Presenters: Susan Simensky Bietila & PM Press

Art can be more dangerous than words—especially when it marches, masks up, and takes to the streets. Movement artist, agitator, and cultural conspirator Susan Simensky Bietila will discuss her lifetime of drawing resistance through artwork, organizing, street actions, art builds, and more, encapsulated in her new book, Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance (PM Press, 2026). This new book is is a vivid, image-rich memoir and archive chronicling Susans six decades of work. From underground newspapers of the 1960s to Indigenous-led water protection actions and puppet-filled protest marches of today, Bietila has never stopped making trouble—or making art. This presentation will be both a discussion and blueprint for artists who want to fuel social movements and a celebration of the enduring power of art made in, with, and for resistance.

Bio: Susan Simensky Bietila is based in Wisconsin and works with Indigenous water protectors and allies to stop toxic mines and oil pipelines by organizing art builds and creating banners, puppets, and masks. She works with social justice movements including Voces de la Frontera, Jewish Voice for Peace, Communities United by Water, and many others. She was a coeditor and collective member of RAT—the pioneering second-wave feminist newspaper—and later joined the World War 3 Illustrated collective, where she continues to create graphic nonfiction rooted in her activist experience. Her work has appeared in the streets and halls of power to galleries and magazines, including Fifth Estate, The Nation, and In These Times, and in books, including Anarchy and Art: From the Paris Commune to the Fall of the Berlin Wall; Wobblies: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World; and World War 3 Illustrated: 1979–2014. Full book info, praise and more: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1873

https://art-as-activism.blogspot.com/ and https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1873