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Local artists band together to encourage voting this fall
(by Tim Woodcock - July 02, 2008)
Clusters of artists across the state, led by a group from St. Louis, are teaming up to encourage greater engagement with politics, specifically by organizing voter-registration drives and by commissioning provocative billboards that will appear in the run up to the 2008 presidential election.
“We keep gathering steam, and we keep gathering people,” said Bunny Burson, one of the lead organizers in the Art the Vote project.
Thinking big
At the end of May at the Contemporary Art Museum-St. Louis’ kick-off event, the group unveiled the design of the first billboard — a satire by St. Louis printmaker Tom Huck on the power of big oil. Six other established artists have contributed work for billboards, and the eighth slot will be filled by a public competition. The competition is open to anyone who will be a qualified Missouri voter by Election Day 2008. The deadline for submissions is July 7 and additional information can be found at www.artthevote.com.
The billboards will appear in September in about 70 locations along major highways in St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Hannibal, Kansas City, Kirksville and Springfield. The project is unique to Missouri, but there has been some interest in expanding the project to other areas.
Most often, an artist’s political involvement is limited to the donation of a piece of work that is auctioned off to raise money for a campaign. But, Burson said, the billboard project is a much more interesting way for visual artists to be involved with politics.
Art the Vote is a newly registered non-partisan, not-for-profit political organization. Legally the organization can engage in advocacy work but it must steer clear of endorsing particular candidates or parties.
The billboards highlight issues such as the environment, health care, immigration, the Iraq war and the United States’ place in the world. They approach their topics from a variety of angles, but broadly speaking their approaches could be grouped together as progressive, Burson said.
Political art can be “powerful and persuasive in a number of ways,” said Sue McCollum, another Art the Vote organizer.
Sometimes a strong image might stick in a viewer’s craw and persuade him to vote against the artist’s intended message, and that’s just fine if that happens, she said. It is all about airing the issues and getting people motivated to vote.
Burson, a printmaker whose studio is in Grand Center, said she is very partisan, and that attitude is reflected in her art.
She said she was appalled by the way the 2000 election played out and feels the Florida-recount debacle deepened a feeling of disenfranchisement within the country.
But more important than the outcome of a particular election is working toward having an educated and engaged electorate that feels invested in politics, she said. “It benefits us all to have the civil society we want to have,” she said.
New voters
At the kickoff event at the Contemporary, Art the Vote also ran a voter-registration booth, which will reappear at various arts events in the community throughout the summer and fall.
The last day to register to vote in Missouri is Oct. 8. On Oct. 7, Art the Vote is planning a registration marathon based at the Contemporary. The event will continue until midnight.
In addition to getting on the voting rolls — for some a first-time event — it is important that people check their status if they have changed names or recently moved, Burson said. Students can vote in the communities they are living, as long they do not vote in their home states, too, she noted.
Other groups, such as the League of Women’s Vote and Missouri Pro-Vote, will be involved in the voter-registration effort. “They’ll attach themselves to us and we’ll attach ourselves to them,” she said.Art the Vote has plans to hold additional events from Oct. 8 through until Election Day “to keep people energized,” Burson said, although details of these have not been solidified.
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