Inside angle: The power of hand-made political protest poster art in a digital age

Julie Russell-Steuart, a Democratic Party activist and entrepreneur, is leading progressive efforts to develop more powerful protest art in Iowa. She teaches the history of protest art with examples like the Silence = Death work that spotlighted the AIDs crisis. One of the pieces progressives created in Des Moines recently criticized U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa.

The rich history of art as protest is a more forceful feature of a progressive-leaning Iowa organization that's been elevating the medium in the months ahead of what is expected to be among the most contentious of American elections.

The art is as strong as the passions for politically-minded people, from liberal to independent, gathering for so-called P…