Posted on 10/07/2004 2:23:02 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
LIVERMORE, Calif. - 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."
POP QUIZ!!!
For which party will Maria Alquilar vote?
That's hideous.
Guys, it's 'picture', I'm series!! That's a hugh spelling error! :^)
Many thanks! Good lord--16 FEET of this crud for $40,000!?
I live in Livermore and walked by the ugly misspelled mural just yesterday; unfortunately, I don't know how to post pictures on Free Republic.
$46,000 for that junk--so embarrassing.
'. . . voted Monday to authorize paying another $6,000, plus expenses, to fly the artist up from Miami to fix the errors.'
Ka-ching!
Creative way of sticking it to this library with another bill and pocketing $6+ G's.
Perhaps there's more raw talent in 'finance' than 'art' with Alquilar.
You are so flul of siht!
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe."
But the lttres have to be the rihgt ltrtes, else it is nonskise.
Take some pix and post another reply to me on this thread. We'll find someone to host those pix so they can be posted here.
"Shakespere"! (It's supposed to be "Shakespeare")
Maria Alquilar
Just another reason that in Santa Cruz REAL scholars home school...;)
sumwon whit fotoosohp silkls kneeds to ad a DUnse cap.
Doesn't that artist know diddly squat about good customer relations? The old adage "Measure twice, cut once?" Sometimes even if it isn't your fault it's better to just fix it so the client will be happy and will direct more business your way. At least if they're happy they are less likely to drag your name through the mud. I did one porta-mural to the size the museum requested and then later found out they had just guessed the dimensions instead of getting in and actually making sure it was correct to the half inch. The thing ended up being two feet longer than the wall. My lesson? Never trust just the client's measurements. Always double check. And always double check your own!
There have been occasions where I have had to do things incorrectly because the client didn't care or didn't know as much about the topic as they think they do and insisted on something that was historically inaccurate- or they changed something to make it PC, but in that case I make sure they sign for it if I cannot persuade them and then usually won't sign my name to the work when I'm done if it is a big thing I'd be embarassed by. They don't notice that it's not signed and that's OK with me.
I guess I didn't get the memo that I wasn't accountable because I'm an artist.
The mistakes wouldn't even register with a true artisan, Alquilar said.
What an arrogant snot Alquilar is, blaming it on everyone else.
She's going to vote Pat Buchanan's Reform Party by mistake!
Is it hugh?
Now doesn't that sound exactly like something Dan Rather at DCNBS News would say?
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