Beth Grossman started copying the U.S. Constitution onto discarded money bags long before the 2024 election season got underway, but her work has taken on added resonance with only days to go until Americans elect a new president.
Twelve years ago, concerned about the role of big money in our nation’s politics, the Bay Area artist began to hand-copy the Constitution word for word, with a feather quill pen, in the style of the original document.
She scribed the document onto a collection of vintage money bags discarded from banks and the United States Mint, often working outside historically significant public spaces such as Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell and the New York Stock Exchange.
Her aim: to engage the public in dialogue about the importance of reading and understanding our Constitution and to question why, she says, “nowhere in the document do you find the word democracy.”
During October, the resident of Brisbane in San Mateo County invited people to visit “Constitution Central” — her participatory installation in the gallery of the San Francisco Arts Education Project — to try their hand at writing with a quill, sometimes scribing a sentence or two from the Constitution. She found that people appreciated the way it slowed the pace of their thoughts and encouraged them to reflect on the weight of our founders’ words.
“Writing with a quill pen is calming and fun,” she said.
Up until the deadline, visitors could also register to vote at “Constitution Central.” Now, with only days until the Nov. 5 election, she is providing a setting for the election-anxious and the election-questioning to chat.
“Mostly I want to engage the public in conversations about what we cherish about our Constitution, and what is at stake in this election,” Grossman told J.
A scribe refers to a person who copies out documents by hand, as they did before the age of printing. In the Jewish world, a scribe copies out the Torah text by hand on a scroll.
Scribing is an activity that Grossman, a trained graphic artist and self-described “typography geek,” finds valuable in the way it deepens the connection between humans and their words. She spent an entire summer teaching herself the style of calligraphy used in the Constitution.
According to Grossman’s research, Jacob Shallus, an assistant clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly and the son of German Mennonite immigrants, was hired in 1787 by the framers of the Constitution to scribe the official document. Although they had their own scribing skills, the framers didn’t trust each other to stick to the exact wording they had agreed upon. He scribed the document in 40 hours and was paid $30 (about $800 in today’s currency).
“Like the Torah, the Constitution was written by a scribe on animal skin parchment and could have no mistakes,” she said.
The inviting space Grossman has created for this activity is a far cry from the campaigning frenzy that has characterized this electoral season.
“I think people are generally tired of the vitriol and want something hopeful that reminds us of our common foundation,” she said. “It is turning out to be a truly positive experience. Visitors are enjoying having a place to commiserate and talk about civic duty — and about what definitely needs to change.”
Grossman, whose previous works have been exhibited or enacted at the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the JCC of San Francisco, as well as the de Young and other prestigious venues around the globe, describes herself as a sociopolitical artist who sees the visual as a way to create community dialogue.
Some of her earlier work addressed explicitly Jewish themes, such as her 2008 seder plate piece, “We Were Once Slaves in Egypt.” Her written description of this project included, “Passover is the time to renew our commitment to break the cycles of oppression worldwide.” Other works of the Minnesota-born artist have probed Biblical stories and characters through a contemporary lens.
“Art is not a thing, but a way to communicate,” she states in her artist biography. It is the importance of that dialogue that her artworks, public projects and events are intended to foster.
“My work as an artist-at-large is to create a space, framed as art, through which people can notice that they are connected and hopefully become motivated to take action and get involved civically,” she explained. To that end, she has deliberately created a nonpartisan ambiance at ”Constitution Central.”
“I don’t advocate for either major candidate. I don’t try to change minds. I mostly listen, so that people can hear their own thinking out loud,” she said. “Visitors want to talk about health care, the economy, voting rights, separation of church and state and many other issues they are concerned about. When people know what they care about, they are more likely to take action.”
She also doesn’t want to be preaching to the choir, a common experience within the Bay Area political bubble.
“All kinds of people come in,” she said, including young people who proclaim they are not intending to vote, or say they are voting for a third-party candidate, for reasons ranging from environmental concerns to distress over the conduct of the war in Gaza.
“I listen empathetically, and I may share with them that in previous elections in my youth, I have also protested, but this election is especially critical for the direction of our fragile democracy. I feel we owe it to our ancestors who fought for all of our rights to vote by amending our Constitution according to the process outlined by the framers. Sadly, our education system has left many Americans with limited knowledge of how our government works.”
While the Constitution scribing project is timely around the 2024 election, ultimately it is not about this election, she said.
“I am delighted to provide a gathering place for folks to celebrate voting and to share their fears and hopes about our country. But sadly, it won’t all be resolved with this election.”
“Searching for Democracy: An Act of Civil Obedience”
At SFArtsED Gallery at Minnesota Street Project, 1275 Minnesota St., S.F. 2-5 p.m. Oct. 29–Nov. 1. Also, 2-5 p.m. Nov. 2 and Nov. 5 in the atrium of the Minnesota Street Project, which will be hosting a polling place in its lounge.