“A woman straddling a large silver metal phallus, it’s hard to beat that,” remarked bystander Ian Rans. “I liked the people who were skipping,” he added. “They could have had a sign saying ‘It could be worse.’”

The recurring theme was defense of constitutional liberty. “This is a test of the emergency free speech system,” read a sign carried by Ben Masel of Madison, Wis. “If this had been an actual emergency, there would have been preemptive raids by the sheriff’s department,” he announced. Similar sentiments united a surprising array of participants, from Church of Scientology protesters Anonymous (wearing the Vendetta masks) to Ron Paul “freedom fighters.” (Who, for good measure, were answered by a Ron Paul sign with the word “SUCKS” painted across it.)

“It’s a very slippery slope with all this data-mining in this country,” said Texas Ron Paul backer Brian Bymark. “If you don’t do something now, you might not be able to do something later.”

Bymark said he won’t vote for either party’s candidate, citing Obama’s plans for escalation in Afghanistan. Masel, with the “free speech system” sign, said he’ll vote Obama, “but without falling in love.” Avram Leierwood, 16, in full zombie makeup, said he’ll support a Republican, but not McCain. “I’d vote for zombie Abraham Lincoln,” he said.

With another convention in the wings, I contacted the artists to see if they had any updates to their self-published book, GOP 100: Deconstructing Dumbo. While they said the book is still fresh four years later and doesn’t necessarily need updating, they had one: a retitled piece showing an elephant in prison stripes (reminiscent of this year’s convention logo). It’s now called “Larry Craig.” But Sockwell, who has created illustrations for clients from the New York Times and Apple to Newsweek and the U.S. Holocaust Museum, agreed to share some illustrations from the book here, along with each work’s title. And next week, he’ll give MnIndy an exclusive illustration that traces the evolution of the Democratic donkey and Republican elephant logos.

The lineup — which may change, “probably in the direction of more and more ginormously powerful” — has elephantine star power: Tapes ‘n’ Tapes, Haley Bonar, Nellie McKay, The Honeydogs, Charlie Parr, The Alarmists and others.

Got a tip for RNC DIY? Email us.

Update: The ProVention site appears to be offline. We’ll update links when and if it’s back up and running.

As a stark counterpoint to the “scripted democracy” of this fall’s GOP nominating convention, a project by mnartists.org, the Walker Art Center and the UnConvention is inviting people of all political stripes and artistic abilities to create yard signs to coincide with the RNC — and, fittingly, the 50 designs getting the most online votes will be produced and distributed around the Twin Cities and near the convention site.

Visitors to the My Yard, Our Message site can submit designs by June 30; then open voting will be held from July 1-27.

Don’t want to leave the fate of your design in the hands of we, the people? For $20 bucks, the project will produce and deliver a one-off of your design. 

Featured: “Ugly Partisanship” by Emmet Byrne; “Convention” by Andy Pressman; “Groove” by Emmet Byrne; “Now or Never” by David Barawski

Got a tip? Email us examples of creative response to the convention for inclusion in future editions of RNC DIY!

According to The UnConvention, a collaborative project by arts groups like Intermedia and the Walker Art Center, the piece is “a testimonial to the impact eight years of extreme judicial, legislative, and executive actions have had on American democratic institutions — from the landmark Supreme Court decision ‘Bush v. Gore’ in 2000 to presidential signing statements to illegal FISA surveillance.” The work will also be “performed” at the DNC in Denver.

This is the first installment of RNC DIY!, a look at creative responses to the Republican convention.