Political Past: Revisiting Early Bernie Sanders Posters

[Omaha Steve]

Maybe we should change our group name to The Bernie Beat?




http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/political-past-revisiting-early-bernie-posters/Content?oid=3041181




By NANCY REMSEN

If Burlington artist Frank Hewitt were alive today, he would surely have designed a collectible poster to illustrate key themes of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign — perhaps pairing the downtrodden middle class or greedy big banks with Sanders' distinctive visage.

The Rutland-born painter was an associate professor of art at the University of Vermont from 1970 until his death in 1992. Even before Sanders appeared on the scene, Hewitt was no stranger to controversy: He made his first national splash in 1965, when the radical Anonima Group, which he had cofounded in Cleveland, had a collaborative show at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

During his time at UVM, Hewitt ventured into political art to assist the electoral ambitions of his friend and fellow progressive, Bernie Sanders. Their sons were friends, too: Levi Sanders and Corin Hewitt spent a lot of time shooting hoops at the Hewitts' Henry Street house in Burlington.

Hewitt made silk-screened posters for each of Sanders' mayoral races, 1981 through 1987, and for his run for the U.S. Congress in 1990. These weren't lawn signs but frame-worthy populist artworks, signed by the artist and the politician, that were auctioned to raise money for Sanders' campaigns.

FULL story and photo gallery at link. The original print version of this article was headlined "The Art of Politics"