Justseeds
Encyclopedia
Justseeds Artists' Cooperative
is a decentralized artist cooperative
that sells art online. Justseeds collaborates with and supports social movement
s.
Justseeds was started in 1998 by artist Josh MacPhee
as a way to distribute his art and the Celebrate People's History poster series. He slowly expanded Justseeds to include the work of like-minded artists. In 2006, MacPhee reached out to a dozen like-minded artists and previous collaborators as well as the art collective and political street art
blog Visual Resistance in order to re-create Justseeds as a cooperative effort. Justseeds was transformed into Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative
, an artist/worker owned and run cooperative
, that launched in the summer of 2007.
The members of Justseeds include: Jesus Barraza
, Kevin Caplicki, Melanie Cervantes
, Alec Icky Dunn, Molly J. Fair, Nicolas Lampert, Josh MacPhee
, Fernando Marti, Colin Matthes, Dylan Miner
, Roger Peet, Jesse Purcell, Favianna Rodriguez
, Erik Ruin, Shaun Slifer, Chris Stain, Meredith Stern
, Swoon
, Mary Tremonte, Kristine Virsis, Pete Yahnke, and Bec Young. In 2009 artists from the Cordyceps collective of Mexico City were included, making it an international and continental collective.
Among their group projects is a travelling art show curated by Josh Macphee titled "Paper Politics" which has traveled to dozens of cities.
In July 2008 Justseeds had their first group installation at Space 1026
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
In March 2009 Justseeds had a second group installation, Which side are You On, at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Currently, Justseeds has an exhibition at the University of Arizona entitled "Confronting the Capitalist Crisis."
There are several group projects that Justseeds has worked on, including "Voices From Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex". which won the grand prix of the Graphics Art Biennial of Slovenia. They completed their second collective portfolio, RESOURCED, in the fall of 2010.
Members have written or edited several books, including:
Realizing the Impossible edited by Josh MacPhee and Erik Reuland and published on AK Press
.
Reproduce and Revolt edited by Favianna Rodriguez and Josh MacPhee and published on Soft Skull Press
.
Several members of the group created the 2009 and 2011 SEIU Social Justice
calendar.
In 2009 Justseeds won the Grand Prix of The International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Slovenia
.
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
is a decentralized artist cooperative
Artist cooperative
An artist cooperative is an autonomous visual arts organization, enterprise, or association jointly-owned and democratically-controlled by its members. Artist cooperatives are legal entities organized as non-capital stock corporations, non-profit organizations, or unincorporated associations...
that sells art online. Justseeds collaborates with and supports social movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
s.
Justseeds was started in 1998 by artist Josh MacPhee
Josh MacPhee
Josh MacPhee is an artist, curator and activist living in Brooklyn, New York. MacPhee graduated from Oberlin College in 1996 and spent eight years as an artist and activist in Chicago, Illinois where he established a distribution system called justseeds in order get more radical art projects out to...
as a way to distribute his art and the Celebrate People's History poster series. He slowly expanded Justseeds to include the work of like-minded artists. In 2006, MacPhee reached out to a dozen like-minded artists and previous collaborators as well as the art collective and political street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
blog Visual Resistance in order to re-create Justseeds as a cooperative effort. Justseeds was transformed into Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
, an artist/worker owned and run cooperative
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
, that launched in the summer of 2007.
The members of Justseeds include: Jesus Barraza
Jesus Barraza
Jesus Barraza is a print maker and graphic artist who started working as a layout editor in 1994 of the Xicana oppositional newspaper La Voz de Berkeley...
, Kevin Caplicki, Melanie Cervantes
Melanie Cervantes
Melanie Cervantes is a Xicana artist and activist based in the Bay Area.She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004 with a Bachelors Degree in Ethic Studies...
, Alec Icky Dunn, Molly J. Fair, Nicolas Lampert, Josh MacPhee
Josh MacPhee
Josh MacPhee is an artist, curator and activist living in Brooklyn, New York. MacPhee graduated from Oberlin College in 1996 and spent eight years as an artist and activist in Chicago, Illinois where he established a distribution system called justseeds in order get more radical art projects out to...
, Fernando Marti, Colin Matthes, Dylan Miner
Dylan Miner
Dylan A. T. Miner is an artist, activist, and art historian who focuses on Indigenous and anti-colonial issues. Miner is from Michigan and is of Métis descent....
, Roger Peet, Jesse Purcell, Favianna Rodriguez
Favianna Rodriguez
Favianna Rodriguez is a printmaker who got her start as a political poster designer in the 1990s’ struggles for racial justice in California....
, Erik Ruin, Shaun Slifer, Chris Stain, Meredith Stern
Meredith Stern
Meredith Stern is an artist, musician and DJ living in Providence, Rhode Island.-Biography:...
, Swoon
Swoon (artist)
Swoon is a street artist born in New London, Connecticut, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of figures...
, Mary Tremonte, Kristine Virsis, Pete Yahnke, and Bec Young. In 2009 artists from the Cordyceps collective of Mexico City were included, making it an international and continental collective.
Among their group projects is a travelling art show curated by Josh Macphee titled "Paper Politics" which has traveled to dozens of cities.
In July 2008 Justseeds had their first group installation at Space 1026
Space 1026
Space 1026 is a gallery and art collective located on the 2nd & 3rd floor of 1026 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The space serves as a gallery, venue, printing studio and art space shared by individuals, small businesses and non-profit organizations...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
In March 2009 Justseeds had a second group installation, Which side are You On, at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Currently, Justseeds has an exhibition at the University of Arizona entitled "Confronting the Capitalist Crisis."
There are several group projects that Justseeds has worked on, including "Voices From Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex". which won the grand prix of the Graphics Art Biennial of Slovenia. They completed their second collective portfolio, RESOURCED, in the fall of 2010.
Members have written or edited several books, including:
Realizing the Impossible edited by Josh MacPhee and Erik Reuland and published on AK Press
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
.
Reproduce and Revolt edited by Favianna Rodriguez and Josh MacPhee and published on Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
.
Several members of the group created the 2009 and 2011 SEIU Social Justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
calendar.
In 2009 Justseeds won the Grand Prix of The International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
.