COAST CITIES — After working for two years to come up with the right design, artist and silk-screener Chris Sands of Oceanside believes he can make a difference.His newest design expresses his thoughts regarding food DNA-modifications, which came to the fore in California’s Prop. 37 and the labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Sale of the shirts by Moondoggie Designs, at the Encinitas Seaside Bazaar and on their Web site, will generate funds to be donated to groups that are fighting to promote the people’s right to know what is in their food. Sands’ vision is to donate 25 percent of the cost of the shirt to non-profit organizations to help them with their cause of bringing awareness of the fight against GMOs.
Sands developed the design, entitled “American GMOthic,” a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) version of Grant Wood’s iconic “American Gothic” painting. He finished it November of 2012, but not in time to impact that election. He still believed, however, that the labeling issue was going to grow on a national and global level. Voting on Washington’s I-522 ballot measure was held Nov. 5, and while the initiative failed, it raised consciousness again on the issue of requiring foods to be labeled if they contain GMOs. Together with Augie “Moondoggie,” the small company hopes that their efforts can make a difference toward that goal.
