Wes Rolley on wed 6 oct 04
There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that originates in=
Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint, you can view the videotape=
report(RealMedia) at http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html=20
The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before Livermore's new=
public library. It is fairly large, constructed from tiles, and the city=
paid the artist, Maria Aquilar, US $40,000 for the work. The only problem=
is that the work, sitting in front of the library, contains 11 spelling=
errors, including the following names:
Eistein
Shakespere
Gaugan
Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel expenses to come=
from Miami and "fix it". =20
So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your work with mistakes=
and then charge the owner a further fee to correct it. After all, as an=
artist, you still own the copyright to the original and the new owner can=
not change it without your consent.
My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is. Just put up a=
sign that identifies the artist, gives the correct spellings, and suggests=
that the artist would have known better had they ever gone into the=
library.=20
I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but aesthetically, I did not=
think that it was worth $40K to start with.=20
Wes =20
"I find I have a great lot to learn =96 or unlearn. I seem to know far too=
much and this knowledge obscures the really significant facts, but I am=
getting on." -- Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Wesley C. Rolley =20
17211 Quail Court =20
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)778-3024
John Jensen on thu 7 oct 04
Oops...Math error. That should be 200 square feet on Ms. Aquillar's
tile piece...not 64 as I suggested in an earlier post. Sorry.
John Jensen, Mudbug Pottery
John Jensen@mudbugpottery.com
http://www.toadhouse.com www://www.mudbugpottery.com
Linda Ferzoco on thu 7 oct 04
I heard a quote from the artist on the radio (here in the SF Bay
area) and she made some lame excuse about people not understanding
'ART'. Nearly drove off the road with apoplexy.
Linda
--- Wes Rolley wrote:
> There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that
> originates in Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint, you can
> view the videotape report(RealMedia) at
> http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html
>
> The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before
> Livermore's new public library. It is fairly large, constructed
> from tiles, and the city paid the artist, Maria Aquilar, US $40,000
> for the work. The only problem is that the work, sitting in front
> of the library, contains 11 spelling errors, including the
> following names:
>
> Eistein
> Shakespere
> Gaugan
>
> Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel expenses
> to come from Miami and "fix it".
>
> So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your work with
> mistakes and then charge the owner a further fee to correct it.
> After all, as an artist, you still own the copyright to the
> original and the new owner can not change it without your consent.
>
> My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is. Just
> put up a sign that identifies the artist, gives the correct
> spellings, and suggests that the artist would have known better had
> they ever gone into the library.
>
> I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but aesthetically,
> I did not think that it was worth $40K to start with.
>
> Wes
>
>
>
> "I find I have a great lot to learn – or unlearn. I seem to know
> far too much and this knowledge obscures the really significant
> facts, but I am getting on." -- Charles Rennie Mackintosh
>
> Wesley C. Rolley
> 17211 Quail Court
> Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> (408)778-3024
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your
> subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
Paul Lewing on thu 7 oct 04
on 10/7/04 1:31 PM, John Jensen at mudbug@TOAD.NET wrote:
> 11 misspellings out of 175 names doesn't seem too bad, though one wishes
> one had some sort of spell check for artists.
Surely you're joking, Mr. Jensen! One is too many on a job like that.
There's no excuse for that. We seem to have agreed that spelling mistakes
don't mean anything in e-mail conversations, but this is work that that
artist is being paid for. I also don't understand why anyone would pay an
artist more to fix a mistake like that. If they told her they wanted it red
and she made it blue, should she have been paid to change it to red? Of
course not. Just because you're an artist doesn't mean you don't have a
responsibility to spell correctly, if people are paying you to write. It's
called craftsmanship. One wishes not that there were some sort of spell
check for artists, but rather that artists would take an appropriate amount
of care with their work.
> I guess $40,000 doesn't sound like that much to me. But then, I
> haven't seen the work.
Neither have I, nor do I know how big this mural is. But I do know that
public art is often not as well-paying as it looks like. How many times did
this woman have to travel to the job site, for how many meetings, and what
all did she have to pay for out of that money, such as installation,
insurance for the installers, photo documentation, site preparation,
engineering consultants, etc.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Janet Moe/Paul Bailey on thu 7 oct 04
I got the impression that the artist moved to Miami after doing the project.
Janet
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on thu 7 oct 04
Hi Wes,
Interesting...thank you for bringing it to our attentions.
Funny maybe, too...
I think she blew it.
Not so much ( if per-se at all) for the spelling errors,
but, for not having thought-on-her-feet to have come up with
a useful 'answer' as let whoever comissioned it (more or
less) save face, such as...
"As an Artist, I am obliged to honor certain liberties,
among which, in this case, was to quietly challange the
literacy of those who may walk upon or across my Mural in
their coming or going to the Library, a task which we all
know, is lable to a certain measure of casual distractions
or non-attentions. The appearant mis-spelling are of course
intentional, and, actually, are a playful invitation and
possible interaction with people's attention, and, with
their complaiscency...one way or another..."
...or the likes...
Oh well...
"Livermore"...
Fourty Grand to spend on a 'Mural'...and I wonder...how many
Books worth reading the shelves shall hold in that Library?
About like here?
Hell...she shoulda mis-spelled all the damned 'names'...or
had 'em as..."My-cuh-lan-jello"..."Gal-uh-lay-oh"...and so
on...
I woulda...
Just like that...
Phil
el ve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wes Rolley"
There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that
originates in Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint,
you can view the videotape report(RealMedia) at
http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html
The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before
Livermore's new public library. It is fairly large,
constructed from tiles, and the city paid the artist, Maria
Aquilar, US $40,000 for the work. The only problem is that
the work, sitting in front of the library, contains 11
spelling errors, including the following names:
Eistein
Shakespere
Gaugan
Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel
expenses to come from Miami and "fix it".
So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your
work with mistakes and then charge the owner a further fee
to correct it. After all, as an artist, you still own the
copyright to the original and the new owner can not change
it without your consent.
My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is.
Just put up a sign that identifies the artist, gives the
correct spellings, and suggests that the artist would have
known better had they ever gone into the library.
I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but
aesthetically, I did not think that it was worth $40K to
start with.
Wes
"I find I have a great lot to learn - or unlearn. I seem to
know far too much and this knowledge obscures the really
significant facts, but I am getting on." -- Charles Rennie
Mackintosh
Wesley C. Rolley
17211 Quail Court
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)778-3024
____________________________________________________________
__________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your
subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Mike Gordon on thu 7 oct 04
Hi ,
I saw the topic covered on some news show as well. What surprised me =20
was that Livermore Library bothered to spend more money on the artist =20=
to do the repairs when they could have got some local artist to do it =20=
right a lot cheaper.. AND..... why did Livermore go all the way to =20
Miami to get an artist to do the job in the first place?? Mike Gordon
On Oct 6, 2004, at 12:50 PM, Wes Rolley wrote:
> There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that originates =
=20
> in Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint, you can view the =20
> videotape report(RealMedia) at =20
> http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html
>
> The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before =20
> Livermore's new public library. It is fairly large, constructed from =20=
> tiles, and the city paid the artist, Maria Aquilar, US $40,000 for the =
=20
> work. The only problem is that the work, sitting in front of the =20
> library, contains 11 spelling errors, including the following names:
>
> Eistein
> Shakespere
> Gaugan
>
> Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel expenses to =20=
> come from Miami and "fix it".
>
> So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your work with =20=
> mistakes and then charge the owner a further fee to correct it. After =
=20
> all, as an artist, you still own the copyright to the original and the =
=20
> new owner can not change it without your consent.
>
> My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is. Just put =
=20
> up a sign that identifies the artist, gives the correct spellings, and =
=20
> suggests that the artist would have known better had they ever gone =20=
> into the library.
>
> I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but aesthetically, I =20=
> did not think that it was worth $40K to start with.
>
> Wes
>
>
>
> "I find I have a great lot to learn =96 or unlearn. I seem to know far =
=20
> too much and this knowledge obscures the really significant facts, but =
=20
> I am getting on." -- Charles Rennie Mackintosh
>
> Wesley C. Rolley
> 17211 Quail Court
> Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> (408)778-3024
>
> =
_______________________________________________________________________=20=
> _______
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at =20
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
Wes Rolley on thu 7 oct 04
My wife and I talked this over and came to the conclusion that you don't =
need to know how to spell to be an artust, but you do need to know how to=
spiel.=20
And for you other Californians, the artist was from Santa Cruz when she g=
ot the gig.=20
=93Art and thought. That=92s what lasts. That=92s what continues to feed
people and give them an idea of something better.=94
-- Susan Sontag
Wesley C. Rolley
17211 Quail Court
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)778-3024
John Jensen on thu 7 oct 04
I couldn't see the video without downloading RealPlayer...which I don't
want to do again, because it's a bit aggressive about taking over my
computer. But I'm guessing that if someone decided to give the artist 40
grand; it must have been pretty decent, notwithstanding the spelling
errors.
11 misspellings out of 175 names doesn't seem too bad, though one wishes
one had some sort of spell check for artists.
About the price: I remember a few years back there was a whole lot of
discussion about the price of handmade tiles. The number that stuck in
my mind is $50 per square foot as a minimum and maybe $250/sq ft. for
elaborate tiles. Plus installation. So Ms. Aguilar with her 64 square
foot work should get a minimum of $10,000 plus installation, plus
travel. Not to mention the two years storage on the piece, all the
negotiations, meetings. And so forth.
I guess $40,000 doesn't sound like that much to me. But then, I
haven't seen the work. Then again, she did have two years to notice the
misspellings. Too bad about that.
As for why they went to Miami to find an artist... Maybe no-one in the
Bay area was that cheap.
John Jensen, Mudbug Pottery
John Jensen@mudbugpottery.com
http://www.toadhouse.com www://www.mudbugpottery.com
Laurie Kneppel on thu 7 oct 04
Sacramento Potters Group, memberOn Oct 7, 2004, at 12:24 AM,
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET wrote:
> "Livermore"...
>
> Fourty Grand to spend on a 'Mural'...and I wonder...how many
> Books worth reading the shelves shall hold in that Library?
>
> About like here?
I wonder if the money came from a private donor. i don't know about
Livermore, but libraries elsewhere in California are having a tough
time finding the money to keep their doors open, much less spend it on
decoration of their facilities. Unless it was funded as an Art In
Public Places thing like we have here, where a percentage of the
construction cost for a public project is required to be spent on art
for that project.
Sure one or two misspelled names might be an error or oversight, but
not eleven. She does have sort of a point, though, in all these other
people who supposedly looked at it before it was installed didn't catch
the misspellings, either. I would have had someone specifically look
over a project like that to check my spellings, though, if it were me,
and it was going in a public place. Especially a library. And then to
charge six grand to fix it. Either stand by your original as an
artistic expression of some sort or fix it for cost of materials. But I
am not the artist and I do not know the terms of her contract with
Livermore. Probably once they signed off on it, that was it. And i do
not know their process. If they signed off on a preliminary sketch of
the design and the final did not match it then they might have some
recourse, but as I say, i do not know the terms of the contract.
I also wondered why they did not select a local artist for the mural,
or at least a California artist. I do know that for our Art in Public
Places program artists are not required to be Sacramento or even
California residents. If anyone is curious about this program you can
read more about what it is and how it works at
http://www.sacculture.com/app.htm
i am not affiliated with the Commission or anything. I just think it's
nice we have such a program here.
Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
Potters Council, charter member
Carolynn Palmer on fri 8 oct 04
I am wondering about the committee who chose this work and didn't notice the
spelling errors!
-Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, MI
In a message dated 6/10/04 10:47:36 PM, wrolley@CHARTER.NET writes:
<< There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that originates in
Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint, you can view the videotape
report(RealMedia) at http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html
The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before Livermore's new
public library. It is fairly large, constructed from tiles, and the city paid
the artist, Maria Aquilar, US $40,000 for the work. The only problem is that
the work, sitting in front of the library, contains 11 spelling errors,
including the following names:
Eistein
Shakespere
Gaugan
Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel expenses to come
from Miami and "fix it".
So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your work with mistakes
and then charge the owner a further fee to correct it. After all, as an
artist, you still own the copyright to the original and the new owner can not
change it without your consent.
My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is. Just put up a
sign that identifies the artist, gives the correct spellings, and suggests that
the artist would have known better had they ever gone into the library.
I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but aesthetically, I did not
think that it was worth $40K to start with.
Wes >>
claybair on fri 8 oct 04
A few weeks back
Steven King was on one of the morning TV shows.
At the end of the show they brought out an absolutely beautiful
decorated cake illustrating the cover of his latest book.
It had several typos on it....... so......
they swiped them off with their fingers
and then licked their fingers....
It was amusing.....
However it was probably bad promotion for the
decorating company. I wonder if someone got fired!
Whenever I would get too immersed in a project that required
writing I would have someone proof it for me. It's amazing....
I would check and recheck and still miss obvious typos.
Gayle Bair - in long ago part of my life I decorated cakes
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Wes Rolley
There is an interesting story about a "ceramic artist" that originates in
Livermore, CA. For the artist's viewpoint, you can view the videotape
report(RealMedia) at http://www.ktvu.com/news/3788214/detail.html
The object in question is a large mural in the plaza before Livermore's new
public library. It is fairly large, constructed from tiles, and the city
paid the artist, Maria Aquilar, US $40,000 for the work. The only problem is
that the work, sitting in front of the library, contains 11 spelling errors,
including the following names:
Eistein
Shakespere
Gaugan
Now, the city must pay Ms Aquilar $6,000 more plus travel expenses to come
from Miami and "fix it".
So, a new idea for artists to make more money. Fill your work with mistakes
and then charge the owner a further fee to correct it. After all, as an
artist, you still own the copyright to the original and the new owner can
not change it without your consent.
My suggestion for the city of Livermore: Leave it as it is. Just put up a
sign that identifies the artist, gives the correct spellings, and suggests
that the artist would have known better had they ever gone into the library.
I have not seen the work in person, only on TV, but aesthetically, I did not
think that it was worth $40K to start with.
Wes
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on fri 8 oct 04
Hi Laurie,
The subject line of this thread sounds like a 'Far Side'
cartoon...
You know, like "When Salad Dressing Goes Bad"...and there is
a drawing of a refridgerator door open to show some
Mayonaise
holding a gun on some Ketchup or something...
Anyway, the more Libraries try pandering to generate
non-intimidating (ie, deformalized) architecture, and to
have grade-school level, psuedo-child-like 'Murals', and
play-school looking
everything, and instead of Books and worthy periodicals, to
have endless tapes of
tee-vee re-runs and movies and cee-des and dee-vee-dees, and
'entertainment' things in the vulgar sense, and...well, the
less regard I am able to have
for them, or,
for their troubles.
One may ask any politician or trial lawyer, to discover,
that their own practical appreciation, is that the average
jurer
and average voter, have a mentality, a symbol literacy, and
a range of cognitive or reasoning skills, about equivelent
to what we
would expect of a third-grader.
We are already, for all practical purposes, an illiterate
nation, and pandering and condescentions have merely been a
convenient currency, a
concession, a
component of it's exploitation, acceptance and furtherance
as such.
The United Nations tells us that the average sub-Saharan
I-Q is about 70...
Likely, 'livermore', as lasvegas, and most places
anymore...are anxious to emulate the accomplishment, or,
moreso, to claim and enjoy the
freedoms which that accomplishment holds, offers,
and brings.
At least when old rockafeller jr. had the diego rivera Mural
done, and then jack-hammered out soon as possible for his
noteing with disfavor the personage depicted in it, we
still enjoyed a fairly high degree of various kinds of
literacy, and, had formal Libraries to celebrate them in the
form of Books and worthy Periodicals,
whatever contentions about the context, use or meaning of
those symbols may have been.
Likely, this Mural, celebrates the present state-of-affairs,
about right enough...as-is, as well as in the tribulations
as followed.
Which is not our topic...but may be a sidelight of it...or
is for me...
And not because ( or merely ) of there being some spelling
errors, which is not the real interest to me here ( as,
these kinds of things can, do and have happenned even to the
United States Mint at times, (but,) to be caught at the last
moment
or other, or in the Minting of a 'Proof', as well as how one
may
note many erudite enough
books, whose editors and proof readers missed a few
here-and-there)...but, oweing to the conditions, the
gratuitous compromises, the condesentions, and play-scool
appearances of Libraries ( Firehouses, community-colleges,
and other more or less 'public' buildings) generally
anymore...
They try so hard to make Libraries 'appealing' in fatuous
psuedo-child-like ways,
to 'involve' them in (the mentality they construe)
communities ( to have) , or to involve communities
in their offerings, with
tole-painting-classes and 'art galleries' and meeting-rooms
and so on within
their walls...
While their true function, essence, substance and purpose as
a repository and sanctuary of Books and worthy periodicals,
which would be available for
people to read,
has pretty well ceased to have any appeal at all in it's own
right.
I'll take "Amazon.com" ( sub-section: 'used-books') any day
over these silly things...then too, you can own the damned
thing
for less than the 'usual' overdue fees would have been...
Our Libraries here iused to have these 'Book Drives'...in
which the public is encouraged to donate Books, used Books,
and so on to them.
What happens to these Books? I used to wonder...then, got to
find out. They have people whom the courts have sentenced to
do ''community service", tear off the covers, and throw the
pages into 55 gallon drums, and throw the covers into
seperate drums...
I was there one day seeing this, and the 'community service'
guy wanted to bum a cigarette ( 'cause I was smoking one
there in the back antirooms of the main Library, in the
back) , so I sez, "Sure..." and hand him like three of 'em,
saying "For later, too..." and we talk a little. I idely
start looking through some of the books in waiting...
I find (something as ) Vol. III of somebody or orther's
"History of the Inquisition, London, 1853"...and I ask him
if he'd seen Volumes one or two or four or...?
He says, he thinks so, but that was "Yesterday" and the
orphan volume I found had been seperated from the set...
I find four or five other Books I like and he lets me have
them, but he is nervous, as he will get fired if anyone
finds out...I say, "we are cool, it's between you and me..."
and I leave...
They went through tens of thousands of 'donated' Books like
that...
As well as...to some years ago, to have thrown into the
dumpsters, full sets of "Fortune" magazine from it's
beginning on through the 'fourties...National Geographic,
ditto...endless old sets of Scientific American, from
who-knows-when...on and on...
I knew someone as was pulling some of these out of the
dumpster, and the Library personell threatened to call the
cops on him if he did not put them 'back'...
Hell, I could care less if the damned Libraries were to
burn, for that matter, anymore...what frauds, what wastrels,
what rackets...what deceit...
Anyway...
Allthough, the 'Reference Librarian' used to be one of
America's noble stations...as the Library itself, one of the
noble Shrines...
Lastly, at least many Librarians told old asscroft ( he'd
give anything if he coulda been Goebbles or maybe Eichmann
for-a-day, or to have licked their boots maybe, but oh
well...he has to make-do with what he gots) , to go
piss-up-a-rope...
I felt proud of them for that...
So at least there's something left...
Not much...but 'something' anyway...
Phil
elve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurie Kneppel"
> Sacramento Potters Group, memberOn Oct 7, 2004, at 12:24
AM,
> pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET wrote:
> > "Livermore"...
> >
> > Fourty Grand to spend on a 'Mural'...and I wonder...how
many
> > Books worth reading the shelves shall hold in that
Library?
> >
> > About like here?
>
> I wonder if the money came from a private donor. i don't
know about
> Livermore, but libraries elsewhere in California are
having a tough
> time finding the money to keep their doors open, much less
spend it on
> decoration of their facilities. Unless it was funded as an
Art In
> Public Places thing like we have here, where a percentage
of the
> construction cost for a public project is required to be
spent on art
> for that project.
>
> Sure one or two misspelled names might be an error or
oversight, but
> not eleven. She does have sort of a point, though, in all
these other
> people who supposedly looked at it before it was installed
didn't catch
> the misspellings, either. I would have had someone
specifically look
> over a project like that to check my spellings, though, if
it were me,
> and it was going in a public place. Especially a library.
And then to
> charge six grand to fix it. Either stand by your original
as an
> artistic expression of some sort or fix it for cost of
materials. But I
> am not the artist and I do not know the terms of her
contract with
> Livermore. Probably once they signed off on it, that was
it. And i do
> not know their process. If they signed off on a
preliminary sketch of
> the design and the final did not match it then they might
have some
> recourse, but as I say, i do not know the terms of the
contract.
>
> I also wondered why they did not select a local artist for
the mural,
> or at least a California artist. I do know that for our
Art in Public
> Places program artists are not required to be Sacramento
or even
> California residents. If anyone is curious about this
program you can
> read more about what it is and how it works at
>
> http://www.sacculture.com/app.htm
>
> i am not affiliated with the Commission or anything. I
just think it's
> nice we have such a program here.
>
> Laurie
> Sacramento, CA
> http://rockyraku.com
> Potters Council, charter member
>
>
____________________________________________________________
__________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your
subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached
at melpots@pclink.com.
Snail Scott on sat 9 oct 04
At 08:50 AM 10/7/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>...What surprised me
>was that Livermore Library bothered to spend more money on the artist
>to do the repairs when they could have got some local artist to do it
>right a lot cheaper.. AND..... why did Livermore go all the way to
>Miami to get an artist to do the job in the first place??
Many public art projects have open calls for
proposals, in the belief that if the commission
is open to all artists everywhere, they will
have more (and possibly better) proposals to choose
from. Limiting the pool of applicants to locals
only can be a gesture of civic/regional pride,
while opening up the process may be a statement of
'looking for the best'. Whether you get 'the best'
or not is never guaranteed, though.
Many public art projects are funded by processes
which require that the allocated funds be awarded.
Furthermore, the selection committee can only
choose from among the proposals submitted. If no
proposals stand out as brilliant, they must still
choose one and fund it, and hope for the best.
(This was the single most important thing I learned
in my three-year term on a 1%-for-art committee:
the committee can only choose from among the actual
ideas - and artists - submitted for consideration.
Sometimes the choices are pretty lame.)
Remember, the usual public art proposal process
involves a call for entries, to which interested
artists submit portfolio slides of past work. From
amohg these, the committee must select a smaller
pool of finalists whose past work indicates that
they might come up with something suitable. There
may be artists who could do a great project, but
if their past work is dissimilar or inappropriate,
they probably won't make the final cut. That's
just how it works - you've got to have work to
get work, for these larger-scale projects. (Would
you trust a $40,000 budget to someone who'd never
done anything similar before?)
The next phase of these projects typically takes
the form of proposals by the finalists, as sketches
or maquettes or whatever is appropriate. (Some
competitions do allow proposals by all entrants,
without the initial 'weeding out', but it's not
common for larger public projects.) Then, the
committe must select a winner from the proposals
presented. They look at the models, the drawings,
the supplementary descriptions and information
and budget outlines, and try to guess which one
will work out best. (Imagine choosing which car to
buyfrom just the advertising brochures - it feels
a lot like that!)
After the final selection is made and contracts
are signed, the process of actually getting the
thing made begins. Unforseen difficulties can
arise from all directions. Some of these problems
may seem like they ought to be covered in the
contract, but even ridiculously long, legalistic
contracts can fail to cover every possible
eventuality, such as the misspellings in the
Livermore mural. The committee wants a contract
which will ensure that they get the piece they
bargained for. The artist wants a contract
which will guarantee that they'll be paid, with
no quibbling about the final product. And since
the exact form of the final piece can never be
fully specified in a scale model and sketch,
there is some need for trust and good faith
even with the most elaborate contract.
I would consider it the artist's responsibility
to repair errors such as the spelling, at the
artist's own expense, but if the thing was
approved and the payment made before the problem
was noted, the contract may not require it. It
might, in fact, have had a clause requiring
payment for any changed made after final
approval. I don't know. This is one of the
pitfalls of doing these types of large
commissions, and sadly, one of the things that
makes many civic (and private) groups reluctant
to fund such efforts.
-Snail Scott
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