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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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Two Teen Tales
Two stories this week have photos to go with them. First, the dangerous desperado and the dual damsels:
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Wanted Poster
A teen boy and two girls stopped in at Tony's Old Time Portrait Studio in Victoria, B.C., Canada, where clients can dress up in period costumes for photos. Tony's staff spent 40 minutes dressing the kids up for their photos. They sat for the portraits, looked at them, and then "took off like a bat out of hell" without paying their C$84 (US$82) sitting fee, owner Tony Bohanan said. Bohanan didn't get mad, he got even: he released the portraits and asked the public to help identify the thieves. Once the photographic evidence hit the media, the three teens turned themselves in to police; one of the girls also paid the fee, and apologized to Bohanan. "We saw our pictures plastered all over the place and it made me feel like a crook," she told him. The boy's father brought him in to apologize too. Bohanan, 79, said he's waiting to hear from the third desperado. (Victoria Times Colonist) ...Bohanan didn't make her feel like a crook. Her actions did.
And here's their portrait -- you get the idea of why I titled the story "Wanted Poster":
The kids weren't identified by name, but they clearly like the idea of having somewhat-less-than-reputable images. |
Next, everyone wants to be a critic and miss the entire point of art:
Expose Yourself to Art
The Hampton Roads, Va., Virginian-Pilot newspaper held its 36th annual "Student Gallery", an art contest for area students. The judges included the director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary, and a director from the Chrysler Museum of Art. But their winning choice was rejected by the newspaper as "inappropriate" -- the 17-year-old girl who painted the portrait posed for it herself -- without clothing. "There's nothing showing!" complained a Chrysler Museum official, but the newspaper liaison sniffed the paper is "thinking about the audience, and all the kids and the younger siblings who will see these pieces." The painting did not violate the rules of the contest. OK, so on to the second choice of the judges, a sculpture. It was rejected by the newspaper too, for the same reason. Two "judges" from the newspaper awarded the $1,000 first prize to a third student. Chrysler Museum officials were so bothered by the rejection that they raised $1,000 to give to the judges' first choice, Nancy "Beth" Reid, a senior at Churchland High School in Portsmouth. Her painting is still hanging at the Chrysler. (Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot) ...The ultimate victory: the Pilot had to report on its staff's own stupidity.
Note that the contest had absolutely no prohibition from depicting nudes (a word I can use here, but not in the newsletter thanks to overzealous spam filters).
Before you scroll down: if you're the type to scream and cry over a little bit of artistic cheekiness, don't scroll down and look at it. Clear?
Really: clear? OK, here you go:
Young master: Beth" Reid's award-winning effort. Despite winning according to the rules, they denied her the prize. The judges cried foul. (Photo courtesy the Muscarelle Museum of Art) |
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Rollie Rankin Peoria AZ on April 24, 2008:
Well, accepted as the winner or not, she got great coverage for her artistic abilities and free advertisement like this is well worth the pinchmouth's 'rejection'. She has talent!
Posted by Dave Tucson on May 31, 2008:
I can see it being considered -- very, very, technically, as a nude. No clothing is visible, nor is anything else.
What I can't see is the art. Composition is nonexistant, exposure a bit off, focus looks to be off. This ain't the Sistine Chapel ceiling, it's just a second rate snapshot.
In the heyday of real film, this would have a Kodak Brownie moment.
Chuckle about holy nudes. Read The Boomer Bible. Its explanation for the Renaissance is that painters found out how much fun it was to paint naked women. But until then all painting had been religious, and painting naked saints was apt to draw a quick visit from the Inquisition. So instead they began painting naked pagan godesses, which could not excite the authorities. And in the course of that, discovered a few other things that had been forgotten. Such as art, science, mathematics, medicine, sculpture, drama, comedy....
The Reformation was what England had instead of a Renaissance. Because there it was too cold to take your clothes off, and looking at naked women wasn't kinky enough.
Posted by Joe, Lake Orion on June 4, 2008:
Dave: She submitted a painting, not a photo. You are viewing a snapshot of her painting, that's why the exposure and focus looks off. I'm sure if you viewed the painting in person it would look "in focus".