Posted on 01/09/2007 9:38:22 PM PST by TFFKAMM
A high school art teacher who sparked controversy when his off-hours work as a so-called "butt-printing artist" became known has been fired.
The Chesterfield County School Board, in a unanimous voice vote, decided to terminate Stephen Murmer at a meeting Tuesday night, spokeswoman Debra Marlow said. The vote came during a nearly three-hour meeting during which the board heard Chesterfield superintendent Marcus J. Newsome's recommendation that Murmer be fired during a portion of the meeting closed to the public. Murmer and his lawyer, Jason Anthony, also had an opportunity to present their case in closed session, she said. The voice vote came after the meeting was opened to the public.
In its decision, the board reasoned that students have a right to receive their education in a positive learning environment free from distractions and disruptions, Marlow said. The decision also is in keeping with court rulings that hold that teachers are expected to lead by example, be role models and honor core values, she said. The school system operates under an ideal that holds respect, responsibility, honesty and accountability as core values for all students and employees to abide, and the board clearly felt that Murmer had gone outside those parameters with his art.
Afterward, Anthony called the vote "a bad day for the First Amendment."
"Chesterfield lost a tremendous asset today," he said. Murmer, a teacher at Monacan High School, was suspended in December after objections were raised about his private abstract artwork, much of which includes smearing his posterior and genitals with paint and pressing them against canvas.
His paintings sell for as much as $900 each on his Web site...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
He LISTS his paintings for up to $900 on his site. Prices actually paid may be far less.
Nah, there are fools who will spend their money on just about any carp out there.
Reminds me of my home town where a guy laid his package on a checkout counter at the local grocery store...
The quick-thinking checkout girl grabbed a can of veggies and smashed away. I am sure the guy could never look at the jolly green giant in the same manner again...
It still sounds fishy to me.
Be sure to read the guestbook comments on his page. http://buttprintart.com/
You'll see that this guy has a bunch of liberal supporters. Some of the comments will surely crack you up.
You quoted the line, "His paintings sell for as much as $900 each on his Web site..."
I've seen this guy's work before, and remain unimpressed. But look, just because he's advertising them at $900 does not mean he actually manages to sell the things. He's a gimmick painter doing a risque variation on action painting, an approach pioneered by Jackson Pollock and others. Over time, other artists have used jet engines to spatter paint, or covered their whole bodies in paint and rolled around on a canvas spread across the floor. You name it, it's probably been done. For these guys, it's all about process, not result. And unlike Pollock, none of them have ever in their lives made anything beautiful and worthwhile. I think what Mr. Butt Cheeks is doing is a technique born of frustration. Insofar as I can tell, he knows nothing of color, or form, or line, or even the rudiments of composition.
In the end (no pun intended), it doesn't matter how the painting is achieved--if I painted while naked, balanced on a unicycle, wearing a derby and singing Gregorian chants, the only thing of the whole ridiculous process that would matter would be the painting itself.
Guys like this continue to give my profession a bad name. If that whole crowd of poseurs had one neck, I would choke it.
Fired his @$$!
Enjoy the unemployment line, butt painter!
"They nipped it in the butt...er, bud."
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LOL! Great post.
Industrial strength humor. That might be the ping list for you. :)
Virginia has moving to the left for a long time. I am surprised that this individual was dismissed. He sounds like federal-grant material.
Old idea that started with butt copying. At least there could be new idea.
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