Calendar of EVENTS

1. About the Artists, activists, poets and storytellers

   Lester Dore started his graphic art career with his work on the second issue of the Chicago Seed, an antiwar "underground newspaper" in 1967. He has since worked with Salsedo Press, Rising Up Angry, In These Times, and the Heartland Journal in Chicago, the Progressive in Madison, Wisconsin, ASARO, a revolutionary artists' co-op in Oaxaca, Mexico, and was a co-founder of Art Surge, a collective of artists in Madison Wisconsin who have hung several shows of their political art in Madison and Chicago.

    

   After the Wisconsin Uprising he produced stickers, posters, and stencils about the attack from Scott Walker on varied groups of Wisconsin residents.

    

   Katie Jesse is an artist and activist living in Milwaukee, WI. She works with Planned Parenthood, 9 to 5, the ACLU, and several of her local neighborhood cooperatives toward creating a sustainable and egalitarian society. She has a bachelors of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works in a variety of mediums, including photography, painting, and puppet making. Her work has been shown in galleries and protests around the country.
   
   Tasos Katopodis is proud member of USW Local 1010 from of East Chicago Indiana, a third generation steelworker. His photos were taken when several thousand Union brothers and sisters fought the January 2012 Right to Work for less law at the Indiana State Capitol Building.

    

   Mike Konopacki of Madison, Wisconsin has been a labor cartoonist for 35 years. With his co-worker Gary Huck he syndicates his cartoons through Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons (huckkonopackicartoons.com). A native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Konopacki earned his BA in political science, Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Since his studio is only two blocks from the Capital Square, Mike was a daily participant in the Wisconsin Uprising of 2011. Mike’s 6x4 foot banner is a parody of the Wisconsin flag. The text was inspired from Benjamin Franklin’s original idea for the first U.S. Seal, “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”

    

   Linda Loew is a photographer, specializing in architectural abstractions. She is an active AFSCME member, former member of the United Steelworkers of America in both Chicago and right-to-work Texas, the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, and an activist in the anti-war, women's rights, and other social movements. Linda is part of the show to represent the many supporters who traveled from their homes to support brothers and sisters in neighboring state fights.

    

   George Macaluso comes from a family of Laborers, working for the International Headquarters and then in Michigan for more than twenty years. He documented the protests through his photography and was proud to see so many members from varied unions fight together. George is an artist featured in the show as well as a panelist for the discussion about the fights in the capitals.

    

   Aleks Makovski, an Indiana Teamster was part of the fight stretching from NW Indiana, to Indianapolis to Illinois during the Right to Work for less fight. His poster accompanied him all the way.
   
   Colm McCarthy is an Irish artist & photographer whose work explores sociopolitical themes. He is currently based in Madison, Wisconsin. www.colmmccarthy.com

    

   Brent Nicastro has been a Madison based freelance editorial photographer since the late 1970s whose work has appeared in more than 400 publications worldwide, including Time, People, Money, USA Today, Elle and The New York Times. From 1995 through 2010, he took a break from the freelance world to work as chief photographer for the Wisconsin State Legislature. He left that position on the same day Scott Walker was sworn in as governor. As a former state employee, Nicastro was able to personally identify with the impact of removing collective bargaining rights from public employees and when Act 10 was introduced he immediately began to use his cameras to document the tumultuous events that unfolded as a result.
   
   Jason Perlman, the Ohio AFL-CIO Political Director spent nearly 15 years in the labor movement, first with SEIU/District 1199 West Virginia/Kentucky/Ohio. For him, seeing thousands of workers locked out of their own state house to defend their rights on the job was a defining moment in Ohio’s labor history. He documented the movement in Ohio with his photos.

    

   David Polley lives in Chelsea, Michigan is a middle school teacher, 28 year is a past local union president and the local’s current chief negotiator.

    

   John Riggs, photographer, creator of Inside at Night, and owner of Tamarack Gallery Madison Wisconsin, documented and participated in the occupation of the capitol in Madison.

    

   Susan Simensky Bietila is a visual artist who has worked in collaboration with progressive social movements since the mid-1960s. Working primarily in drawing, printmaking and other 2-D media including photography, her work has been published and shown widely. As a School Nurse at a Milwaukee Public High School and member of the MTEA, she went to the Wisconsin Capitol from the start and returned many times. Her story, Wisconsin: Walk Like An Egyptian, was created for World War 3 - Illustrated magazine’s issue Tahrir: Liberation from the Mid-East to the Mid-West.
   
   Jeff, Deb Simpson and son Luka Simpson often protested in Madison. Deb is a middle school social worker. Luka, a first grader, help educate his classmates about the bill and made and proudly carried his sign with his partents.

    

   Don Sylvester has been an active photographer since his youth, and has studied with Tom McInville of Madison for years. A self taught editor, he is an active member of and has exhibited with The Center for Photography at Madison, the Wisconsin Visual Artists and the Madison Art Guild

    

   Sean Taylor is a singer-songwriter from London, England. His latest work 'Love Against Death' came directly out of the protest movement against Government oppression and austerity. www.seantaylorsongs.com
   
   Joe Weidner, photographer, is the Communications Director for AFSCME Council 8 and grew up in Akron, Ohio. He became a labor activist during a year-long strike at Pepsi-Cola that led to the firing of all union members. He became a member of AFSCME as a Columbus city health department inspector and for ten years served as local chief steward, negotiating committee member and produced the union’s newsletter.

    

   Carl Whiting is an illustrator, Masters of Art teacher, PhD in Education, used his protest-sign art to see what worked best to advance the dialogue and began adding his voice to the public protest outside the Wisconsin State capitol building soon after Scott Walker took office, warmed by the great company.