Ricardo Levins Morales is an artist and organizer based in Minneapolis. He uses his art as a form of political medicine to support individual and collective healing from the injuries and ongoing reality of oppression.
He was born into the anti-colonial movement in his native Puerto Rico and was drawn into activism in Chicago when his family moved there in 1967.
Ricardo left high school early and worked in various industries, and over time began to use his art as part of his movement work. This activism has included support work for the Black Panthers and Young Lords and participating in or acting in solidarity with farmers, environmental, labor, racial justice, antiwar and other struggles for peoples empowerment. He was a founding member of the Northland Poster Collective (1979-2009).
He also leads workshops on creative organizing, social justice strategy and sustainable activism, and mentors and supports organizers. The worker members of RLM Art Studio are represented by the Newspaper and Communications guild/CWA.
Ricardo’s work is widely used by grassroots movements, organizations and communities.
Meet some of the folks who work behind-the-scenes at Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio:
Jeff Nygaard (he/him) is The Button Man at RLM Art Studio, making all of the pin-back buttons that you see on the website, as well as all sorts of custom buttons for use in organizing drives, campaigns, rallies, and almost any special event or occasion you can imagine. He also makes stickers, magnets, and a variety of other promotional/organizing products. But, beyond buttons…
Jeff is a working-class intellectual of Norwegian, Swiss, and Irish heritage who grew up in a small town in southern Minnesota. Jeff has been an activist, writer, editor, and teacher based in Minneapolis for the past 40 years, and has worked at a variety of jobs, including work as a snow shoveler, courier, grocery store worker, and cab driver. From September of 1998 until 2024 he published his own free newsletter on media, politics, and culture called “Nygaard Notes: Independent Periodic News and Analysis.” His work has appeared in the Star Tribune, Z Magazine, Counterpunch, Access Press, and various other publications.
Jeff’s writing and activist work has lately been seriously diminished due to chronic health issues. But he still loves supporting the radical social justice work that brought him to RLM Arts many years ago!
Jaime (she/her) is RLM Arts’ Minister of Product Development. She’s done a little bit of everything at the shop off-and-on since joining on a fill-in basis in 2012, and after 20 years in Minneapolis now works remotely from the RLM Great Plains Bureau. As RLM’s lead graphic designer, she helps turn Ricardo’s art into posters, cards, puzzles, shirts, zines, and more, as well as helping bring your custom button ideas to life. Jaime also helps manage this website and for three years has been the designer for the Liberation Calendar. She’s grateful for the creativity and flexibility working at RLM Arts allows for, and spends some of her free time in outdoor adventures, watching birds, making zines, and cheering on women’s sports, all whilst autonomously scheming towards a future without cops, bosses or landlords.
León Valencia Currie (they/them) is our “Minister of Internal and External Communications” at the RLM Art Studio. They work on digital marketing for the shop, as well as helping out in our mailroom, with administrative tasks, at fairs and providing creative support for each year’s “Liberation Calendar”.
Outside of work, León is a visual artist who graduated from Instituto Allende in 2020. Since then, they have led workshops for the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Comunidades Latinas Organizadas en Servicio. They have exhibited work at the University of Minnesota Quarter Gallery, and Public Functionary. In 2023 they received The Creative Support for Individuals Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. They are a studio artist with Public Functionary and most recently began the PF Studios x Highpoint Center for Printmaking Residency. You can find them on instagram @LeonCurrie
Rowan Fakhoury (they/them) is the Minister of Commerce :), packing and shipping all the beautiful gifts you get for yourself and others :P. They are a mixed, queer, trans & disabled little dandelion puff. Floating & breathing in this world as a community herbalist/brujx, facilitator, farmer, bodyworker (biodynamic craniosacral, reiki & sobada practitioner) , full-spectrum support companion— focus on abortion & loss, organizer, space holder, collaborator, humxn. Their practice is rooted in deep listening, ritual and co-creating a fluid container for nourishment, rest, liberation, joy and unknowns. Navigating the seen + unseen— finding collaboration in the tangible and intangible realms. When not at work, they can often be found giggling and snacking among the plant and other nature & humxn friends.
Alyssa (Lizzy) Wilson (she/Her) is the Minister of Commerce and Keeper of the Storefront Goods. She packs and ships the goodies you order and maintains the storefront, keeping it stocked and clean for your browsing pleasure. She also helps organize for art fairs and provides support for the Liberation Calendar.
Outside of work, Lizzy is a visual artist from Tulsa, Oklahoma and moved to Minneapolis, MN in 2023. She studied Fine Art at Northwestern Oklahoma State University and has focused on oil painting since 2020. You can see her art on instagram @_lizzyrenee_ or her Northeast Minneapolis Art Association (NEMAA) page. She is also a political activist in Minneapolis and a member of the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America. She spends the rest of her free time going to the movies, enjoying the outdoors, reading, and plotting to seize the means of production.
