Every March, the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network hosts a fundraiser, inviting artists to create a daily post to send to sponsors for the benefit of the organization. Montpelier artist Joyce Kahn was inspired this year to submit a small painting every day of a person she considers a hero of democracy. Now that the art marathon is over, she hopes to publish the results. 

Every evening in March, Kahn combed through the news, especially alternative media sites, collecting information. 

“I would find a photo of my subject online. Painting was the relaxing part. But then I’d be up until two in the morning writing down quotations and my own thoughts. I ended with ‘Be Well, Have Courage.’” 

Kahn’s daily blog accompanied the small (6″x4″) watercolor sketch sent to her sponsors, raising $2,400 for CVRAN. 

Kahn’s first subject was Bishop Marianne Budde, who spoke her truth at Trump’s inauguration prayer service in January. Others included Bernie Sanders and Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark.

“We’re in this struggle, this assault on democracy, and this might inspire people during this horrendous time,” Kahn said.

Known as a pastel artist, Khan discovered the joys and benefits of watercolor while attending to her sister during her long hospital stay in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic. She found a little accordion book and watercolor kit and created a Pandemic Heroes series — nurses, truck drivers, the man who distributed frozen soup outside to people — as something to do during those long hours. 

The little accordion book can fold out, and she wonders in what format “Democracy’s Heroes” might be published. 

“I’m an artist, so this is a way I could help give people hope,” she muses. Instead of ending the project at the end of the month, many recipients urged her to find a way to distribute Democracy’s Heroes to a wider audience. “What kept me going was that I was learning a lot, and that I might be giving people courage by shining a light on people who speak truth to power.”