San Diego Elementary School Mural
- Artist/Author/Producer: Keegan and students
- Confronting Bodies: Ericson Elementary School
- Dates of action: October 1989
- Location: San Diego, California
- Description of the Art Work
- A mural painted by Keegan and students outside of the elementary school
on a wall around a gateway. The mural depicted children with books
leading in an never-ending staircase into the sky. On each book spine was
the title of a book that had once been banned.
- Description of incident
- Keegan and Ericson students painted a mural that had been approved by
then-principal Stewart Brown. After getting approval however, Keegan
decided to paint the titles of once-banned books on the stairway,
according to district officials. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D.
Salinger, "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, "Ulysses" by James Joyce and
the Bibles were included -- all books that had once been labeled violent
or obscene or unfit for minors in various jurisdictions. "Those titles
were not approved by the principal," said Dianne Bess, assistant to
district fine arts director Kay Wagner. "The Principal was upset and
asked that the titles be removed. (Keegan) refused."
Another artist was hired to obliterate the book titles. Now the stack
of books to the stars is nameless.
- Results of incident
- By painting over the titles the district violated state law," Lewis
Gillooly, Keegan's attorney, said. "That law, embodied in the Art
Preservation Act, says the owner of a work of fine art is not permitted
to alter, mutilate, deface, or change it without the artist's consent.
The questions then asked were: Is it fine art?, Who owns the painting?,
and What were the conditions of hire?
The book titles were painted over by another artist. Keegan spent over
two years involved in the judicial process resulting in the mural being
judged as school property.
Source:The San Diego Union and Keegan
