— from Dick Bronson —
Went to the performing arts center last Sunday for the Willie Thomas memorial. While waiting for the doors to open in the auditorium I walked into the area where various art is displayed. Included among the displays were five pictures that, in my opinion, all were very offensive. Offensive from the standpoint that I consider the Center to be where the community joins together. We leave the divisiveness that is currently polluting our country outside and enjoy the camaraderie that our little island provides in this oasis.
Currently the whole world seems to be upside down; however, when my wife and I walk through those doors we find an almost church-like tranquility. The Center provides us a much needed peace zone. I strongly believe that art represents freedom of speech and must be protected but at the same time it should not further divide us. At least not in the venue of our wonderful Center. For those of you that have not seen these works let me describe them as best I can.
- Depicts the President Trump and President Kim Jong-un of North Korea as circular figures dressed in their countries flags, Trump holding a golf club in one hand and iPhone in the other and Jong-un holding a type of bomb in each hand. With the words “tweetle dumb” next to our president and “tweetle dumber” next to the North Korean.
- President Trump in the foreground and what appears to be two explosions in the background. A card is next to this stating “What shall I blow up today?”
- President Trump with a halo over his head, blue doves in the background and Trump’s hand over a globe depicting the earth. The card states “The Chosen One?”
- President Trump in a trash can with garbage strewn about, sign on trash can stating “Trash Only do Not Recycle” multiple flies, a MAGA cap among the trash, other negative political depictions, The White House in the background with the American Flag being flown, and a statement saying ”Save the Date, November 3, 2020, VOTE, and put out the Trash”
- This one has too many things on it for me to describe other than I personally thought it had no place in out Center.
Again let me state that art is freedom of speech and must be protected but so does the qualities of life that makes this island so dear to us. There should be certain sacred areas where we find refuge from the rest of society’s turmoil. Hiking our islands trails, watching the sunset in the summer while sitting at the dock at West Beach Resort and eating their Lopez Island ice cream, and going to our Center to enjoy a concert or celebrate a friends death and not being bombarded with someone’s political views.
Consider the possibility of Senator Warren being chooses to represent the democrats in the upcoming presidential election. Then imagine a similar vile presentation of HER, displayed in our Center. Say one that showed Warren with a feather in her hair while beating a tom tom sitting in a trash can filled with garbage while files flocked around with the caption stating “THIS IS WHERE TRASH BELONGS—IN THE 2020 ELECTION”. Freedom of speech to be sure but certainly not to be hung from the wall in our Center, at least not by adults.
Prior to writing this letter I contacted the Center and expressed my view.
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It’s refreshing that even on secluded, pristine Orcas, people can find ways to suffer microaggression. Welcome to America 2019! The price of democracy includes some people being offended sometimes.
I take it we won’t be seeing Robert Mapplethorpe’s art at the Center anytime soon if management has to start censoring artists for being provacateurs
well said!!
If we are to support freedom of speech, which includes freedom of expression, we can tolerate neither censorship nor Political Correctness.
Expressions which some will see as offensive must be tolerated in order that expressions with which others of us disagree will be equally tolerated.
Mere political cartoons bear absolutely no relationship to crying “FIRE!” in a crowded theater, and that includes anything displayed in Orcas Center.
I believe those particular cartoons to be inappropriate, foolish, and much too partisan to have a place in the nation’s political dialog. But as an American, I must defend to the death the poster’s right to create and publish them.
Cartoons of Mohammad, or Allah, anyone?
I believe that much of contemporary “artwork disrupts tranquility”. It is designed to do that, to engage the viewer and generate thought. Seems to have worked. Suggest you develop your Liz Warren ideas.
I would agree with the idea that censoring the politically oriented “artwork” being displayed in the Center may be a questionable practice. However, if it is all critical of only one side of the political spectrum, the Center is taking a political position. If it is all one-sided, then I agree with Dick Bronson’s comments that it is inappropriate in this setting,a venue supported by contributions from all in the community. I would have to seriously reconsider supporting a “community” organization which is taking a strong position on one side of the issues.
Culture suffuses politics.
“When I hear the word culture, I check my revolver,” sayeth the wiseguy Nazi Herman Goering.
All Presidents are war criminals by virtue of their office. Some are lower key than others. At least Trump has a lower body count than most of his predecessors.
Tranquility? Try a walk around Mountain Lake.
We should just see “safe art” like Thomas Kinkade. Perhaps follow up with a Thomas Kinkade painting bonfire with interpretive dance.
Persons in our Country have the right of free expression guaranteed by our Constitution thanks to the wisdom of our founding fathers. The persons expression can be unskilled, unoriginal, sophomoric, in poor taste such as the political propaganda on display at Orcas Center. All well and good.
The problem is the bad choice by Orcas Center to exhibit the works. They have, by their decision, taken on a political perspective that is likely to turn off some donors and volunteers.
When attending events at the Center for decades or casting funding votes for the Center as a County Commissioner, I was never confronted by, or even considered, the politics of Orcas Center. Everyone involved always had the good manners to make our community center’s operations non-partisan.
My thought had always been that partisan politics stopped at the at the Center’s front door. Sadly not any longer. Sad for me. Sad for our Orcas Island. Sad for Orcas Center.
John Evans
John Evans – well said.
“Our President” is reaping what he has sewn. As are his supporters. It is hardly surprising that they are offended by the art and not what the art depicts.
Certainly defend you right to say what you think here, but your theories about art and your fantasies about, ” The Center provides us a much needed peace zone.”, are both based on false assumptions and insufficient information. If the Center has included some controversial art in its show, I say, “It’s about time, and Bravo!” An arts center is not meant to cater to the tastes of specialized groups of people. This art may offend you, but it has been an inspiration to others. Self-styled art critics tend, I have discovered, toward pomposity, and that’s how your comments read to me. I have not seen the exhibit yet, but will go as soon as I finish typing this. The center is an arts organization, not a social club.
Dear Dick.
I would like to gift you with a coloring book and a full set of crayons.
Two rules; 1. You MUST color inside the lines!
2. You may only use black & white.
Just saw the exhibit at the OC, and found the pieces mentioned above utterly delightful and completely inoffensive. I am concerned, however, with a point of view that requires that art, in an arts organization, or anywhere, comply with the comfort level of its observers.
I am baffled by Mr. Bronson’s letter when he says that the political artwork is, ‘Offensive from the standpoint that I consider the Center to be where the community joins together.’ I do not see how the art would keep us from joining together, indeed, I would hope that it would stir conversation and debate, and get people talking, as art is meant to stretch our thinking and move us both emotionally and intellectually, and maybe even make us rethink our perspective on a certain issue.
I am further baffled when Mr. Bronson writes that when we go to the Center we should not be ‘bombarded with someone’s political views’. The reality is that some performances and artwork at the Orcas Center are political by their very content, and we must not shy away from this. And of course, Mr. Bronson, and others who wrote letters condemning the political art, always have the option of not continuing to look at any particular piece if it offends or angers them.
Orcas Center is a performing arts center, and as such, those who attend events should expect to see performances and pieces of art that promote deep thought, critical analysis, and maybe even change one’s perspective about an issue. And those performances and pieces may cause one to be uncomfortable, or even angry.
I am certain that I am not alone in calling on the Orcas Center Board to leave the political art on the walls.
I have really enjoyed the responses to my opinion, thank you. A very wise women once told me that if you express an opinion that others may disagree with, the intelligent will counter with opposing view points, while the less intelligent will simple attack you.
Where was Mr. Bronson when this delightful artist and satirist was poking fun at every other president regardless of party affiliation? Kudos to Orcas Center and the Visual Arts Committee for not succumbing to this kind of pressure from individuals who want to censor our free speech!
If oil pastels can help, I’ll donate some black and white oil pastels to go with Tracey Levine’s coloring kit. :)
I think you are looking for tranquility in the wrong place. Orcas Center chose to display art. Art is not there to provide tranquility. We have a couple of delightful cemeteries i find suitable.
You also ask for both tranquility and unity in these times. Those two also are not compatible. The only way to have a lot of is together and tranquil is for some or all of us shut up. Perhaps that’s not what Orcas Center has in mind.
Let’s see…two degree’s, thirty seven years of teaching with a full professorship, almost fifty years of trying to be an artist, sixteen years of teaching on Orcas Island, numerous authored reviews about art both here and in Seattle, (including both Orcas Issues and the Sounder) does that qualify me to address the recent article about the serenity of the art experience at the Orcas Center?
As a professor/artist living in Seattle, I had the pleasure of being reviewed by one of the most gifted and articulate art critics from the Seattle Times newspaper. She’s no longer in publication now, but she told me about her philosophy of art criticism: “If I don’t like an artist’s work, I just ignore it and don’t comment on it…which is a comment in it’s self”. Education, years of experience, and sensitivity for the power of art made her one of the most respected critics in Seattle.
Art history is full of politically charged artworks. Picasso’s GUERNICA which addresses the Nazi’s bombing of a small Spanish village is probably the best example (I doubt that the author of the initial rant is even aware of it). So, art is not always about serenity; in fact it rarely is.
Terry Johnson
Prof. of Art, ret.
Orcas Island
As in most buildings, the doors work both ways. You have the freedom and choice to turn around, return to the lobby and wait for the show to start. Easy peasy.