I'm in a glass blowing class of 4 people including myself, 1 girl and 3 boys. My teacher is also male. The assignment was to use our vases that we've been making and make some piece under the theme of equality.

This is my piece. Please note: I have not taken a proper picture of it yet. There is supposed to be a spotlight shining on the blue piece (there isn't in the picture because the light I use is my phone's flashlight and I needed my phone to take this picture) and the piece is also best viewed in the dark. I'll edit later when I have the chance to take a proper picture.

The blue vase represents women (Blue was the color I had, I'm not using the usual archetypes of color (pink/blue) to represent gender), and the clear vase represents men. They are shattered to show that they both have issues. The light only shines on the 'women' vase because the media almost exclusively talks about their issues. The fact that the male vase is clear is also meant to show how men's issues are invisible to the world.

I'm at an art school where almost everyone is a feminist, I expected back lash. However, the back lash I received was way more than I had anticipated. Even from my teacher. Apparently my teacher was raised by two lesbian mothers, a fact I didn't know until he mentioned it during our critique. Had I known that bias I may not have made this piece at all. Two girls from the advanced class also joined our critique. One of them argued with me at almost every point I made. Almost everyone else in the room stayed silent, only really commenting on my physical choices.

I explained some main points regarding men's issues: All the dirty jobs are done by men, men are raped, men are abused, etc. But I was shut down by that girl, and even my teacher a bit because women also experience those issues. The point of my piece was to show how those issues aren't shown by the media to also be men's issues. The idea that men suffer was a concept literally so foreign to them, that they just didn't understand my piece.

I should have prepared better. I forgot to mention some of my main facts like the higher male suicide rate, the fact that 9 times more men die in the work place, and the higher hours men work. I should have had notes and sources with me on hand. This is the first (and maybe last) political art piece I've made. I didn't think I would have to prepare for an art critique like I would prepare for a political presentation. I had hoped artists would be more open to unfamiliar ideas. I didn't think my piece was that controversial, I didn't think I'd have to defend it so much but I should have known better.

Art is one of the best ways to spread and share ideas. These issues are important to me, and as an artist I feel a bit of an obligation to spread awareness of these issues with my art. But at the moment I don't know if I can handle the back lash. Artists today are incredibly bias against anything resembling Men's Rights, and that puts us at a huge disadvantage. Movements throughout history that have support of artists have almost always been more successful. This is something we should all be very aware of.

I'm not sure if this is the right sub for this. I kind of needed a place to vent, and I figured this could at least start some discussion.

Edit: fixed some errors and added a couple details

Edit II: Wow! Gold!! This is the first time I've gotten gold! Thank you so much!! (I definitely never thought my first gold would be on a MR post lol)

Thank you so much everybody for the love, advice, and support. Being at this heavily feminist school can really warp my sense of reality. It makes me think there is nobody out there that cares about men's issues. But knowing that you all are out there helps give me some comfort. It comforts me knowing not only that there are people that support Men's Rights, but that there are people that support the arts as well.

I'm still not sure how political I want to get with my art. For the next year or two I'll probably play it safer with my art like I have in the past, but after I graduate I might see where else I can take it. We'll see how it all goes though.

Thanks again. Also, in 2-3 hours I should be able to get some better photos of the piece uploaded.

Edit III: Wow you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a dark place to take a picture. The building where I've kept my piece is still being used, so I can't turn any lights off. I'll return in 3-4 hours and I should be able to get the right picture. In the meantime, I at least got a couple pictures with the spotlight. So it looks a bit better at least.

Edit IV: I still haven't been able to get a better picture yet. In other news, according to one of my friends that works at the building some people were talking shit about me. Apparently they're saying I was saying women's issues don't matter. Which really pisses me off that my words could be getting twisted like that. But I don't even care anymore. I talked to some of my friends here about it and they said they're really pissed that this whole thing has happened to me, and they would have stood up for me if they were in that class with me. Even one of my friends that leans feminist said this pissed him off. And then of course I have all of you who have shown me so much support. So I'll be okay. And I'm not going to censor my art anymore, but I'll only make something political when it's something I really just feel I need to have out there.

I'll still try to update with a better picture.

EDIT V: I FINALLY HAVE A GOOD PICTURE OF THE PIECE! Should I re-post a picture of the piece so more people can see it? Or is there another sub where anybody thinks I should post it?

Also another life update: I had class again today. My teacher and even that girl and my other classmates were all treating me like normal. So I guess we're just pretending it didn't happen. He gave me a 79% on the piece. That's literally just enough for me to not be bothered with complaining, any lower and I'd probably say something. I do wish it was more though.