-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Wasilla Alaska, the hometown of ex half-governor Sarah Palin, is in the news again. Artists Jim Dault and Shala Dobson were commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture for Wasilla High School. The $100,000 work of art is entitled “The Warrior Within” and is pictured on the left.
The problem? Some parents and students think it looks like … girlie parts.
The principal, Amy Spargo, has put a tarp over the sculpture because of complaints that it vaguely resembles a vulva. That high school students would display such juvenile thinking is understandable, but the reaction of the parents is mind boggling.
Spargo claims the tarp isn’t censorship, it’s there to protect the sculpture. Spargo is concerned vandals might damage the artwork. There’s a teachable moment in leadership, caving in to threats of vandalism.
The design of the sculpture was presented to the art committee and the school board, and was given a green light. They obviously didn’t take into account the anatomy-challenged philistines of Wasilla.
H/T: Pharyngula, The Mudflats, LA Times, Frontiersman.
Elaine M.1, March 3, 2012 at 8:55 am
Maybe the Alaska GOP will hire an artist to create a partner sculpture of a vaginal ultrasound wand.
hahahahahahahjahaha!……mmmmm, I’m an artist…:)
machette; $20,000 remainder $150,000 on completion
Only in the Right Awng Wold would art cause such problems.
Well they should check out the big beaver in Cumberland, WI in front of the elementary school. Sorry but couldn’t find a pic online. The birch logs it is gnawing on is a nice touch too.
$100,000! Srsly?
LOL, Lady (and gentleman’s) parts would be an artistic theme the duo are familiar with.
Halfway down the page
http://artsceneak.net/vl07su03.htm
Perversion is in the mind of the beholder.
Try this
Question: what is this
Extend both arms straight out. rotate hands at wrist, back and forth.
After, typically, no response
Answer: two of these
Extend one arm straight out rotate hand at wrist back and forth.
Really?……The school “needed” a sculpture and they had $100,000.00 to spend on it?
I admit that until I read the phrase “girlie parts” in the article I didn’t see the more controversial interpretation at all. I just saw a sculpture I wasn’t much impressed with as a work of art. The good news is I didn’t I pay $100,000 for it. It looks like a plastic aspirin caplet with a goofy hand logo. Perhaps I’m too literal for interprative designs.
“The museum won international fame in 1966 with the exhibition SHE – A Cathedral, which consisted of a gigantic sculpture of a reclining woman whose womb was an entrance for visitors who could experience various things inside. The artists behind the work were Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hultén himself. ” from Pontus Hultén in Wikipedia.
OK except for calling it womb instead of vagina.
Interestingly, Hultén, many years later was revealed to have “forged” a couple of Andy Warhols “boxes”, and sold them later at a good profit.
Last time I saw him was near the small water bird reserve in Djurgården, walking with difficulty with his wife on a lovely June day.
Must be in the water.
Wonder if anyone has heard of “She”, by Niki St Phalle and Tingeley?
Never mind the names, google or wiki them it you like, important artists.
They put up “She”, a huge construction in the Museum of Modern Árt here.
“She” was huge, lying supine, painted red mostly, her open legs led to a vaginal opening large enough to enter two at a time. Popular with children and parents who entered to view the displayed art inside.
I won’t tell you the story that kids often commented “Wasn’t I here when I was little, Mom?” Maybe true?
Next, they will have to ban football – the ball is clearly a 3D vulva.
Maybe the Alaska GOP will hire an artist to create a partner sculpture of a vaginal ultrasound wand.
Santo Rum…. sign that artist up.
Art is in the eye of the beholder, so are these complaints. If everyone likes it changes are it is not art.
UUUMMMMMMM:
“The principal, Amy Spargo, has put a tarp over the sculpture”
Any relation to former Attorney General John Ashcroft ?
Eniobob,
That’s Inuit for Ashcroft…..
If you can’t see the Christian fish in this then you may need to relook….. Other than that it appears to reflect the Inuit art form……
did they complain about totem poles?????
I think not….
The hand in the middle looks African-American.
So it’s a racist slur implying that black men have sex with polar bears and/or large white women.
Wow when I first saw that I had mixed reviews. First was what the parents thought, second was, was it trying to reflect a baby in the womb. Then my perverted mind kicked in and said the principle had to cover it up to keep the juvenile high school students from throwing miracle whip at it 🙂
And yet the fact that so many of our public monuments resemble a phallus bothers these people not at all.