ArtPrize 2025: Sarah Ellis’ ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’

7 Oct. 2025

By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing writer

Fountain Street Church is always a venue where ArtPrize viewers can find a wide variety of touching and thought-provoking entries, but for ArtPrize 2025, the venue serves as the host for a single collective entry by the Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens, titled “The Art of Democracy.” Sarah Ellis teaches Spanish at Lowell High School, and her painting, titled “Where Do We Go From Here?,” is just one small piece of the broader “Art of Democracy” project. “We’re calling it an installation,” Ellis said.

Measuring in at 14 inches by 11 inches, “Where Do We Go From Here?” is hardly large enough on its own to win ArtPrize, but “The Art of Democracy” just may have a chance - more on that later. Ellis, however, did not join the Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens to win a prize. This painting was part of a five-painting series Ellis completed in honor of Lowell High School Librarian, Christine Beachler, who “like many librarians around the country, has been harassed for over five years just for doing her job and supporting everyone’s right to read.”

Her oil painting depicts books that are turned around so their spine, and any identifying information, cannot be seen. These books represent banned books, and the small figure standing in front of the painting represents how society has turned away from knowledge. This man was painted from a reference of a 1950s train set figurine, which was, as Ellis describes, “a slight nod to 1950s McCarthyism,” an era characterized by political repression and persecution.

“Literacy is the core of democracy,” Ellis said. “It’s another art form of expression, someone helping you look at the world just a little differently. I think we can all see that there’s considerable lack of empathy in this world. There’s considerable research that reading helps people gain empathy. It puts them in a place they might not have thought from before.”

This is Ellis’ third ArtPrize entry. In 2017, she created an installation video called “For Profit Education,” where a bust of Plato, the Greek philosopher, was smashed open, resulting in coins flying all over the place. In 2021, her collaboration “Dreams Intertwined” involved the whole Lowell community weaving together strips of old Pink Arrow Pride t-shirts.

The Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens is a group of some of the best artists in West Michigan - teachers, professional artists, and leaders - looking to create conversations about democracy “during a time where people feel like they’re in a free-for-all.” Artist Mary Jean Reusch came up with the idea for the sprawling installation after American Historian Heather Cox Richardson’s speech on the value of art and artists, during “a fractured time,” awakened her from feelings of distress and despondency.

“If you can show who you are to the world and give your voice and talk aloud some of the things in your head, I mean, what more is democracy than sharing the things that you want to say,” Ellis said.

The Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens is comprised of Ellis, Reusch, and 18 other artists: Alexandra Eldridge, Dana Freeman, Renee Therriault, Lee Ann Frame, Dianne Carroll Burdick, Brenda Miller, Jerry Berta, Armin Mersmann, Carol Jurgens, Stephen Rowe, Cathy Marashi, Georgia Donovan, Darlene Kaczmarcsyk, Rick Stevens, Madeline Kaczmarczyk, Elaine Dalcher, Sharon Sandberg, and Margaret Kriegbaum.

The Lowell Ledger interviewed Ellis two months prior to ArtPrize, and her description of “The Art of Democracy,” at that time, was similar to Franz Kafka’s description of the construction of the Great Wall of China. Nobody knew what the end result might look like, but they contributed to the great work nonetheless.

“At this point, we don’t have a perfect picture of what it’s going to be, because everyone is not done with their pieces,” Ellis said. “Everyone’s piece is going to represent really what democracy means to them. They’re all very accomplished artists - I’m lucky to be along for the ride.”

Could “The Art of Democracy” actually win ArtPrize? It checks all of the boxes - massive scale, strong thematic and emotional connection, and technical skill. Detractors might disqualify it in their minds because the installation is merely a showcase of smaller pieces, a mini-ArtPrize within ArtPrize - and who would vote for ArtPrize to win ArtPrize anyway? However the vote spins, “The Art of Democracy” is certainly big enough to be noticed.

According to Ellis, “The Art of Democracy” is bigger than visual art, as well. The Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens intends to have public engagements, special guest speakers, and folk musicians, as well. This is not about winning an art competition - this is about making sure a conversation that began hundreds of years ago in the United States of America can continue to be had by our children and grandchildren.

“The Art of Democracy,” by the Coalition of Concerned Artist-Citizens, of which Lowell High School teacher Sarah Ellis’s “Where Do We Go From Here?” is just one of 20 pieces, is on display at Fountain Street Church, and interested parties can vote for it using Vote ID 40696.