artPark

The Gerry Mitchell saga - continued

Here is an excellent example of how to make a bad situation worse:

This is a follow up to the Gerry Mitchell saga I mentioned earlier. As a reminder… Gerry is the AIDS-wracked, wheelchair-bound artist who was struck while using a crosswalk by an Albemarle county police cruiser whose driver, Officer Gregory C. Davis, purportedly didn't see him. Gerry was then ticketed by Charlottesville police for failing to obey a pedestrian signal, although he was crossing with a green light. Read the original December 6 news article here.

Prior to Christmas, the charges against Gerry were dropped but no apology was given – the one thing Gerry has wanted. Read the follow-up article here. The outrage continues.

To this point, Gerry has kept his head up and remains gracious. We will have to wait and see if he files a suit.

Will someone please feed Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman a couple of lines prior to his press conferences that allow him to show just a little contrition?

It would be refreshing if Officer Gregory Davis would simply step up, say he was not looking while making the turn and accidentally hit Gerry. Taking a little responsibility for one’s actions would be a new twist.

Although The Hook’s reporting is a bit malicious… well… you decide what you think of how Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo has handled this mess thus far. I can’t say this article makes him look too good.

And to the Charlottesville City Council members: Silence is not golden. Public safety is your thing. Do something! Heck, your actions could even be seen as a show of support for the local arts too. A two-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing.

FYI:  An exhibit of Gerry's paintings will open tomoroow, Jan 4, at the Mudhouse.

Gerry Mitchell's plight

This may be old news to those of you in the Charlottesville area (if it's not, you C'villians should read the paper more often).  For the rest of you, I want to share the recent plight of a local artist...

On November 5, Gerry Mitchell - a Charlottesville artist, Yale grad, and wheelchair-bound pedestrian - was hit by a car while using a crosswalk to cross the street.  Two things make this a particularly interesting and alarming story:  1) the car (and driver) that hit Gerry was a County Police car, and 2) following the accident in which Gerry was hit from behind and thrown from his wheelchair, Gerry was issued a ticket (while in the hospital) despite the fact he was properly crossing with the light.  Oh... and the officer did not receive a ticket for hitting a pedestrian.  Read the initial story here and the follow-up here.

Laura and I have been outraged by this whole debacle.  Not only has Gerry, a very kind and thoughtful person, been needlessly hurt, but city officials have made a series of poor decisions in dealing with it.

In the second article, we were shocked at the responses of some of the City Council members.  Apparently, they do not have an opinion because they have not heard from enough of their constituents.  Say what?!?!?!  I find it hard to believe an elected official can't formulate their own opinion prior to polling the citizenry.  That's not what I voted for.  Here's an excerpt:

"I'd be surprised if someone didn't bring it up at the next meeting," says Mayor David Brown, who says he knows about the incident but hasn't heard from any constituents.  "I'm not happy with the situation, but I'd like to hear all sides before I decide what should be done," he says.

Councilor and retired Charlottesville fire chief Julian Talliaferro says he, too, hasn't heard enough to render a judgment.  Councilor Kevin Lynch agrees more information is needed about Mitchell's ticket before he can make a specific comment, but he says he has general concerns about the ways in which police interact with the community.

Despite the hell Gerry has had to endure, I have been impressed with his patience and understanding.

As members of the C'ville arts community, we wish Gerry a speedy recovery so that he can continue making his art enriching the lives of all those around him.  We also wish city officials wake up and eventually do the right thing for Gerry.

Charlottesville Tax Money to Arts & Culture

In my recent water bill, the City of Charlottesville stuffed a Citizen Budget Survey in the envelope. As part of their preparation for establishing the 2009 budget, the City Council was seeking input on our priorities and spending preferences.

Included on the survey was the 2008 General Fund Budget in pie chart form indicating where the City’s $134,662,800 dollars are going. Public Safety (23.26%) and Public Schools (28.47%) had the biggest pieces of pie. "Arts & Culture Programs" received 1.19%. By my math, that’s a total of $1,602,487 to Arts & Culture (defined as "contributions to arts, cultural agencies, library, etc."). Based on C’ville’s census population of 40,745, this amounts to $39.33 per person.

This got me thinking a bit... The city freely labels itself a "world class arts town." Who feels they are getting their $39.33 worth of world class Arts & Culture from the City of Charlottesville? Is $39.33 a lot? A little? How does this compare to other cities?

I also remembered an earlier survey I received from the City regarding areas of importance to its citizens. I looked up the results. 56.2% of residents surveyed said supporting cultural arts and entertainment opportunities is "very important" (I assume even more considered it at least moderately important). And the City Council’s 2020 Vision states, "We envision a city in which art and culture are a major part of civic life."

I’m thinking it’s going to take more of a commitment from the City Council than the $39.33 per person they’ve allocated to Arts & Culture to actually realize their lofty goals. Either provide more funding, or quit calling yourself a "world class arts town."

Am I off base?

Blake Gopnik on Cubism

This past long weekend gave me an opportunity to catch up on some reading. I ran across an article in last Sunday’s Washington Post that made me scratch my head a bit.

Blake Gopnik – art critic for the Washington Post – wrote quite a tome article on Picasso and Cubism. Read it (the whole dang thing) here. Gopnik gives us his interpretation of Cubism’s legacy – as seen through his Eurocentric goggles (boy, I would have paid good money for at least one mention of the influence that Oriental and African art had on Picasso or the other Cubists – but that’s not the issue that I want to talk about).

I have my own reservations about Gopnik and his crappy coverage of the area’s visual arts. But I have to say, I’m not as anti-Blake as others are. Yes, I would like to see more coverage and criticism of an artist’s work who is actually living and trying to make a career by creating it rather than that of dead artists and the museums where we find their art. But, in many ways, I’m just happy to see any coverage of the visual arts in a professional and critical manner.

With that said, I was stymied by Gopnik’s article on Cubism. I read, and read, and read, and read waiting for the news this article was bringing. Maybe there was a new Picasso retrospective I wasn't aware of. But, by the end, I realized there was no news in this article. Instead, the WashPost (a newspaper) gave Gopnik umpteen column inches simply to flex his art historical muscles. No news here. None. And in the meantime, Gopnik squanders the opportunity to cover the work of an area artist or a gallery’s show and give them some much needed coverage. Sad.

How would you handle this?

Hi everyone,

Since Rob is handling the art side so well, I thought I'd chime in about the business side. Art is a funny business as anyone who is reading this well knows. Someone has to do it, though, or else the artist starves and society loses. So art must change hands, at least sometimes, to be meaningful. A writer writes to be read, an artist makes work to be seen.

It is still icky, though, to have to be a salesman, even for work you passionately believe in. It is especially icky when you get taken advantage of. Recently, we went to SOFA Chicago as Rob wrote. Great fair, great people, with an exception the size of Texas. A couple from Illinois purchased a piece for their home in Arizona. They loved it, haggled over the price and had it shipped. Done, right? Nope. Almost a month later, they want to return it. It wasn't modern enough. Now, no question we would have done this in a heartbeat for a client in our hometown, but a purchase at a fair, and not one done on approval, seemed different. But the artist understandably didn't want a piece of his where it wasn't wanted so we agreed to take it back, if the client paid shipping and with the understanding that we would help the client find a replacement piece. Long and short of it, the client tried to stiff me for return shipping and has ignored all e-mails with replacement options. Our concept of the understanding we had was different, or she played me. My instincts tell me the latter is true. Did I mention the first calls she made to ask to return the piece were on Thanksgiving? She called twice then and once the enxt day. And yes, she is American.

If anyone has any advice on how to handle this the next time, or wishes to extend a little sympathy, or wants to tell me to grow up, this happens all the time and quit whining, feel free. I'm just bummed about it.

Thanks.