On Monday February 16th, radicals and creatives gathered for a second annual Creative Wintervention: an intentional space for participants to make and share art during the darkest, coldest, and often most isolated time of the year. In a season already marked by death and dormancy, worsened yet by the undeniable arrival of fascism in the US, the birth of new projects can be both an act of creative resistance and a much needed pick-me-up for those feeling the weight of compounding hardships. Throughout January, creatives met weekly to co-work on and develop projects like linocuts, paintings, mixed media sculptures, photography series, clothes, creative writing, and performance art.

Through the event, Wintervention organizers and artists raised over $700 for Escudo Latino in Springfield, an organization providing Spanish language support, food boxes, and other resources for the local Latine community.

Bones, a Wintervention co-organizer shared that,

“The Wintervention project was an event originally constructed by queer people in Vermont, where the winters are harsher than they are here. The purpose of the project is not necessarily to produce a refined, final outcome piece to display, but to survive the winter by connecting with each other through engaging in the process of creation and challenging ourselves as artists. Through weekly gatherings we offered each other support, feedback, and encouragement. Our collective created a center of gravity that pulled people in our ecosystem together and planted seeds for old and new friendships to blossom. The showcase was a space to gather and share the energy we generated and our creative experience with the local community, and offer our gratitude for the sacred practice of shaping our world together.”

Shared here are some of the pieces made for the Eugene Wintervention this year.