Sep 2, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I am writing with another update on the progress of the Guns In The Hands of Artists project and of course the forthcoming book.

Last week I traveled to St. Louis where the show will open at Washington University's Des Lee Gallery in downtown on September 16th and run through November 21st.

While I was there laying out the exhibition in the gallery, I met with city officials about launching a gun buyback in conjunction with the exhibition.  I also met with University officials about coordinating the exhibition with their larger campus-wide, yearlong initiative “Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis.” The exhibition is being presented by the Institute for Public Health, The Brown School and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University.

Here is a link to the press release

https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/Guns-in-the-Hands-of-Artists-2015.aspx

While in town, I also did three TV interviews with Fox, CBS and NBC.

Below is a great piece done by Fox.

http://fox2now.com/2015/08/26/washington-university-set-to-open-gun-art-exhibit/

On the book front, we are getting closer.  I have spent the last month securing more contributors and we should start the design phase in the next few weeks and then I will be able to get you a better idea of when it will be ready to ship out to you and for bookstores across the country.  See the new contributor list below with some great new additions!

Contributors to the book thus far include

Walter Isaacson

Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly

Maria Cuomo Cole

Mayor Mitch Landrieu

Dan Gross of The Brady Campaign

Joe Nocera of The New York Times

Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice

Author John Barry

Lucia McBath mother of Jordan Davis

Rapper Lupe Fiasco

Poet E. Ethelbert Miller

Lolis Eric Elie

Curator Dan Cameron

and more still being confirmed

Thank you for your continued patience as the book takes shape....Stay tuned for more information

Creatively and Gratefully

Jonathan