This summer, eight School of Fashion Textile Design students from the Academy of Art University’s Applied Textiles 3 course hand-printed imagery inspired by local activist, Juanita MORE!, to raise funds for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) community.
MORE!, a celebrated drag performer, annually fundraises for a variety of LGBTQ events and organizations in conjunction with Pride Week. This year, funds have gone towards raising money for the Youth Empowerment Summit (Y.E.S.), a conference for LGBTQ and ally youth activists dedicated to racial, economic, and educational justice for the LGBTQ community. Youth-planned and led, it provides a safe space for middle and high school students, teachers, and Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) advisors to discuss topics related to safe schools and queer youth activism.
Of the tote designs created by the eight Academy of Art students, MORE! selected her four favorite bags to be produced by Morrison Productions and sold in stores across San Francisco.
“I am excited to be collaborating with the textile class at Academy of Art University,” said MORE! “I thought I was only going to view about a dozen totes, and when I saw that there were over 30 on display, I was incredibly impressed. Picking just one tote to produce was impossible—so I chose four of them! I hope we work together again next year.”
