Carnegie Library Art Show.

Lizzee Solomon Poster

Stop by the Carnegie Library (Main) in Pittsburgh, PA to see the Healthy Artists Movie Poster Exhibition! Our 21 posters will be up in the library’s gallery space until June 30th.

We asked some of Pittsburgh’s finest artists to create posters inspired by our documentary series, their own experiences, and the need for continued health care reform in the US. Drop by and see which poster speaks to you!

Also, fill out a notecard and answer the question: “What would you do if the US health care system worked for you?” Drop it in the fishbowl, and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a limited edition poster print.

Big thanks to Jude Vachon (artist, librarian, and health advocate extraordinaire) for making this dreamy library show a reality!

Artists Include:

Crystala ArmagostStephanie ArmbrusterDavid BernaboSeth Clark - Dave D’Incau Jr. - Doug DeanCorey EscotoJenn GoochMundania Horvath – Megan Kopke – Jasen LexJing LiuJeremy MarshallSteph Neary - Ben Quint-Glick – Jim Rugg – Abby Ryder – Andy Scott - Lizzee SolomonLaurie TrokHyla Willis

Vote for a Healthy Democracy!

In this 3 minute short, one grassroots documentary series (Healthy Artists!) attempts to unite a community for health care equality.  If the message resonates with you, please take a second to VOTE for our video and share it with your friends too!

This is our submission to the Looking@Democracy competition, a project by the Illinois Humanities Council and MacArthur Foundation. Continue reading →

Art in Fact.

art in fact logo

healthy democracy grid pic

“I’m thinking more critically about the artist’s lifestyle:  Why do we accept that it should be fraught with instability? Why do we accept the starving/poor/tortured artist cliche? And why are all my creative, intelligent, artistic friends uninsured and unable to see a doctor when they need to?”

Check out the full interview with Julie Sokolow, the founder of Healthy Artists, as well as ArtInFact Magazine‘s coverage of our poster series!

The Original Magazine

The Original Magazine Spring 2013 Cover

It was great to collaborate with the University of Pittsburgh’s arts and culture magazine The Original on the Healthy Artists Movie Poster Exhibition!  With their help, we were able to score five amazing student artists for the show and engage tons of folks on campus in the health care reform conversation.  Editor-in-chief, Hadley Pratt, did a fantastic job of telling the Healthy Artists story, from the creation of our documentary series up to our big exhibition. Read the PDF here (our article is from pgs 35-39) or grab a hard copy in Pittsburgh.  Photos by Emily O’Donnell.

Art, Coffee, and Politics, Oh My!

commonplace healthy artists 2PhotoS by Ben Filio

We’re happy to announce that 7 of our Healthy Artists posters will be hangin’ at Commonplace Coffee in Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh, PA) for the month of April!  Make sure to stop by, check out the art, and enter a dialogue about how the US health care system could work better for you and your community.  We’ve got some free educational materials there for ya too!

Thanks again to the folks at Commonplace for hosting the show!  (Artists included from left to right:  Mundania Horvath, Jim Rugg, Andy Scott, Jing Liu, Doug Dean, Seth Clark, and Jasen Lex.)

On the Road to Fair Care

libertybellpostcard Since our Healthy Artists team is based in PA, we wanted to shout out for the incredible progress towards universal health care happening in our own state.  A new economic impact study shows how PA can save $17 billion annually while providing comprehensive health care to all citizens.  Check out a brief article we wrote for Michael Moore entitled, “Democrats and Republicans Join Forces for PA Single-Payer” and help the reform movement in PA or the state you call home!

Everything Will Probably Be Fine

A documentary short on NPR and USA Today-recognized musician and conceptual artist, Jenn Gooch, and her plight with medical bankruptcy.

In this documentary short, we follow Jenn Gooch, from her folk-musical upbringing in Texas to her pursuit of conceptual art at Carnegie Mellon University.  Gooch discusses her web-based community art project “One Cold Hand” that started in Pittsburgh and ended up catching the attention of USA Today and NPR. Despite her artistic successes, Gooch suffered bankruptcy caused by medical bills. “Everything Will Probably Be Fine” spotlights the struggles so many Americans face in the only industrialized country to reject universal health care.

Video produced, directed, and edited by Julie Sokolow.