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Saturday, August 20th at 7:00 P.M.

Contact: Joanne Berlin
Coordinator, LA Chapter of Death Penalty Focus (310) 260-8514

ACTIVISM THROUGH ART: THE DEATH PENALTY
Presented by the L.A. Chapter of Death Penalty Focus and
the L.A. Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Mike Farrell to MC a panel/performance event
R.S.V.P. (310) 264-4678
Suggested donation $10
Track 16 Gallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave. Bldg. C1
Santa Monica, CA 90404

The L.A. Chapter of Death Penalty Focus and the L.A. Coalition Against the Death Penalty present an evening of art, thought, and discussion on August 20, 2005 at 7 P.M. hosted by Track 16 Gallery. The panel includes artists from various disciplines ranging from fine art, to acting, writing, and music. The panel will discuss their perspectives on capital punishment, and will be available to answer questions from the audience.

Mike Farrell, President of Death Penalty Focus, and moderator of the panel, will set the context for the evening by speaking briefly about the study commissioned by the State Senate to examine how the death penalty is used in California, and on AB 1121, a bill recently introduced to the State Assembly calling for a Moratorium on Executions while that study is completed.

Other panelists include artist, Malaquias Montoya whose exhibition "Premeditated: Meditations on Capital Punishment," will be on view at Track 16 Gallery from July 30 through August 27, 2005. Montoya's work illuminates the inhumanity of state-sponsored premeditated murder. Also participating will be Barbara Becnel, a writer and activist who co-authored a series of anti-gang books for children with Stanley Tookie Williams (California death row inmate, co-founder of the Crips, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and one of the men in our state facing a last appeal to the US Supreme Court this fall, (www.tookie.com)) Actors Mike Farrell, Shelley Fabares, and other celebrities will also participate by reading from some of the writings of death row inmates. There will also be music from rising singer/songwriter Danny McGaw.

Come at 7 P.M. and view Montoya's works and a new exhibition from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics entitled "Dead Wrong" International Posters Against the Death Penalty. www.politicalgraphics.org

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About LA Coalition Against the Death Penalty:

Members of the LA Coalition Against the Death Penalty include: ACLU, Amnesty International, CA People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Focus, Families to Amend CA's Three Strikes, Helper Alliance/Venice 2000, Human Rights Watch, Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace, National Lawyers" Guild, NAACP, Progressive Christians Uniting, and Progressive Jewish Alliance.

The coalition was recently brought together to form an effective grassroots movement to support the call for a Moratorium on Executions in CA. Member groups will have tables at this event to offer informational materials, petitions for signing, and ways in which people can get involved to help educate the public and lobby politicians. The growing number of wrongful convictions in our state calls for a "time out" on executions, especially while a state sponsored commission is studying the flaws in our criminal justice system.

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About Death Penalty Focus:

Founded in 1988, Death Penalty Focus is a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment through grassroots organizing, research, and the dissemination of information about the death penalty and its alternatives. www.deathpenalty.org

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About Malaquias Montoya:

Malaquias Montoya is a leading figure in the West Coast political Chicano graphic arts movement, a political and socially conscious movement that expresses itself primarily through the mass production of silk-screened posters. Montoya's works include acrylic paintings, murals, washes, and drawings, but he is primarily known for his silkscreen prints, which have been exhibited nationally as well as internationally. He is credited by historians as being one of the founders of the "social serigraphy" movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1960s. His visual expressions, art of protest, depict the struggle and strength of humanity and the necessity to unite behind that struggle. Montoya's work uses powerful images, which are combined with text to create his socially critical messages. Montoya has lectured and taught at numerous universities and colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Stanford, the University of California, Berkeley and the California College of Arts and Crafts. He was a visiting professor in the Art Department at the University of Notre Dame in 2000, and continues as a Visiting Fellow for the Institute for Latino Studies, also at Notre Dame. Since 1989 Montoya has been a professor at the University of California, Davis. His classes, through the Departments of Chicana/o Studies and Art, include silkscreening, poster making and mural painting, and focus on Chicana/o culture and history.

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About Danny McGaw:

At the age of twelve, Danny McGaw was wandering the streets of his native Manchester, England when the world took shape in his eyes. He chanced upon a guy playing a Nick Drake cover on a sidewalk. "There was something about the way his voice and guitar whisked us away for just a moment. It united all these strangers in a very intimate way."

It wasn't long before Danny asked his father for a guitar and began writing music. And for the past twelve years, he has followed that same acoustic guitar across an ocean and continent. At twenty, he found his way to Los Angeles where his street performances and club gigs have been helping people escape one song at a time.

"Lyrically he is an original, with a solid voice that is distinct and memorable," said L.A. Times.

Without any attention to genre, Danny is the real life experience that delves into the realm we all relate to and can empathize. His ever so authentic delivery allows you to vividly experience this young man's quest for self fulfillment. The person behind the voice is real and not just a listening experience.

"This young man knows how to captivate a crowd with his six-string guitar and honest lyrics," wrote LA Weekly.

His songs are quite simple and pure. Danny McGaw is a rising talent to watch. (www.DannyMcGaw.com)