| Author | Message | ||
     Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 8939 Registered: 4-1997  |
Woody Allen on the sculpture:
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| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3603 Registered: 5-2001  |
I prefer my feelings on the subject:
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| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3604 Registered: 5-2001 |
Another great blog by Dan Shelffo on the sculpture funding fiasco: http://www.nj.com/weblogs/offtheshelf/ | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3629 Registered: 5-2001 |
Back in 2003, the Gaslight had a "Redevelopment Insert" with the "tax impact" of the various projects that are "Coming Soon". http://www.southorange.org/redevelopment/Redev.pdf Funny how there was NO MENTION of the $250,000-$500,000 "tax impact" of the Tony Smith sculpture. However, looking at that insert, it is now very easy to quantify how much has been LOST due to the mismanagement of our Village over the past 3 years: Beifus $250,000/year Supermarket $350,000/year Rugstore $20,000/year ========================== Total $620,000/year Assuming these projects should have been completed at least 2 years ago and will not be completed for at least another 2 years, the mismanagement of these projects has cost around $2.5 MILLION DOLLARS. Now add in the added expense of the Tony Smith Sculpture and we are now close to $3 million dollars in the hole. Anyone wondering why our taxes are so high??? | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3652 Registered: 5-2001 |
Doing some more research, I found the following articles from 2002/2003. Notice the repeated use of the word "replica" and NO mention of taxpayer cost. (other emphasis is mine) The New York Times, Nov 3, 2002 p10(L) col 01 (19 col in) South Orange Seeking To Honor a Native Son. (New Jersey Weekly Desk) Bernice Napach. LENNIE PIERRO, a South Orange painter and professor of fine arts at Kean University, had long appreciated the work of Tony Smith, the artist who achieved fame in the 1960's and 70's with his huge geometric black sculptures. But about five years ago, Mr. Pierro discovered, to his surprise, that Smith, who died in 1980, was born and lived most of his adult life in South Orange, producing many of his famous works here. So why didn't the town own a Tony Smith sculpture? The absence of a Smith work in South Orange bothered Mr. Pierro, even more so after 1998, when the Museum of Modern Art held a major retrospective of Smith's career. So Mr. Pierro, who with his wife, Judy Wukitsch, also an artist, founded a local art gallery in South Orange's community center in 1994, decided to do something about it. He began talking to his friends about helping the town buy a Smith work. Somehow, though, the plan never progressed beyond talk. When Mr. Pierro died from cancer at age 61 last October, a group of his friends took up his mission, forming the Lennie Pierro Memorial Arts Foundation to oversee the Tony Smith Sculpture Project. The project, led by Cheryl Arnedt, a South Orange resident, is dedicated to securing a Smith sculpture for South Orange. On Nov. 16, it will hold its first major fund-raising event at the Women's Club in Maplewood. Earlier that day, the gallery that Mr. Pierro and Ms. Wukitsch founded will be renamed the Pierro Gallery of South Orange; a new exhibition will show a retrospective of Mr. Pierro's work. ''Lennie always reached for the sky,'' said Ms. Wukitsch, assistant director for recreation and culture affairs in South Orange. ''Who's to say it's impossible?'' The project is working with the Tony Smith estate, which is ''very supportive of the idea and wants to help realize it,'' said Sarah Auld, its director. The estate owns many sculptures, one of which will go to the town, partially as a gift, Ms. Auld said. The project will have to pay the rest of the cost. Smith's sculptures sell for about $500,000, Ms. Auld said. Art historians find the origins of Smith's artistic aesthetic in his childhood in South Orange. Smith's family had long lived in the area, and owned a waterworks factory in East Orange. When Smith, who was born in 1912, was 4 years old, he had tuberculosis and was quarantined in a small, pre-fabricated house set up behind his family's home on Stanley Road. Heat for the house was provided by a black stove, which may have inspired Smith's later work with black metals. While quarantined, Smith built pueblo-like structures from boxes of medicine. Later, he became an architect, working with Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930's, and continuing to design homes until the early 1960's. He began painting in the 1950's, and took up sculpture in the 1960's. Plywood mockups of his sculptures, built to actual size, often filled the backyard of his family home on Stanley Road in South Orange and the backyard of another house, on Berkeley Road in Orange, that the artist bought in the late 1960's. ''I remember one mockup that took up the whole backyard of the house on Berkeley,'' said Martha Smith, the artist's niece, who was living with her parents in South Orange at the time. Smith was ''rooted in South Orange,'' said Joan Pachner, a curator at Storm King, in Mountainville, N.Y., and an art historian who has written about his work. ''He was comfortable in that environment. His black geometric structures work in suburban square backyards. That proportion gives them the most power. It's where they belong because it's where they were created.'' But the organizers of the Smith sculpture project hope to install its sculpture in a public space in South Orange. One likely site is the gazebo in front of the train station, near the proposed site of an arts center. Outdoor art is already a part of the fabric of South Orange, which has had several major outdoor art exhibitions. The last one was ''Earthline Landscape,'' shown last year. ''Public art not only symbolizes and signifies a community commitment to art, but makes it accessible to everyone,'' said Susan Napack, who is on the board of the Pierro foundation. ''It takes you out of the day-to-day. It provokes, challenges, makes you think, makes you feel.'' A Tony Smith sculpture especially has that effect on people, she added, because ''it's different from every angle.'' Jane Smith, Tony Smith's widow, who lives in New York, said he would have been pleased to receive special recognition from the town to which he felt loyal throughout his lifetime. ------ The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Jan 9, 2003 p017 In sculpture, South Orange sees honor; Foundation will obtain replica of Smith design to fete native son. (NEW JERSEY) Tony Smith started sculpting in the early 1960s in Vermont, while recovering from a car accident. By 1966, Smith had his first solo exhibit. By 1967, he was on the cover of Time magazine, which called him "Master of Monumentalists." A former architectural apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, Smith's modern geometric-shaped sculptures, most of which were large and displayed outdoors, brought him international recognition. Smith, who died in 1980, grew up in South Orange, and people in the town want to honor him by purchasing one of his sculptures and displaying it near the downtown train station, where a gazebo stands. "The town is 100 percent behind this," said Mayor Bill Calabrese [HUH????]. "It's a nice way of thanking somebody who toiled in this community. He was proud to say he was from South Orange." Smith grew up on Stanley Road in the historic Montrose section of South Orange in a large Irish Catholic family. He studied architecture at the famed New Bauhaus school in Chicago and soon after got an apprenticeship with Wright. He took up painting and lived in California, New York and Germany. During the 1940s and '50s, he forged friendships with artists Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. While he had moderate success as a painter, he became best known as a sculptor. His sculptures are in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and the Whitney in New York, and the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn in Washington, and other major museums around the world. "The town should honor such a great person," said Judy Wukitsch, the director of the Gallery of South Orange. Wukitsch's husband, the late Lennie Pierro, first had the idea for the town to acquire a Smith sculpture. Pierro was an artist and professor who co-founded the gallery with his wife. After Pierro died just over a year ago, an arts foundation was started in his name. The foundation's first project is to acquire the Smith sculpture. "One of my husband's goals was to get a sculpture to honor this native son," said Wukitsch, who estimates it will cost around $500,000 to obtain a Smith sculpture, which are made-to-order under the supervision of his estate. "They are museum-quality. Normally a village of 17,000 people would not go after one," said Cheryl Arnedt, who organized a fund-raiser last November to help pay for the sculpture. She is applying for grants and the foundation is looking for donations. The foundation is looking at three different black steel sculptures, which may be as large as 15 feet high and 20 feet wide. One of the designs under consideration is a replica of a Smith sculpture that is in front of Hunter College in Manhattan. Another Smith sits outside Princeton's School of Architecture, where Smith taught in the 1970s. Sarah Auld, director of the Tony Smith Estate, said she has been in close contact with Smith's widow, Jane, who is supportive of the idea of the community obtaining one of his sculptures. The Smiths raised their family in South Orange for a time, and both their daughters graduated from Columbia High School. "It's wonderful," Auld said. "We're very enthusiastic." Supporters want to put the sculpture in a place where it can be appreciated by the most of people - in the middle of the renovated downtown shopping district below the train platform. They hope the sculpture is in place in two years. | ||
| Soparents Citizen Username: Soparents Post Number: 25 Registered: 5-2005 |
Why can't we go one stage further and put it ON a train, that way loads and loads of other towns can get to enjoy it too....  | ||
| jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 515 Registered: 6-2005 |
Of course, no talk of taxpayer money in these articles. And then there is this reference: Joan Pachner, a curator at Storm King, in Mountainville, N.Y., and an art historian who has written about his work. ''He was comfortable in that environment. His black geometric structures work in suburban square backyards. That proportion gives them the most power. It's where they belong because it's where they were created.'' Did anyone ask Ms Pachner what she thought about where to install this thing? Have the supporters even considered that it will wind up being in a place where it can be detested by most of the people. | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 4462 Registered: 1-2004  |
I think there might be a way to get the money without the taxpayers having to pay for it. Can't the town bring a lawsuit against Arnet and her group for breach of contract? After all, didn't she and her silly foundation promise to raise the funds for this thing? Why can't we just give back a gift? Or 'gift' it to someone else? I thought we lost the 'gift' if it wasn't built by a certain date? Let's give it to some college or business. | ||
| joel dranove Citizen Username: Jdranove Post Number: 204 Registered: 1-2006 |
Send a letter telling them the deal is over, requesting an itemized and documented bill for actual expenses to date, without prejudice to our rights. jd | ||
| Soparents Citizen Username: Soparents Post Number: 30 Registered: 5-2005 |
Running with Just the Aunts idea, if we "gift" this over to an art gallery/museum/not for profit etc etc, can it be considered a tax write-off for the town? | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 8970 Registered: 4-1997 |
Towns don't pay taxes. | ||
| Soparents Citizen Username: Soparents Post Number: 31 Registered: 5-2005 |
Thanks Dave, I didn't think of that!! | ||
| joel dranove Citizen Username: Jdranove Post Number: 206 Registered: 1-2006 |
If she promised to raise the funds, then a condition precedent to there being an enforceable contract was breached. So, no enforcement of town's alleged obligations under the law. This conceptual foundation of contract law may elude the BOT and its esteemed counsel. jd | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3660 Registered: 5-2001 |
Tune in to News 12 NJ tonight after 5pm to see their take on the story. Big THANKS to the MOLer that brought this story to their attention. | ||
| Rastro Citizen Username: Rastro Post Number: 2663 Registered: 5-2004  |
I don't think it is reasonable to sue a group that promises to raise funding for a statue, if they do not do it. What IS reasonable, is to wait until the funding is in place before actually spending the money. Realistically, if the town fronts the money, what incentive is there for any donor to give? It's not like without their donation, the statue will not go in. | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 4476 Registered: 1-2004 |
MHD Did you get my PL? | ||
| SOrising Citizen Username: Sorising Post Number: 158 Registered: 2-2006 |
jd, your conceptual foundation of contract law is the most hopeful thing I've heard yet, in the whole sorry affair. Is all it would take the will from the BOT to act on it? (I know that may be a lot, but with a petition drive, etc., maybe possible.) | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3675 Registered: 5-2001 |
It seems News 12 NJ ran the same story about the sculpture repeatedly from around 5:15pm-7:15pm on Friday. Then, at 7:45pm, they showed a brief interview with Calabrese and a resident, but I didn't catch what was said and didn't record it. The story stopped running after then and doesn't appear on the News 12 website. Did anyone record it? | ||
| joel dranove Citizen Username: Jdranove Post Number: 228 Registered: 1-2006 |
That's all, folks! jd | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3718 Registered: 5-2001 |
If we want a sculpture that will REALLY cause some dialog, and maybe even atract hoards of tourists, how about this:   http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060328/114359178000.html | ||
| Josh Holtz Citizen Username: Jholtz Post Number: 360 Registered: 4-2004 |
Now I can get behind that ... | ||
| composerjohn Citizen Username: Composerjohn Post Number: 804 Registered: 8-2004  |
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| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3721 Registered: 5-2001 |
Once again, Dan Shelffo NAILS IT with his latest blog: http://www.nj.com/weblogs/offtheshelf/ | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3742 Registered: 5-2001 |
Must see TV: www.howard-levison.com/Sculpturequotes.wmv I wonder if this is why they were so upset about the Star Ledger article?  | ||
| Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3303 Registered: 5-2005  |
They lied - the petition should be for a recall! | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3774 Registered: 5-2001 |
Jonathan - read this thread | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3850 Registered: 5-2001 |
I sure am glad OUR TAXES taxes are paying for a half million dollar sculpture, when our library looks like THIS:   | ||
| Lucy Supporter Username: Lucy Post Number: 3386 Registered: 5-2005 |
A picture is worth a thousand words! | ||
| vermontgolfer Supporter Username: Vermontgolfer Post Number: 402 Registered: 12-2002 |
In this case, maybe 500,000 of them. | ||
| professorx Citizen Username: Professorx Post Number: 14 Registered: 9-2001 |
I wonder what L. Pierro would say about the dilapidated state of the Pierro Gallery? Have a walk through sometime and note the peeling paint and plaster, water leaks and stains, ancient stained carpets, rat droppings, etc. etc. Anyone who considers contributing a dime or ounce of effort to the statue should see how art is really valued by S. Orange. Will the statue meet the same fate once the buzz is gone? p.x. | ||
| jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 571 Registered: 6-2005 |
Why wouldn't it? The track record of lack of maintenance in the town speaks for itself. The gallery is dilapidated as is the whole interior of the Baird. Its a disgrace. The first time I went in there to register for the pool, I wondered why it looked so awful. Of course now I know that our politcians, VP especially, simply pander to the group with the sexiest project at the moment and with whom they can court political points. Today its a sculpture, then its a riverwalk, or a bike path or a tennis bubble. Infrastructure...building maintenance...roads & curbs...nothing sexy about those. In a few years, old Tau will be a rusted eyesore, and they will have forgotten about maintaining it as they have all the other "pieces of art" like our village hall and Baird. | ||
| Howard Levison Citizen Username: Levisonh Post Number: 547 Registered: 1-2004  |
I would suggest taking a tour of the Connett Library (the "Old Library" now used by EIES). The building should a registered Historic building. It too needs a new roof, windows, exterior repairs, heating system upgrade, etc. Walk into the basement and you will find a fire trap of old archives from the Library and Town Hall. It too is working its way to be an "Old Stone House".  | ||
| jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 573 Registered: 6-2005 |
I didn't realize that this building is town owned. What is the relationship between the village and the current occupant? Does the village lease to them? | ||
| Soparents Citizen Username: Soparents Post Number: 142 Registered: 5-2005 |
It is a concern to me that the town can let the Pierro Gallery fall apart while housing works of art, and the library go the same way while housing literature... How can they say they value anything when they let this happen? There is a BOT meeting meeting tomorrow night. Go and ask the questions. Go and voice your concerns. They will probably ignore you or blankly stare at you in silence which is what they did to some other speakers last time and this came across as a pre-decided "all for one and one for all response", but this is videod and broadcast live, so their response and your comments cannot be hidden. I made the effort last time to get a babysitter, and not be able to kiss my kids goodnight in order to attend the meeting. I will be doing the same tomorrow. Come on, make the effort too.... | ||
| Howard Levison Citizen Username: Levisonh Post Number: 548 Registered: 1-2004 |
Yes, this building has been deeded to the the Village and yes it does lease it to EIES. | ||
| MHD Citizen Username: Mayhewdrive Post Number: 3866 Registered: 5-2001 |
Going back to the original subject of this thread, here is a video clip from Monday's Trustees Meeting: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OB9O1mqVhKw Can ANYONE explain what is being said? As we have now been told, the Village "bonded" for the statue in 2004, but no costs were incurred - funds have simply been "appropriated". However, deferring the project now has no impact on our taxes because the money was already spent. HUH???? | ||
| joel dranove Citizen Username: Jdranove Post Number: 345 Registered: 1-2006 |
Elections next year. jd | ||
| SO1969 Citizen Username: Bklyn1969 Post Number: 270 Registered: 7-2004 |
Howard Perhaps you should start a thread on the old library. There is a b&w photo of the interior of it in the Images of South Orange book (sorry if I have the name wrong) that you get when you join the Montrose Park Historic Society. The building was really amazing...and the story neat, as well. I believe it was a private library funded by dues (oh how far we've come...I'm all for public libraries, but the Tauistas should definitely look to this past for inspiration). The Stone House is a horrible case of shoulda, coulda, woulda. $50k to $100K spent 15 years ago would have saved it from a $1,000,000 in damage from what I understand (there is a great photo of the stone house in that same book). Calabrese & Co. have let so many of the great treasures of our past crumble, while building expensive, unnecessary projects (see below). Today, given all the pressing needs and the debt burden the BOT has put on our backs for unnecessary projects like SOPAC and Tau, it is hard to put $$ toward the Stone House cause. Perhaps a stop gap measure can be put it place to avoid further damage. You're absolutely right that we need to prioritize. Perhaps the old library is the project that today can be preserved with relatively modest funds and a long-term plan for funding its renovation can be put in place. | ||
| Howard Levison Citizen Username: Levisonh Post Number: 553 Registered: 1-2004 |
The recommendation made by the CBAC included a stopgap measure as well as posing a list of questions to better understand what is the planned use and for how much that usage would cost. It should be noted the Stabilization portion of the project does not yield a functionally usable building. I asked for a status at the last BOT meeting of these recommendations since the BOT has approved going forward with the bonding of $260,000 in addition to the allocation of $108,000 from the Open Space Trust Fund and Historical Society Grant of $154,000. The response I got was maybe they would get around to answering those questions sometime in the later part of 2006 or in 2007. A bid request for the Stabilization has been submitted but it was not clear if the specifications were changed to be stopgap versus the previous go at it that came in at $500,000. | ||
| jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 577 Registered: 6-2005 |
I really don't understand the Old Stone House issue. Here we have another building possibly of historic significance, which thanks to Calabrese and company has fallen into a dilapidated state. I, for one, challenge the wisdom of throwing ANY public funds at it. I frankly can't see it being used as a public building like a police station as has been talked about. Trying to bring that building into a useable building to house police functions would undoubtedly cost much more that starting from scratch. Moreover, using it for that type of function would, in my view, be antithetical to a restoration project. Look at the Baird. Here you had a beautiful building which has been virtually ruined on the interior. its a mismash of cluttered offices, unattractive rooms and hallways, and even an art gallery which is not true to the architecture of the building. If anything is going to be restored, it might make more sense to try to restore Baird to something similar to its original interior. Move all the occupants into some new municipal building somewhere else, maybe on the old stone house land. At least then we would have preserved something still worth preserving. Let's not try to save the Old Stone house only to have it turned into some grotesque municipal building. That makes no sense to me. Let its destruction be part of the Calabrese legacy. Its almost destroyed as it is. Bring in the ball, Mr. C. |
