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185 A PPENDIX D Mediation Group’s Statement about the Andover Mural March 11, 2010 To the Bernal Community: We are writing this statement in response to the loss in early March of the Andover Street retaining wall mural (alongside the library and recreation center). We are residents of Bernal Heights who have been participating in mediated sessions to find a solution to the controversy surrounding the mural on our branch library. We came together at the request of Supervisor David Campos and under the leadership of Bernal-ite Beth Roy, an experienced mediator. With a commitment to honest, respectful interaction, we have talked deeply about the meanings and emotions associated with both the mural’s images and the origins of the building in the depression-era WPA program. We’ve been moved by each other’s stories, clearing up some hard feelings and opening up space for collaborative, creative thinking. We are now very close to agreement to extend a proposal to the larger community. The mural on the walls of the library is separate from the mural on the Andover retaining wall. Our work concerns the library mural, not the Andover mural. Nonetheless, when the Andover mural was painted out, strong feelings and concerns were raised that relate to community art in general. Josef Norris, the artist who created the Andover mural, chose to paint it out without consultation within the community. The reasons he has voiced concern deterioration of the wall and therefore of the mural images, the expense in both time and material required to restore the painting, and Josef’s feelings of dismay as he saw portraits of the many Bernal citizens represented in the work deteriorate. In the belief that he owned the right to do with the work what he wished, he chose to eliminate it. 186 . Appendixes The lack of shared process could not contrast more sharply with the process our group has undertaken, reflecting a very different approach to both community relations and community art. We believe that all art in public spaces is an endeavor shared between artists and the people in whose midst the work exists. It symbolizes values and aesthetics that can be a progressive force, and also a source of controversy. Ownership becomes a complex concept; it may literally belong to the artist whose hand held the brush, but it has meanings that create a different sort of ownership for those who walk past it on a daily basis—especially when the work is designed and, perhaps, executed with substantial community involvement. We wish to share with our neighbors our sense of grief and anger that the Andover mural is gone and the manner in which it was removed. We also wish to initiate a process of collaborative art-making on and around the library that respects the meanings and sensibilities of all Bernal residents. We’ll be releasing our consensus statement very soon with a concrete proposal to that end. Susan Cervantes, Larry Cruz, Monique Jaquez, Darcy Lee, Dan Martinez, Terry Milne, Brandon Powell, Beth Roy, Johanna Silva Waki, Michael Smith, Guilio Sorro, Amy Trachtenberg ...

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