Posted on 10/06/2004 7:24:40 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) - It didn't take a nuclear physicist to realize changes were needed after a $40,000 ceramic mural was unveiled outside the city's new library and everyone could see the misspelled names of Einstein, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo and seven other historical figures. "Our library director is very frustrated that she has this lovely new library and it has all these misspellings in front," said city councilwoman Lorraine Dietrich, one of three council members who voted Monday to authorize paying another $6,000, plus expenses, to fly the artist up from Miami to fix the errors.
Reached at her Miami studio Wednesday by The Associated Press, Maria Alquilar said she was willing to fix the brightly colored 16-foot-wide circular work, but offered no apologizes for the 11 misspellings among the 175 names.
"The importance of this work is that it is supposed to unite people," Alquilar said. "They are denigrating my work and the purpose of this work."
Alquilar said it took her quite a bit of her own time and money to create and install the work, and that it sat idle at her Santa Cruz studio for two years until the city cleared the way for its installation.
There were plenty of people around during the installation who could and should have seen the missing and misplaced letters, she said.
"Even though I was on my hands and knees laying the installation out, I didn't see it," she said.
The mistakes wouldn't even register with a true artisan, Alquilar said.
"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind the words register correctly."
"Our library director is very frustrated that she has this lovely new library and it has all these misspellings in front," said city councilwoman Lorraine Dietrich"
The obvious comments pertaining to the 'artiste' aside, the above comment was striking to me.
Doesn't this 'lovely new library' belong to the taxpayers in this city? or is it run by democrats?
Just pull the mural down and put up wall paper. End of story.
Alquilar was born in Brooklyn, New York, and since she was probably schooled there this would explain her lack of a basic education.
http://www.maria-alquilar.com/
An earlier story from July: www.livejournal.com
The artist's web site:
On first glance, I kind of like some of her stuff, too bad she is more than likely a crazy liberal.
Ah Ms. Alquilar, here's your check for $4.00. What? You say your price was $40,000! Why quibble over a misplaced decimal point Ms. Alquilar?
Congressman Billybob
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Don't let the facts get in the way of "the Truth."
She sounds like a pothead.
The city should ask for a refund.
Maybe they should have misspelled the name on the check and the dollar amount should have been incorrect to the tune of a few grand below the agreed upon price.
Then let's see if spelling matters to the RatTrashArtist.
I wondering if the library commissioned the piece & if the artist submitted a model & the errors were in the model.
Just another example of Democrats throwing taxpayer money into a liberal screwball rat hole.
Hey, there's always more where that came from.
LOL!
"...Mayor Marshall Kamena and Councilwoman Marj Leider argued that it's best to leave the artwork alone, especially since there are questions as to how long the mosaic -- which has already sustained some chipping and other damage -- will withstand the outdoor elements..."
"...Another less costly option was to install a plaque near the mosaic pointing out which words were misspelled, perhaps turning it into a game challenging kids to find the mistakes in the mosaic..."
Why does she blame "plenty of people" instead of just admitting she made an error? Taking responibility for our mistakes is crucial to becoming an adult.
If their our any errors in this mesage dont not blame me, im an artiste!
I would make sure that these people were not re-elected. Just because it's not their $6000+. I would bet a cookie that if they contracted for something and the results were shoddy, they would not pull out their own checkbook.
As for the "artist"? Once upon a time they were professionals. This is one of those that give the good 1/2 of 1 % of them a bad name.
And cheaper.
"I prefer Locke's concept of enlightenment..."
But I doubt her concept of Blake. He was a mad genius, but was he a slacker? His poetry and paintings don't seem to indicate that.
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