"What we Censor, What we Don't" opened at the Croatian Cultural Center of Greater Los Angeles on Sunday August 3.  New friends were made, long existing friendships renewed, and wine was drank.

Several people bought the logo t-shirts (which are far better than regular t-shirts and available in multiple styles), and maybe some of the "posing towels," definitely some greeting cards and possibly some other stuff.  I haven't sorted all of it out yet.

The most important part is that people seemed to understand the point of it, some of them even said that the art helped them firm up some of their thinking on the ideas presented.  And that is the real payoff.  What I really want to do is help people realize that they are not powerless, they can stand up for what they believe is right, and they can influence what is accepted as a "community standard."

Still, some people just had to have fun:

Others took a more measured view of the work by Andrea Patrie:

All photos by the lovely Diana Oliva, who is also pictured below.

This Thursday, the San Pedro Art Association will have its monthly event associated with San Pedro's "First Thursday Artwalk" in this room.  I am really looking forward to this. Not only because there will be a lot of people (hundreds) looking at the art, but also because the  SPAA has a good chef who usually has an interesting spread out for the event.  Again, in addition to the artwork itself, we will have some "merch" for folks, and if you are interested in what it looks like, the shirts are in white and heather, and look something like this:

The "posing towels" are something I usually give to models on sets where they don't have any clothing, but we still don't want to have them directly on sharp rocks or someone else's furniture.  They look a little something like this (without the watermark of course):

In any event, I hope to see as many of you as possible at one or more of the events scheduled for this Thursday and then every weekend in August.  Next Saturday for example, professor Sean DuFrene will be giving a talk on his take on art and photography.  The more I talk to the guy, the more interested I am to hear what he has to say, so at least I am looking forward to that part of the afternoon/evening.  If you have questions, please post them here because you're probably not the only one with that question, or send an email.