ericameryl

My piece in Obscurity, “The Earth itself is an Instrument of Labor,” is an installation of silkscreened photo images and interactive writing desk. The images are of wildland firefighters at work through the state prison system, and came from workshops with @amgregg907 , Nathan and Noelle, all formerly incarcerated firefighters who shared their stories with us. Their words are also printed in @toosphexy ‘s artist book in the show. One of the themes that kept coming up in our conversations was the idea of being seen or unseen. Invisiblized labor and people have long been an interest in my art practice and life. So I designed postcards for visitors to send to inmates at South Fork (men) and Coffee Creek (women) prison camps where incarcerated people live while working for the forestry department. The ink for all printed material was gathered from forest burn sites in Oregon and California, where inmates have worked to fight fire. The postcards will be delivered in December and installed as a mini exhibition inside the prison. I’ll be offering a few opportunities to meet me in the space and learn a little more about the incarcerated firefighters, as well as mini writing workshops. Saturday Nov 12th will be an all artist panel plus postcard workshop. RSVP for that coming soon. Til then, thank you to all the firefighters for your stories, the @worldforestrycenter facilities crew for your install help, and staff for supporting the show, and to my friends and partners for believing in my work and enduring my late nights and missed invitations while I buried myself in work this summer. Love you all and looking forward to some slower time through the fall. ❤️‍🔥

Updated the Etsy shop to include this hot strike summer print! I’m using this as a personal fundraiser to help me get to Chicago to represent Portland as a delegate at the DSA National Convention in August. Solidarity with striking workers everywhere! ✊🌞 4-color, hand printed silkscreen 12x16” $35 Link to shop in bio

Erica Meryl Thomas Contradictions I & II 2022 Plywood, Printed newspaper, gesso, ink, silkscreen print In this diptych, @ericameryl compiles articles published during the early stages of the pandemic, exploring shifts in the culture of work, responses to “the great resignation,” and renewed demands for better working conditions to meet the moment.

Erica Meryl Thomas is propagating roses in the gallery as a living piece. This work references the labor of organizing—the deep care and Herculean effort necessary for the even the smallest wins—as well as the “bread and roses” slogan associated with the labor and women’s suffrage movements. This slogan, coined by Rose Schneiderman in 1912, argues that every worker deserves not only to have their basic needs met —the metaphorical “bread”—but also to enjoy life’s “roses”: art, leisure, and creativity. Propagation IV: Struggling to be born 2026 Rose cuttings, rooting compound, soil, transparent acrylic containers @ericameryl 📸 @erikpatakphoto

Erica Meryl Thomas “We don’t dream of labor” 2022–ongoing Audio voicemail recordings Responses to the questions: “What have you given up for work?” “What would you do with your time if you didn’t have to work?” Come by and listen to the searing yet hopeful responses callers left on the hotline; you can even leave a message yourself. @ericameryl 📸 @erikpatakphoto

“Afterwork” by Erica Meryl Thomas opens Friday, 5-8pm. Thomas writes: “This exhibition is a manifestation of my ongoing research and artistic/political praxis, organizing in the labor movement as an industrial unionist in education, and thinking as a conceptual artist, questioning capitalism, and imagining and building a future where it is obsolete.” @ericameryl

I’m excited to share this body of work again @__queen.projects in Bellingham, WA…new meaning and new context, same lens. Opening May 1-May 31 Visit me in the gallery every Thurs in May 6-8pm for conversation about organizing and political power. Closing party with free live screenprinting May 30th 6pm!

Next Friday: join us for the May Day opening of “Afterwork” by Erica Meryl Thomas! Erica Meryl Thomas is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist, educator, and organizer living in both Portland, OR and Bellingham, WA. Her work explores labor, value, exchange, and the various ways art and political movements influence each other. She often invites participation or works collaboratively with others as an embedded artist to uncover stories through personal interactions. The resulting projects take the form of installations, storytelling, documentary, interventions in public space, conversations, printmaking, publications and books, performances, and other forms. She organizes education workers as Co-Chair of her adjunct faculty labor union, Portland State University Faculty Association AFT local 3571, as an at-large member of the United Faculty of Western Washington, and she co-chairs the Portland Democratic Socialists of America’s organizing committee Labor Working Group. Her work in political struggle, as a teacher and as an artist are intertwined, each informing the other. @ericameryl

Roger and Erica join Jay to commiserate about the excruciating experience of watching Louis Theroux’s new documentary ‘Inside the Manosphere’. Is the Red Pill more of a reactionary social movement or a Patreon-based pyramid scheme? Is the Manosphere the new face of neo-Nazi propaganda or The Secret for Zoomer men? Can you escape the Matrix by becoming a Machine? And most importantly: why can’t Louis Theroux say the word ‘capitalism’? Listen at fuckingcancelled.com or wherever you get your podcasts. . . . . . . . #fuckingcancelled #jaylesoleil #insidethemanosphere #rogerpeet #ericathomas

Live printing with @toosphexy and @ericameryl at the @justseeds table for the No Kings rally in Portland! #screenprint #silkscreen #liveprinting

Scenes from the @_pccffap_ picket lines, featuring @lyndseydotw @shelleychamberlinart @portlanddsa and @psufalocal3571 comrades, art school friends, and the tatters of a well worn banner by @toosphexy Many adjuncts like me teach at two schools, and my union PSUFA has a lot of overlap of our members who also work at PCC. We support the strike and are paying close attention to your bargaining and contract action (strike) teams to learn what we can for our own strike!

Happiest of birthdays to my ride or die @toosphexy , my wilderness explorer companion, my art collaborator, my sartorialist, amazing cook, intellectual, travel companion, adventurer, lover and not-so-secret admirer… I love you so much and feel so lucky to be with you in all these ways. ☺️