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Oh god...
What a spoiled little brat!
The artist who created the now-infamous Livermore library mosaic that contains 11 misspellings says she no longer wants to fix it because of the "nasty messages from people who don't understand art."
Oh, that's nice. They're not being nasty because they don't understand art, they're being nasty (if they are being nasty, I don't know that) because they understand that you messed up. At any rate, it's your mess, you need to fix it. You can't act like a five year old just because people are being big poopyheads.
Maria Alquilar, who complained that her name, too, was often misspelled, said she had been overwhelmed by dozens of phone calls and more than 1,000 e- mails since her errors -- from "Eistein" to "Shakespere" to "Michaelangelo" -- were widely publicized.
Aside from the fact that you weren't famous until very recently... well, no. I'm not finishing.
Fed up, Alquilar said Friday that she was reconsidering her decision to correct her work because the people of Livermore had been so mean.
"If I come out, there will probably be a demonstration," she said. "There is so much anger. I am so upset, I can't even think straight."
That much is obvious. You need to fix your mistakes. It's stupid and petty to say "well, you're mean, I'm not gonna, nyah!"
Alquilar will wait for the issue to die down before she makes a firm decision, but she said she would prefer that the city just tear up the piece, which measures 16 feet in diameter and includes 175 historical names and cultural words.
"I will consent if the city wants to pay to have it removed," she said.
Wait. Wait, you got paid for this already, and you didn't do the job properly, but you'll consent if "they pay to have it removed"? What world are you living in?
City officials, who paid $40,000 for the mosaic, said they hoped Alquilar would correct the mistakes but had not received an answer.
"She indicated that she is not sure if she wants to come back," said Assistant City Manager Jim Piper. "We will get her final decision next week."
Nothing to say here.
Livermore officials selected Alquilar in 2000 to create a mosaic at the entrance to Livermore's new library. It shows a tree of life in its center surrounded by icons representing science, art literature and history. Officials attending the library's opening in May noticed that 10 names and one word on the piece were misspelled.
The artist said the names were spelled correctly on her sketches, but she got them wrong as she was doing the piece. She admits noticing "Einstein" was misspelled but choosing to go forward anyway.
"I just wasn't that concerned," she said. "None of us are particularly good spellers anymore because of computers. When you are in a studio full of clay, you don't give it much thought.
Excuse me? I'm a good speller. How could you not have been concerned? Did it never occur to you that people in a library might be concerned about correct spelling?
"When you look at Michelangelo's David, do you point out that one (testicle) is lower than the other?"
I'm told that men often have one testicle lower than the other. This would mean that it's not a mistake.
Earlier this week, the Livermore City Council voted 3-2 to pay Alquilar $6,000 to fix the misspelled names. State law prohibits removing or changing public art without the artist's consent.
They were going to pay her to fix her own mistakes.
The city debated leaving the misspelled names and creating a game where visitors try to find them -- an idea that angered Alquilar.
"Can you imagine them suggesting that a work of art be used as a game?" she asked. "It is outrageous."
Lots of works of art as used as a game. Here's an idea. If you don't want people to do that, proofread your work, and take enough pride in it to be concerned if you aren't doing your best.
Though some argue the artist should be allowed to spell names however she wants, others say the piece is an embarrassment.
No, she shouldn't. They aren't her names to mangle. And yes, it IS an embarrassment.
Phone calls to the artist started after the city said she would be paid to correct the errors. Alquilar was screening calls when she got a call from a man claiming to be a police officer. She picked up the phone, and the caller joked that he was from a special Livermore unit that is inspecting spelling errors.
Another caller suggested Alquilar had a learning disability, and several used ethnic slurs, she said.
"It turned into a sport for them," said Alquilar, who said she was well educated and not dyslexic.
They shouldn't've done that (though at this point I think I would've clung to dyslexic as long as I could, and certainly not implied that dyslexic means poorly educated).
Alquilar worked on the piece for more than a year and said the whole experience was negative. She said people were unfriendly, and she was offended that she wasn't invited to the opening.
"I just wasn't left with a good feeling, like I would want to fix it for them," she said.
That's nice. You still have to fix your mistakes. You got PAID for it, and if it's wrong, you need to fix it.
She said the piece had been on display for four days before it was completed and viewed by city employees, architects, contractors and library officials. No one noticed the errors, she said.
"That proves that words are not the important part," she said. "The mural is supposed to lead people into discovering different parts of the world and its influences. This one has been detrimental."
It proves nothing of the sort. I doubt people go with a red pencil to look for errors in a mural. Probably they didn't even look that closely at it, which is why they didn't notice.
Maybe she's not a spoiled brat. But I still think she needs to grow up, and own up to her responsibility.
The artist who created the now-infamous Livermore library mosaic that contains 11 misspellings says she no longer wants to fix it because of the "nasty messages from people who don't understand art."
Oh, that's nice. They're not being nasty because they don't understand art, they're being nasty (if they are being nasty, I don't know that) because they understand that you messed up. At any rate, it's your mess, you need to fix it. You can't act like a five year old just because people are being big poopyheads.
Maria Alquilar, who complained that her name, too, was often misspelled, said she had been overwhelmed by dozens of phone calls and more than 1,000 e- mails since her errors -- from "Eistein" to "Shakespere" to "Michaelangelo" -- were widely publicized.
Aside from the fact that you weren't famous until very recently... well, no. I'm not finishing.
Fed up, Alquilar said Friday that she was reconsidering her decision to correct her work because the people of Livermore had been so mean.
"If I come out, there will probably be a demonstration," she said. "There is so much anger. I am so upset, I can't even think straight."
That much is obvious. You need to fix your mistakes. It's stupid and petty to say "well, you're mean, I'm not gonna, nyah!"
Alquilar will wait for the issue to die down before she makes a firm decision, but she said she would prefer that the city just tear up the piece, which measures 16 feet in diameter and includes 175 historical names and cultural words.
"I will consent if the city wants to pay to have it removed," she said.
Wait. Wait, you got paid for this already, and you didn't do the job properly, but you'll consent if "they pay to have it removed"? What world are you living in?
City officials, who paid $40,000 for the mosaic, said they hoped Alquilar would correct the mistakes but had not received an answer.
"She indicated that she is not sure if she wants to come back," said Assistant City Manager Jim Piper. "We will get her final decision next week."
Nothing to say here.
Livermore officials selected Alquilar in 2000 to create a mosaic at the entrance to Livermore's new library. It shows a tree of life in its center surrounded by icons representing science, art literature and history. Officials attending the library's opening in May noticed that 10 names and one word on the piece were misspelled.
The artist said the names were spelled correctly on her sketches, but she got them wrong as she was doing the piece. She admits noticing "Einstein" was misspelled but choosing to go forward anyway.
"I just wasn't that concerned," she said. "None of us are particularly good spellers anymore because of computers. When you are in a studio full of clay, you don't give it much thought.
Excuse me? I'm a good speller. How could you not have been concerned? Did it never occur to you that people in a library might be concerned about correct spelling?
"When you look at Michelangelo's David, do you point out that one (testicle) is lower than the other?"
I'm told that men often have one testicle lower than the other. This would mean that it's not a mistake.
Earlier this week, the Livermore City Council voted 3-2 to pay Alquilar $6,000 to fix the misspelled names. State law prohibits removing or changing public art without the artist's consent.
They were going to pay her to fix her own mistakes.
The city debated leaving the misspelled names and creating a game where visitors try to find them -- an idea that angered Alquilar.
"Can you imagine them suggesting that a work of art be used as a game?" she asked. "It is outrageous."
Lots of works of art as used as a game. Here's an idea. If you don't want people to do that, proofread your work, and take enough pride in it to be concerned if you aren't doing your best.
Though some argue the artist should be allowed to spell names however she wants, others say the piece is an embarrassment.
No, she shouldn't. They aren't her names to mangle. And yes, it IS an embarrassment.
Phone calls to the artist started after the city said she would be paid to correct the errors. Alquilar was screening calls when she got a call from a man claiming to be a police officer. She picked up the phone, and the caller joked that he was from a special Livermore unit that is inspecting spelling errors.
Another caller suggested Alquilar had a learning disability, and several used ethnic slurs, she said.
"It turned into a sport for them," said Alquilar, who said she was well educated and not dyslexic.
They shouldn't've done that (though at this point I think I would've clung to dyslexic as long as I could, and certainly not implied that dyslexic means poorly educated).
Alquilar worked on the piece for more than a year and said the whole experience was negative. She said people were unfriendly, and she was offended that she wasn't invited to the opening.
"I just wasn't left with a good feeling, like I would want to fix it for them," she said.
That's nice. You still have to fix your mistakes. You got PAID for it, and if it's wrong, you need to fix it.
She said the piece had been on display for four days before it was completed and viewed by city employees, architects, contractors and library officials. No one noticed the errors, she said.
"That proves that words are not the important part," she said. "The mural is supposed to lead people into discovering different parts of the world and its influences. This one has been detrimental."
It proves nothing of the sort. I doubt people go with a red pencil to look for errors in a mural. Probably they didn't even look that closely at it, which is why they didn't notice.
Maybe she's not a spoiled brat. But I still think she needs to grow up, and own up to her responsibility.
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How on earth can you not be concerned when you realize you are spelling something wrong on a Library wall?
I can understand being upset about the nasty phone calls and not being invited to the opening, but she's acting like a five year old. You'd think she'd be embarrassed at her mistake and want to fix it as soon as it was noticed. Instead of dragging it out so more people notice.
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Not inviting the artist to the opening is a deliberate snub. Why would she want to do further work for them?
You'd think she'd be embarrassed at her mistake and want to fix it as soon as it was noticed.
You realize that it's not as easy as just taking out an eraser, right?
She DID want to fix it, anyway. She changed her mind when judgmental people without all the facts on the matter started harassing her, calling her spoiled and evil, etc.
--Kynn
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The difference, though, is that the company could generally get another designer to edit the program (depending on how the contract is written up, I suppose). This piece of art is stuck with errors unless she allows them to take it down or she goes in to fix it.
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If I design a web site and I say "upon acceptance of this work, I get paid" and I deliver the site, and you look at it and say 'hey, GREAT, here's your money" ... then, you know, I'm not obligated to fix anything after that.
Once you ACCEPT it, further work is a further contract.
And she got too much shit from anti-art people on the Internet to feel like dealing with the entire mess (especially after the city dragged their feet on it, letting it sit in her studio for two years). Why can't she simply say "I'm going on with my life?"
The city should have looked at the artwork before it was installed. Duh. The time to make corrections was before it was set in stone (literally), not months down the road.
--K
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The dorm I lived in had a boring ceam-colored wall at a slowly-moving-elevator waiting area on the first floor. The dorm council decided to pay the art department for a mural there. It was fairly well-done, but several of us nitpicked and decided that there needed to be more there and fix some "creative color highlights" that really made people wonder what they were thinking. I volunteered, since I'm somewhat an artsy type, to go in and add some touches that we felt it needed.
Really, if you're familiar with the paints, it's fairly easy to "fix errors". The hardest part would be mixing the paint to get a color that matches well enough for people not to notice the paint-over.
Unfortunately, the president of the university started doing some VERY odd "paint over the buildings!!" projects, inside AND OUT (painting all of them to have a red brick color!), and that included painting over the elevator lobby to be plain and cream and boring again. Thankfully I think he didn't notice the stairwell, which has (had?) big themed numbers painted at each floor.
I think she's being a brat about the issue, even thoguh being harassed about it was DEFINITELY uncalled for.
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She's a downright evil person. She's waaaaay beyond spoiled.
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--Kynn
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No, she doesn't need to fix it. They accepted the work. Why can't she decide that it's not worth it to do further work for the city given all the big poopyheadedness?
I doubt people go with a red pencil to look for errors in a mural.
Apparently a lot of people do, or else she wouldn't be getting the attacks she's getting.
Probably they didn't even look that closely at it, which is why they didn't notice.
Then it's their fault, isn't it?
But I still think she needs to grow up, and own up to her responsibility.
By doing what? Continuing to hold on to what turned out to be a lousy deal anyway? She didn't enjoy working with the city, and she's got thousands of people around the world harassing her (not to mention calling her names on their livejournals). Why would she want to have anything to do with this again?
She completed it months ago. She got paid. Her work is done. Any further work is optional and is up to her. She's not contractually obligated to redo her work on demand.
And outraged Internet whoevers, with no connection to this case at all, have made her decide that it's not worth it. I can understand this myself.
--Kynn
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They accepted the original version of the work, with correct spelling. This is not what they paid for, and not what they're likely to want in a library. Even if other people are being horribly terribly mean to you, you still need to act like an adult.
Then it's their fault, isn't it?
No, it's not. It is her fault for not being more careful with her work. Nobody stood with her as she worked and made her mess up. She did that, all on her own.
By doing what? Continuing to hold on to what turned out to be a lousy deal anyway? She didn't enjoy working with the city, and she's got thousands of people around the world harassing her (not to mention calling her names on their livejournals). Why would she want to have anything to do with this again?
By fixing her mistake. If I did something like that, I'd be embarassed to do anything other than give back what I'd been paid, end of it, and fix the work if that's what the city wants. That's why I'm mad at her, not because she messed up (big time) but because she doesn't grasp the concept of "fixing your mistakes", nor of "personal responsibility".
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Besides, this isn't part of her art. Her original sketches had the names written correctly.
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She probably doesn't deserve the amount of shit she's getting, but she could still stand to be more graceful about it.
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Oh, she definitely doesn't, but that doesn't matter. No matter what other people do, you always have to be an adult. If you want to be a child, tough, because you can't.
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How on earth can you not be concerned when you realize you are spelling something wrong on a Library wall?
I can understand being upset about the nasty phone calls and not being invited to the opening, but she's acting like a five year old. You'd think she'd be embarrassed at her mistake and want to fix it as soon as it was noticed. Instead of dragging it out so more people notice.
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Not inviting the artist to the opening is a deliberate snub. Why would she want to do further work for them?
You'd think she'd be embarrassed at her mistake and want to fix it as soon as it was noticed.
You realize that it's not as easy as just taking out an eraser, right?
She DID want to fix it, anyway. She changed her mind when judgmental people without all the facts on the matter started harassing her, calling her spoiled and evil, etc.
--Kynn
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The difference, though, is that the company could generally get another designer to edit the program (depending on how the contract is written up, I suppose). This piece of art is stuck with errors unless she allows them to take it down or she goes in to fix it.
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If I design a web site and I say "upon acceptance of this work, I get paid" and I deliver the site, and you look at it and say 'hey, GREAT, here's your money" ... then, you know, I'm not obligated to fix anything after that.
Once you ACCEPT it, further work is a further contract.
And she got too much shit from anti-art people on the Internet to feel like dealing with the entire mess (especially after the city dragged their feet on it, letting it sit in her studio for two years). Why can't she simply say "I'm going on with my life?"
The city should have looked at the artwork before it was installed. Duh. The time to make corrections was before it was set in stone (literally), not months down the road.
--K
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She's a downright evil person. She's waaaaay beyond spoiled.
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--Kynn
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No, she doesn't need to fix it. They accepted the work. Why can't she decide that it's not worth it to do further work for the city given all the big poopyheadedness?
I doubt people go with a red pencil to look for errors in a mural.
Apparently a lot of people do, or else she wouldn't be getting the attacks she's getting.
Probably they didn't even look that closely at it, which is why they didn't notice.
Then it's their fault, isn't it?
But I still think she needs to grow up, and own up to her responsibility.
By doing what? Continuing to hold on to what turned out to be a lousy deal anyway? She didn't enjoy working with the city, and she's got thousands of people around the world harassing her (not to mention calling her names on their livejournals). Why would she want to have anything to do with this again?
She completed it months ago. She got paid. Her work is done. Any further work is optional and is up to her. She's not contractually obligated to redo her work on demand.
And outraged Internet whoevers, with no connection to this case at all, have made her decide that it's not worth it. I can understand this myself.
--Kynn
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They accepted the original version of the work, with correct spelling. This is not what they paid for, and not what they're likely to want in a library. Even if other people are being horribly terribly mean to you, you still need to act like an adult.
Then it's their fault, isn't it?
No, it's not. It is her fault for not being more careful with her work. Nobody stood with her as she worked and made her mess up. She did that, all on her own.
By doing what? Continuing to hold on to what turned out to be a lousy deal anyway? She didn't enjoy working with the city, and she's got thousands of people around the world harassing her (not to mention calling her names on their livejournals). Why would she want to have anything to do with this again?
By fixing her mistake. If I did something like that, I'd be embarassed to do anything other than give back what I'd been paid, end of it, and fix the work if that's what the city wants. That's why I'm mad at her, not because she messed up (big time) but because she doesn't grasp the concept of "fixing your mistakes", nor of "personal responsibility".
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Besides, this isn't part of her art. Her original sketches had the names written correctly.
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She probably doesn't deserve the amount of shit she's getting, but she could still stand to be more graceful about it.
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Oh, she definitely doesn't, but that doesn't matter. No matter what other people do, you always have to be an adult. If you want to be a child, tough, because you can't.
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