Artists and writers have always used their pens and their paintbrushes to advocate for change. On Saturday as part of Arts Alive!, from 6 to 9 p.m., Eureka Books will exhibit hand-painted political posters, historical picket signs, and other art and literature centered around protest and peace.

The idea for the exhibit came from a recent trip that owner Jack Irvine took to Vietnam. “The legacy of the Vietnam War is still very present there,” he said. “And of course, in Vietnam it is referred to not as the Vietnam War, but as the American War.” He acquired a set of hand-painted political posters with agricultural and nationalist themes, which will be on exhibit for Arts Alive! and throughout the month. Although the posters are recently painted reproductions, they were made using the same methods and the same styles as the rare originals from the early ’70s. “Artists were employed to make these street posters by hand,” he said, “because they just didn’t have the technology to mass produce posters. They are very colorful and interesting works of art, but they’re also very thought-provoking because they show a nation’s response to war.”

Other works of art and literature in the exhibit include peacemaking books, Humboldt County picket signs, posters from World War I and World War II, and a run of Akwesasne Notes, the most important American Indian newspaper of the 1970s, with issues focused on the takeovers of Wounded Knee and Alcatraz Island by American Indian Movement activists. With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, the store will have posters published by the United Farm Workers.

The theme of peace and protest seemed like a timely one to the store’s owners. “It’s an election year, and the war in Iraq is on everyone’s mind,” co-owner Scott Brown said. “These works of art and literature help remind us of who we are and where we’ve been, as we decide how we’re going to move forward.”

Eureka Books is located at 426 Second St. in Old Town across from the gazebo. For more information, visit www.eurekabooksellers.com.