1934 Trucker’s Strike
Women’s Alliance Food Kitchen
Women’s Alliance Infirmary
Women’s Alliance Protest at Minneapolis City Hall Against Violence
19.5″ x 29″ pastel on paper
Link to pastel drawings
These three pastels will be included in art exhibition that relates to historic labor activism in diverse and meaningful ways. I’ve chosen to focus on the Women’s Alliance who supported the Local 574 by providing food for strikers and their families, an infirmary for needed rest and recovery from violence and the women protesting in front of Mpls City Hall against the violence.
Coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the important Minneapolis Truckers’ Strike of 1934 the exhibit explores the relationship of history to the present as well as workers’ role in social change. The artwork will connect a wide range of perspectives that relate to the strike. The exhibit will include banners, photographs, installations, drawings, paintings, tapestries and a video presentation.
The Minneapolis Strike was a watershed moment for the labor movement as well as for societal transformation. Workers organized to fight for their right to form a union despite strong opposition from the police, National Guard and the Citizens’ Alliance, an anti-union employers group. They fought for better life in the bloody struggle for workers’ rights—and they won. The settlement made Minneapolis a Union Town.
This exhibition will be held at the Cargill Gallery in the Minneapolis Central Library near where the strike events
The artists included in this exhibition include: Mike Alewitz, Rachel Breen, Keith Christensen, Olivia Levins Holden, Juxtaposition Arts youth, Mike Rivard, Brooks Turner and myself. I’m honored to participate with these strong voices in visual art. May our collective voice speak boldly to today’s need for social change.