Hey everyone, Yourboro here, sorry it’s been a while since my last update on here. But this week there’s a decent amount of stuff going on (a lot of it is artsy, just a warning).
Wendell Castle visits Edinboro
“On Wednesday April 1, renowned artist Wendell Castle will lecture in Louis C. Cole Auditorium – Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. The lecture, entitled “An Idea in Transition,” is sponsored by the Edinboro University Visiting Artist and Speaker Endowment and will address the process of creating an art piece.”
This guy is pretty important. He’s considered the father of “furniture art”, and I would advise going to this event if you’re interested (even slightly) in cool lookin’ stuff. He currently has permanent collections in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the White House. Yes, even the White House.
For more information, you can check out his website, http://www.wendellcastle.com/
Edinboro art teacher James Parlin stirs up controversy on Bowling Green campus
“HURON, Ohio—A sculpture depicting a middle school girl and her teacher engaged in a sexual act has been removed from display by a college in Ohio, which called the piece “inappropriate,” the Associated Press reports.”
The work shows a middle-school girl performing oral sex on a male teacher. Now it’s in a closet inside the Bowling Green campus.
In protest, the entire exhibition was cancelled, and rightfully so, I believe. While I never actually saw the piece, it’s hard to judge something as “inappropriate” in an art show, especially since it’s 2009, and you can turn on a video game system and let your 13 year old child decapitate police officers and pick up prostitutes. How is a sexual act even fairly inappropriate with college students? Is anyone under the impression that art students would actually get offended by this? If any artistic students actually do get offended by this, they should probably change their major.
“The university wrote that, although it supports the right of free speech and artistic expression, it has a responsibility ”
Huh? It’s responsibility should be to support the right of free speech, as stated.
Parlin had this to say explaining his piece:
“People usually do little things wrong, with small consequences … Sometimes people do big things wrong, with big consequences. Sexual assault is one,” he said. “This piece is based on someone who lost a job, family and freedom. He made a decision that lead to disaster.”
in other news..
John’s Pizza celebrates 30 years
Today (Monday) and Tomorrow you can order a large pizza for $5.00, which is quite the steal. However, one topping is almost a dollar, so don’t plan on getting tons of toppings with that pie, because it’ll run you up a bill that would be pretty much the normal price of a large pizza.
Either way, I’m sure they’re going to get tons of customers these next couple of days, figuring they’re the best pizza in the surrounding area.
The Parlin case is turning out to be a pretty interesting one – we should probably note that Parlin is not what you'd call a strictly representational artist – you'd be hard pressed, if not for the title, to figure out what was going on with this piece.
To me, the more interesting part of the story is the fact that BGSU is claiming that it was removed not because it was offensive to their sensibilities, but because they were concerned about a viewer opening up a child pornography complaint against them.
Something tells me that the gallery director will be be looking for a new job.
This is not about “freedom of speech” — this is about the depiction of an adult male sexually abusing a YOUNG GIRL, pigtails, backpack and all, as entertainment. And if you think professors don’t abuse college students, think again.
The author should look at a pic of the “sculpture” as well as any commenters here. It’s sickening.