Chris Drew screen prints subversive messages daily (photo by Lee Klawans)
Chris Drew is in his 60's. He has mostly gray hair and some of his teeth could use some work. He sits Indian style and cranks out about 100 patches per hour on a silk screen mechanism. I see him around at festivals. I saw him last night at the Cub's game. The Cubs were losing, Mr. Drew always wins! He hand screens patches on bits of cloth and gives them away. At the Peace Fest, he was giving away hemp patches, last night he was producing on site, Cub's patches. He doesn't stop moving, always looking down and working, until someone pause to look at his work. He is giving out candy to babies, it is easy work. He targets his crowd with very specific images. Chris is a certain genius. On each patch is, as Chris says, a "secret", it is a link to his site . Chris says, "Some people "get it" right away, some don't, but eventually they will see my message." The site is very 1998 GeoCities, but the message and delivery are not at all amateur. Chris believes the City is cheating artists of their free speech rights. He is protesting this injustice by giving his art away in the Loop. City law, claiming traffic control as the reason, allows artists to give their art away but not to sell their art without severe restrictions. First Amendment case law says there is no difference between selling and giving away speech and that it does not matter whether or not the speaker is paid. To protest the Peddler's License law that unfairly restricts artists, Chris will be screen-printing patches in public in the Loop and most of the city on a random schedule all summer long. He intends to blog at Chris' blog about his experiences to build support for the First Amendment rights of artists.
Chris is a child of the forties and a 1960's authentic San Francisco style hippy. He told me stories of knocking around Morocco in 1970 in a Casablanca styled haze of 60's love. He is a product of his generation. He knows his rights inside and out. He asked the ACLU for help in upholding his free speech rights, exactly their mission statement, and he was turned down! Chris is a true rights advocate and not giving up an inch. He has started his own organization. On the border of each patch that Chris gives away, it lists his website. Please take note, Chris is not giving up and he needs your help! Visit his site and give him a dollar, your free speech rights depend on it!
Free Speech Artists' Movement
Comments
why doesn't the aclu help him?
The ACLU, like most other non-profits in this festering economy, lacks the funding dollars to support Chris' efforts, although the ACLU did consider his request. The ACLU attorney who proposed support for Chris in a meeting to his colleagues, offered limited help to Chris after a decision was made by the group that their funding was too limited at that time to support Chris.
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