The 12ozProphet Blogs

The Estria Foundation has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support the 6th Annual Estria Battle and Art Festival. The Estria Battle and Art Festival is a series of art events building community, promoting positive messages, and investing in the creative expression of young people.

“The Bay Area loves these events and more than 6,000 will come to the Battle and another 20,000 to the related events,” said Estria Miyashiro who founded the Battle and Festival in 2007. “We really believe this is a valuable celebration of community and urban art and that Kickstarter is a great way to ask people to invest and participate.”

Donors to the Kickstarter campaign can select limited edition rewards like art prints by Favianna Rodriguez, Vogue (TDK), Apexer, Chor Boogie, Vyal One and other printmakers and street artists. The rewards also include prints of archived Estria Battle canvases, street art postcard packs, and t-shirt and hoodie designs by Jesse Hernandez. Donors at the highest levels can even have Miyashiro create a mural for them.

The Kickstarter campaign runs until July 11th and aims to crowd-raise $25,000 to help pay for items like canvases, supplies, food, travel costs, and construction fees. Those who wish to participate or learn more can visit http://ht.ly/lMzbM for the Estria Battle and Festival’s Kickstarter page or visit http://www.estriabattle.com.

The Battle and Festival Events
The Estria Battle brings 16 of the top urban artists to Oakland to battle in a live painting event rooted in positive community messages and social justice principles. The Battle is held at the Life is Living Festival in West Oakland on October 12th and is presented in partnership with Youth Speaks, Inc. 

To begin, a one-word theme is revealed. “Grow,” “Heal,” and “Live,” were used in previous years. After learning the word, artists have five hours to paint a positive, technically and creatively excellent large canvas while people of all ages enjoy. 

The Battle includes:
The Blackbook Jam, where youth are given 3 hours to create sketchbook pieces based on a positive theme.
The Youth Group Art Jam invites teams from arts organizations to create positive works of art. Judges reward the top pieces.
The Stencil Workshop, youth design their own t-shirts. Each shirt is a unique, personal souvenir of their participation in the Festival.

Events surrounding the Estria Battle include:
The Estria Battle Art Gallery Exhibition (October 3rd – 31), showcases the work of nationally renowned artists who have made their name in public art.
The Art in Public Slideshow (October 10), invites 10 artists to present 20 of their images for 20 seconds each and invites viewers to discuss work usually only seen on the street.
In-School Workshops bring classroom instruction and demonstrations to a local school. Artists offer hands-on lessons and talk with students about art careers.
The Sunday Paint Jam (October 13th) invites artists to paint the outside walls of an Oakland school.

This is an important time for the artists to give back to the community

Liu Bolin: Mask opening at Eli Klein Gallery tonight 462 West Broadway.