URGENT: Read Southern Arizona Gender Alliance's statement regarding AZ House and Senate's proposed anti-LGBTQ bills! Express your opposition TODAY!!

ARTISTIC INQUEERIES:  Artist & Vendor Highlights!

The Institute for LGBT Studies is pleased to continue our highlights of the incredible artists and vendors who participated in our first ever Artistic InQUEERies event!

A fabulous featured vendor at Artistic InQueeries, Whimsy Protocol (created by Dana Rothstein) is a local, queer-owned company that was born two years ago and is slowly learning its identity. Inspired by self-expression and helping our customers represent themselves all day every day, Whimsy's products are designed to survive the apocalypse and look good doing it.

Whimsy Protocol makes handcrafted leather goods with a focus on representational wear that are designed to last. Currently, they specialize in bags, wallets, leather bracelets, custom projects (by request), and will be moving into shoes! 

Want to know more about Whimsy Protocol or view some of their beautiful creations? Visit their website or their Instagram.  

Pictured here is Ysa Stark, an incredible featured artist and vendor at Artistic InQUEERies, who creates clothing through Art Mimics Life. 

Art Mimics Life is a new clothing brand dedicated to helping the Eon Youth Program, a LGBTQ+ Youth program of Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation located at the Thornhill Lopez Center on 4th.

Ysa describes herself as "a jack of all trades when it comes to the artistic realm. I draw, paint, spray paint, tattoo, have a clothing brand, create custom shoes and also do queer and reproductive rights art representation."

Regarding her creative beginnings, Ysa stated: "I started creating art at a very young age. My mom made sure that I had all materials I wanted to explore with and never limited my artistic creativity. Art saved my life, to be honest. It was a form of coping and self-care when I could not speak out about the difficult obstacles I faced personally. Being of the LGBTQ+ community and a person of color, I wanted to create a brand that supports LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Art Mimics Life is about confronting societal norms and teaching positivity with endless creativity. "  

Check out Ysa's amazing clothing, tattoo, and other artistic designs on her website, or follow her on Instagram!

Meet  Jenn Hopkins, a phenomenal artist whose work was featured at Artistic InQUEERies!

Regarding her personal artistic style, Jenn expressed: "I approach my oil painting loosely at first and refine as I go. I'm attracted to bold color and motion, I will often look for the forms flowing in the paint that occur naturally and then accentuate it. I employ lots of glazing, working in very thin layers over and over till the desired effect is reached."

Describing her artistic origins, Jenn stated: "My personal works are glimpses into my psyche as I've used art for therapy my entire life. Each piece signifies a moment in time as seen through the brain of someone who struggles with depression, the colors are more saturated than life and the lines often chaotic. Movement is the other component to my work; I enjoy organic shapes and swirls that will lead your eyes around the image over and over again.

I enjoy working in multiple mediums but traditional oil painting is what dominates my heart. I like the buttery feel of paint going on the canvas as well as its ease of blending. I've always been attracted to rich and lush colors and I utilize different glazing techniques to get the color to pop. Some of my paintings have so many layers of glaze that I think light gets trapped in the paint, making the viewing experience very different in person than viewing a picture of it, even a good quality photo.

I've made a conscious mental shift this year to use my artistic strengths and apply them towards the landscapes that have cradled me my entire life in Arizona. The brilliant sunsets here in Tucson are unrivaled and I'm doing my best to transcribe them with my paint."

View more of Jenn's beautiful art on her website, or follow her on Instagram!

Want to refresh your wardrobe in 2020? Starting some early spring cleaning? Queer Closet is re-opening this week!

Join Rainbow Reads Book Club for their next book chat!

Sunday, Jan. 19th

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Woods Memorial Library | 3455 N. 1st Ave

Free, Suitable for Adults (18+)

Light refreshments available

Come be a part of this positively queer reading circle! Join us every  odd month as we share our favorite recent LGBTQ reads of all kinds with each other. Meet other readers and share about your selected book(s), then add more to your to-read list as others gush about theirs. All books (and other media) are added to a list on the library's website. Want an assigned book instead? Join us on the even months for Rainbow Reads Book Club!

Note: While this is a queer-themed book club, readers across the gender and sexuality spectrum are welcome to attend and engage in fun, respectful dialogue.

Read more about Rainbow Reads Book Club and future chats  here. 

CFP: Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social Summer Institute 2020

CFP Deadline: Friday, Feb. 7th, 2020 at 11:59PM PST

Washington State University | Pullman, WA

July 29th - August 1st

Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social ( MALCS ) requests proposals for its Summer Institute to be held at Washington State University, Pullman.  MALCS  is a national organization supporting the work of self-identified Chicana, Latina, Native American / Indigenous, Afro-Latina, and Asian-Latina mujeres, trans, and gender non-conforming academics, students, artists, and activists. This year, the Summer Institute theme, Sitio y Curación: Carving Spaces for Cultura and Healing, invites us to reflect on the unique struggles of living in marginalized spaces including, but not limited to, rural, reservation, urban, and borderlands spaces. Papers, workshops, roundtables, panels and performances that address the following topics are especially welcome: Expressions and Practices of Curación, Healing, and Spirituality, Queer Discourses, Spaces, and Identities, Struggles for Belonging: Citizenship, Nationhood, and Sovereignty, Labor, Politics, and/or Identities in Rural Spaces, and many more! 

Full CFP Details and submission portal can be found here. Read more about MALCS here. 

Aging Successfully: Issues and Needs of LGBTQ Older Adults

Save the Date for our upcoming ACE Workshop!

Check out the upcoming screening and workshop series surrounding Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America

image description: four people standing with their backs to viewer at the foreground, looking ahead to a sprawling cityscape in front of them. Image text reads: Unsettled, Film Screening, Thurs., Feb 27th, 2020, the Loft Cinema, Free, Workshop w/ Jen Gilomen, Fri., Feb 28th, 2020. For more information, visit https://docscapes.org or email Beverly Seckinger: bsecking@email.arizona.edu. Co-presented by Lesbian Looks.