Wendy and Evan Grossman met in 1986 working on Gov. Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign. They tell the story of their first date, a bike ride, in back-and-forth banter.

“Our first date, I didn't even realize it was a date,” Wendy Swart Grossman said. “He's like, 'oh, you want to go on a bike ride sometime?' I'm like, 'Sure, I'd bike with anybody. Yeah, whatever.'”

“So I loaded my pannier up with strawberries, sour cream and brown sugar,” Evan Grossman said. “And then when we got to the top of the hill at the arboretum where we were cycling, you know, I pulled out a tablecloth or something, or a blanket.”

“And I'm like, 'Holy smokes! I thought this was just a bike ride,'” Wendy Swart Grossman said.

They’ve been married for 28 years. And while they've grown closer in that time, the American electorate has grown further apart.

“We disagree on a few things politically, not that much,” Evan Grossman said. “But, you know, we've always been organizers and we're always paying attention to what's happening in politics.”

The Grossmans said they see art as one way to bridge social and political divides.

Tuesday night, they'll be sharing a piece of painted metal that represents their love, titled "Peace on Earth," at their home in Brookline. It's part of The Jar, a Boston-based organization that uses art to connect strangers.

“That really uses art as an entry point to bring a variety of communities together to have the big conversations that we wish we had,” Wendy Swart Grossman said. “Because while we live in this wildly diverse city, we don't really get to mix with a wildly diverse community because we're so siloed. That's how our shared politics comes in, is that we're building a world we want to be living in.”

The painted metal is a picture of the earth, with the words “peace on earth” in green and blue.

“We bought [it] during kind of a time that was tough for us, when we had moved to the outskirts of Atlanta,” Evan Grossman said. “And culturally, it was very different. Politically, it was very different for us. … And then it's kind of followed us, you know, from Atlanta to London to Boston.”

Because the Grossmans met working in politics, they say, they can still see room for love in politics.

“There's not often a lot of love between competitors, right?” Evan Grossman said. “I'm sure, you know, on both sides of the aisle, there's future marriages that are happening in the campaigns right now. And even if you look at sort of, you know, Mary Matalin-James Carville story, there's cross-political marriages. People share a common bond of working hard for someone you really support.”

Love and politics share a common key ingredient, Wendy Swart Grossman said.

“Passion is what gets people involved. And I think there's a lot of passion that's out there,” she said. “Is passion a form of love? You know, cue the existential crisis. I don't know, it's like if we start from a place of any relationship, is being curious about the other, and that curiosity can lead to passion, can lead to love for the individual.”

There can even be love in charged conversations, so long as there’s common understanding, Evan Grossman said.

“I've been playing around this framework of curiosity, generosity, and reciprocity. So instead of being furious, be curious to get ourselves to a place that's stronger and respectful,” Wendy Swart Grossman said.