DIXFIELD – Robert Shetterly believes that the principles of the U.S. Constitution and law don’t become reality until people fight for the ideals.

Shetterly, a well-known artist and political activist, will bring his ideas and artwork depicting some of the people who have fought for constitutional rights to several area schools during most of next week.

He authored and created “Americans Who Tell the Truth,” a book of 50 portraits of people he believes who stood up to the power, hypocrisy and prestige of others who prevented implementation of freedoms granted in the Constitution.

He believes most citizens have become too passive in their role as citizens.

“There is no daily democracy without daily citizenship,” he said. “People have to become involved.”

Some of the well-known and not so well-known people he painted include Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, as well as Helen Thomas, a Washington news reporter, playwright Arthur Miller, Maine’s Sen. Margaret Chase Smith and child peace activist Samantha Smith.

Each of the 50 portraits in the book include a quote from the person portrayed that Shetterly believes symbolizes what democracy really means.

Shetterly’s work has been and is displayed in museums around the country. Several are on exhibit at the University of Maine in Farmington.

Portrait painting didn’t begin for the self-taught artist until about six years ago, he said during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

“I was grief-stricken with the rhetoric used to enter Iraq. I was ashamed of how this country presented itself to the world, as arrogant and belligerent. In ‘Americans Who Tell the Truth’ I present what our ideals are and who defended them.”

Shetterly began his career as a teacher in rural West Virginia with a literature degree from Harvard in 1969, a time he said that was both tough and fascinating with the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

“I learned to use art to go to the darkest places to tell a story,” he said

He eventually taught himself drawing, printmaking and surreal painting while living in Hancock County as a “back to the lander.” He moved to Maine in 1970. He is a native of Ohio.

His work appeared in the now-defunct Maine Times, the National Audubon’s children’s newspaper and 30 books. His paintings and prints are in collections in the United States and Europe.

His presentations at Dirigo High School on Nov. 5 and 6, Mountain Valley High School on Nov. 7, and Jay Middle School later that week will be on American history and citizenship.

“I try to impress on kids that it’s not because of the constitution of laws, but because people fought for these rights,” he said. “It’s all about fairness.”

When not creating art at his home in Brooksville, he travels visiting schools.

His visit to this area is sponsored by GEAR-UP, an educational program meant to boost aspirations in young people out of UMF.