For MEA member Sarah Ellis, making art is essential to being alive and human — like breathing. “For as long as we’ve been able to recognize that humans have existed, we’ve found art alongside them,” she says.

In a time of deep societal divisions, Ellis wants art to be a source of hope and empowerment. The high school Spanish teacher from Lowell was among a group of 19 Grand Rapids artists who exhibited “The Art of Democracy” at ArtPrize 2025.

The collaborative installation was on display during the annual international art competition in Grand Rapids from Sept. 18 to Oct. 4. The Art of Democracy was selected by the historic and venerable Fountain Street Church as its entry for ArtPrize 2025.

Several related events invited public participation, including a program with MEA members and others drawing connections between education and democracy.

“I think a lot of people feel out of control and like there’s nothing we can do to change how society is — when, in fact, we hold the power,” Ellis said. “That can look like just showing up to participate in an event that is close to your heart. Showing up, which I know can seem easier said than done.

“I’m guilty of this, too — we hide behind walls and screens and feel like the problems of the world are somebody else’s problems to solve, and really it’s us.”

The group of artists included painters, print-makers, photographers, three dimensional artists, installation artists, interactive artists, and a philosopher.

Ellis contributed an oil painting to the exhibit, which is connected in style and subject to a series of paintings she created in 2023 to honor MEA member Christine Beachler, a Lowell school librarian who has faced ongoing harassment for upholding students’ right to read.

In the new painting, in a slight nod to McCarthyism, a small faceless figure dressed in 1950s-style suit, vest, tie, pleated pants and wingtip shoes is in the foreground with books towering behind. Ellis said: “He’s kind of disheveled, with hands in pockets, and he’s walking away from the books.”

Two of the books lie flat, and the rest stand upright — spines backward — with the last one tilted to create a sort of A-shape and keep the stack from falling, which also serves as a frame for the figure.

“He’s walking toward the viewer in an image that I hope conveys in some sense that in order to have a functioning democracy, it’s essential to have a literate society. The sky is tiny, so it can be interpreted to say the books are larger than life.”

On the eve of opening day of ArtPrize, Ellis organized students who signed up to be part of “Sidewalk Words and Art” to decorate sidewalks surrounding Fountain Street Church with chalk poems and quotes on the theme of democracy.

Public events connected with the exhibition included an Art March for Democracy and a free live event featuring speakers and performers, including MEA members, who presented on the importance of education to shaping and upholding a democratic society.

Being part of the exhibition brought Ellis a sense of hope, she said. “I realize that I feel so much better when I do something, and it’s empowering to be part of a dialogue that is uplifting democracy. Art will always be there — it can’t be taken away.”