Some of you might remember the ridiculous story of The Artist Who Couldn't Spell that was featured here last fall. In short, one California town who hired an artist - who was a former schoolteacher - to paint a mural discovered that while bright colors were included, correct spelling were optional. In fact, the artist in question demanded $6000 more to re-do the mural with the correct spellings of such relative unknowns as Einstein. If you haven't read the full story, I urge you to click on the link above.
Anyway, guess what? She got her six grand:
Make that “Shakespeare.” Miami artist Maria Alquilar, much maligned for 11 misspellings that popped up in the educational mural she designed for the Livermore public library last year, spent today under the hot sun correcting her mistakes. In addition to fixing the bard’s name, she changed “Eistein” to “Einstein,” “Gaugan” to “Gauguin” and more.But Alquilar, who at first claimed artistic license and said she wasn’t going to return to fix the faux pas because people were being too mean about it, was giving no media interviews as she worked under a broad-brimmed straw hat and blue tent. She sliced and diced the tiles with power tools, protected from the public by a barrier.
She wagged her finger at a television cameraman and threatened to throw a rock at a print photographer.
“No pictures of me!” she yelled. “If I’m in it, I’m going to sue you.”
What a lovely person. At the original cost of $46,000, the mural was clearly overpriced, but at least now kids won't be confused about who "Gaugan" was.
Posted by kswygert at August 10, 2005 12:23 PM