ceasefire. Celebrating the local arts community and fighting for rights of others are not mutually exclusive to one another.

Slide 4: On Sunday January 26, we were informed that our demonstration plans had been compromised: that the Mayor's Arts Awards team and City staff had seen our plans and knew exactly what we intended to do for our peaceful demonstration; we would rise from the crowd, stand along the walls of the room, and recite a speech. In a phone call with an Artists for Liberation member, an MAA organizer claimed, after speaking to the MAA Recipients about our plans, that our demonstration would make the marginalized MAA Recipients and attendees feel targeted, and that MAA recipients already felt "uncomfortable" and "wary of attending". Through our own connections, we know that this was not true, as the Recipients either did not know about our demonstration at all, or were already in support of our demonstration plan. The MAA team member advised us they would internally assess the risk to Recipients, which ultimately resulted in more security and police presence at the event. We now ask: how does bringing the police - an institution that historically and continuously harms marginalized communities - make the MAA Recipients and attendees feel more safe?

Read our statement about our peaceful demonstration at the Mayor's Arts Awards @cityofkingston.bsky.social January 27th, 2025

🍉PART 1 🍉