In politics, life can at times imitate art – a topic that a panel of art supporters and Athens Mayor Heidi Davison discussed Wednesday.

The panel met at the Miller Learning Center to discuss the intersection of art and politics. Though the upcoming election was in the background of the conversation, the panelists also considered the broader implications of art.

“This conversation should go on from this room,” said Hunter Parker, a graduate student from Richmond, Va. associated with Ideas for Creative Exploration, the group that sponsored the event. “It’s a fascinating topic the more you look at it from different angles.”

Marie Porterfield, a first-year graduate student and the designer of the flyer, said the artwork she created to advertise the panel – a hybrid between an elephant and a donkey – did exactly what Parker suggested and generated conversation among her friends.

Marketing and graphic design influence the way voters perceive candidates and make decisions, Davison said.

Davison showed the group examples of campaign materials she used in the past. The materials included simple flyers displaying only the mayor’s first name to more elaborate and professional bulletins with colorful photographs. She said it was often the “visceral reactions” people have to graphic advertisements that influence how they will vote.

Two other panelists, Ryan Lewis and Jeff Griggs, also addressed issues of graphic design. The two local Athens musicians are the creators of ObamaRad T-shirts, which they sell to help support the Obama campaign.

They said they pride themselves on creating affordable and practical art.People often approach art with the idea that it is for the wealthy, Lewis said. He said ObamaRad brings a connection with art to the “man on the street.”

“T-shirts are immediate and affordable,” he said. “We just wanted to make something that looked cool and represented something that we were excited about.”

Panelist John English, a freelance author, journalist and artist, broadened the discussion to include the visual art found in a museum or gallery.

But he said times have changed for political art.

“Relatively few artists are doing political art these days,” English said, contrasting modern politics to the 1970s, a period in which political art was necessary, normal and safe.

English commended those few modern artists who try to encourage a dialogue between visual art and current social issues.

“(Some political art) literally sears into your consciousness and tweaks your sense of social justice,” English said.