The Velvet Bandit Returns to Her Hometown of Willits to Sprinkle Joy and Make Political Points
All photos show new pieces put up this weekend. [Images provided by the Velvet Bandit]
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Velvet told us she returned to her childhood home of Willits to spend time with family and in true guerilla artist fashion blast her art around town for the citizens of Willits to enjoy.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of the long-standing Roe v. Wade decision, Velvet’s work has leaned into the national conversation. In a punny roast, only the Velvet Bandit can pull off, one of her paste-ups depicted a hardshell taco emblazoned with: “I’ve had crunch wraps more supreme than this court.”
Velvet told us, “Being a mom of a teen daughter and having a niece who is 19, I find it incomprehensible that they now have less rights over their own body than I have had my entire life up until this point. They’re outraged and saddened over this ruling, as am I.” She will use her art to tell the world that “this outrageous and dangerous ruling” that advocates of reproductive rights “will not go quietly and that we’re in this fight together.”
Putting her money where her mouth is, Velvet told us 10% of all the sales on her website are being donated to states that have been “immediately impacted by the abortion ban.”
One particular paste-up had special significance for Velvet, her painting of sweet pea flowers which she said are pasted at the “bottom of Sherwood Road, the road I grew up on.” She painted them “in loving memory of my mom. They were her favorite flower.”
The Velvet Bandit works during the day as a school lunch lady. In her off hours, she contemplates ways to spread joy and evoke thought with her paste-ups, a medium that involves painting her images at her home studio and then using wheatpaste to adhere her art to banal municipal surfaces.
Her art pops with bright, vivid colors and the use of pop culture to draw the eye and beautify public spaces. This aesthetic stands in contrast to the many dark and gritty street artists that have popularized the genre.
Velvet’s progressive political beliefs also inform her art with commentary on COVID-19, Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter, and reproductive rights sprinkled throughout her pieces. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez took Velvet’s prominence to new heights when she wore a dress adorned with the words “Tax the Rich” in a font exactly like Velvet had inscribed on some of her art.
She has told us in past interviews about Mendocino County’s unique ethos and its influence on her art: “My art tries to be fun and give good vibes. That’s what Mendo means to me.”
Velvet’s influence and vision have continued to grow in the street art world. Recently, she was interviewed by a university-produced podcast about the work she created in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Parts of that interview and her art will be included in a college textbook, which she said is the “biggest honor I’ve received yet!!!”
Next week, she will be attending a lunch lady convention. “But after I return, I’ll be working hard on getting things ready for my art show coming up at Moonlight Brewing Company in August,” she said. “Never a dull moment for the Bandit, I tell you what.”
Earlier:
- The Velvet Bandit: Mendocino County’s Very Own Street Artist
- Mendocino County’s Very Own Street Artist the Velvet Bandit Strikes Willits Charter School with Vivid Golden Poppies
- The Velvet Bandit Is Back at It with New Art in Willits and Hopland
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The nor cal bankseeeeeeee
Love her work!
But why is everything so political? If they repeal the 19th amendment, then you got something to post art about…
This is a Medical issue, and a blow to everyone’s freedoms!
In this country, you and your lawyers have the freedom to try to manipulate the legal system (if there is indeed a comprehensible system) in any way you choose, at your own expense and with burden of proof…
Everyone should stop protesting and enroll in Law School instead, like Michael Newdow did so that his daughter wouldn’t have to say the “Pledge of Allegiance”, during which I stood dutifully back in the 50’s and mumbled nonsense, already outraged to be forced to pray in a place where church and state were purported to be separate…
And, now, this is the issue: Why have Justices like Amy Barrett the Crazy Christer, and Clarence Thomas (remember Anita Hill) been allowed to rule on this? Both should have been recused, and, the whole thing will be fought over for decades to come…
Why do churches have any say in any public law? And why are we still talking about gun laws?
Protest all you want, it’s America, and the whole affair is calculated to distract us from Russia, COVID, and Mass Murders, now happening in a location near you…
As Bob Dylan wrote: “Let’s go and build a fort, and start buying the place with beads…”
What kind of pysch drugs was this parade shooter on? Oh yeah, we’re not allowed that answer. What a joke. 40 million people on mind altering medicine , not a good thing.
I had a foundling dog that was afraid of children. At family get togethers
She would hide and growl. I gave her a dog tranquilizer and she started stalking the kids. Unintended consequences. Drugs were not the right answers.
It’s true, the known side effects of SSRI (anti-anxiety/anti depression) meds include suicidal and homicidal ideation…
Estimates are that around 37 million people over the age of 12 take these drugs, in the USA.
My only question is: Would you like a high capacity magazine with that?
If you register a vehicle, you are required to have liability/property damage/uninsured motorist insurance!
So if you buy a gun, you should have to maintain high limit insurance, for each firearm registered.
Each bullet should have a serial number, and have to be insured separately, and each bullet should cost $1000.
I guess you have no problem with say a 250$ fee to vote?
So she came over, took a shit, and left. Nice
It’s not easy to make political points. You have to sneak them in where you can, do guerrilla art I guess. I was involved with a stencil project in NYC where we spray painted on the sidewalk over different art stencils that depicted dangers of having a US nuclear naval homeport in n.y. Harbor. We did all 4 corners of every intersection for miles and it also showed the distance downwind which we changed the number on the stencil every couple of blocks. It was surprisingly effective. I try to bring up and share links about political issues that the mainstream media has brainwashed us to shun such as the takeover of our government, including the Supreme Court, by a sinister cabal. The fact that nobody likes hearing about it is unfortunate but understandable because brainwashing works. https: unlimitedhangout .com/2019/07/investigative-series/hidden-in-plain-sight-the-shocking-origins-of-the-jeffrey-epstein-case/
She deserves a thanks….
Is a person on psych meds mentally stable without their medication? And who is making sure they take their meds? Guns and meds equal mass shootings.
As does Guns & Lack of Meds!!!
As i said Don, who is making sure they are taking their meds. Anyone that takes psych meds shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun.
Her art is predicably leftist establishment.
Not very unique in a state like ours, but of course, the average 101 muppets always like what confirms their own worldview, myself included.
she might consider partnering with Nike, or any other neo-justice corporation that shares in the general theme of globalism worldwide markets
How amusing that you consider the right to control one’s own body “leftist”. Guessing you’re a man?
Except the reason most women are even considering abortion is because they chose not to control their own body. Abortion is murder.
That doesn’t make any sense Alf. Everyone has sex, hopefully every day. Then sometimes, babies happen. Do we really want a lot of unwanted babies in the world? Probably not. Also, women should decide what they want to do with their bodies, not governments.
It’s amusing that this person thinks they have the right to vandalize the town. This person is a vandal
Exactly. And if her political points were anything but left-wing drivel, this propaganda piece would have been about the terrible, hateful vandalism from white wing extremist, white supremacy groups, offering a reward for information on the perp.
Inside Every Liberal is a Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out!
Exactly. And if her political points were anything but left-wing drivel, this propaganda piece would have been about the terrible, hateful vandalism from white wing extremist, white supremacy groups, offering a reward for information on the perp.
Inside Every Liberal Is A Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out
She is not marking any surfaces with paint or ink.
Wheatpasting is not vandalism. This is paper, flour, and water.
No glue, no paint, no etching.
But it is the left that has supported this right so how is it not “leftist”?
I mentioned nothing of abortion in my quip on boring leftist art, but since you ask, my stance on that subject could be satirically stated as “Mandatory Abortion”.
I’ll one up you.
Although the mammalian urge to reproduce bring us to some of the most sincere experiences, sadly,
anybody wanting to bring a child into this world with no anxiety has got to be insane, simple or vain.
“I find it incomprehensible that they now have less rights over their own body”
Says the lib who, no doubt, wants “vaccines” that don’t work to be mandated.
The reason it’s “incomprehensible” to you is because it isn’t true; typical uninformed leftists, always bark loudest about that which they don’t understand (incomprehensible). You have just as much right in Commiefornia, not so much in Texas. So stay the fuck outta Texas where you’re not wanted anyway.
Locking up political opponents without due process is totalitarian.
The Supreme Court reversed some judicial activism and said that abortion rights should be decided democratically by laws enacted in the individual states. The Supreme Court did not make abortion illegal. That was the right decision, judges should not be changing the constitution by edict.
The democrat party doesn’t own the art world, although they think so and utilize it to advance their racist, elitist, statist, non country and mountain people agenda. Let’s do an experiment, let’s put the following statements with supporting art work around Arcata: “we are the democrat party, the bumper sticker slogan people”; “still keeping racism alive after centuries, say high to the democrats of 2022”; “we elected an old corrupt white racist named Joe, WE DID THAT, wahoooo!”; “never go hunting with a crackhead named Hunter”; “Robert Hunter Biden is not a Grateful Dead fan” with Grateful Dead lyrics; “ who stole my rainbow” written into a rainbow picture; to upset the crt racists, “I love white people, they are awesome” @nd “sorry to break it to you, but old white men invented almost every modern convenience and technology found in the world today.” And all of it would last about two seconds before being ripped down by a “tolerant” coexist bumper sticker slogan democrat. Bummer huh. PS nice try on the ketchup thing but that story was debunked as well although the picture of the plastic bottle was nice. Plastic? Fossil fuel? That is just wrong. Glass is much better. Circling back to my first statement above, the use of art to create deception and outright fraud passes for a means to an end for democrats. You probably should have drawn a picture of a huge crack vending machine with Hunter stuck inside it and old Joe depositing thousand dollar bills into the money slot, That would have been much funnier and based on reality.
Art???….try vandalism. If a kid did this they would be in juvenile hall
It is absolutely rediculous for you to be political! We do not care about your political views anymore than you care about ours. We don’t go around Plastering our political views all over town. Leave it alone