Students' rejected art on display at Modesto theater

Student art rejected from the downtown Modesto Mistlin Gallery is on display at a venue a mile away.

Prospect Theater Project is showing five paintings and drawings pulled by the gallery for perceived depictions of violence, gang symbols, and other illegal, inappropriate or sexual activities. The art was created by four Advanced Placement students from Central Valley High School in Ceres, who say their work was misinterpreted and shows nothing of the kind.

Jack Souza, Prospect's founding artistic director, recently returned to Modesto after spending a year in New York. He said it was wrong of the gallery to censor the art.

"Whatever the content of the work they produced, it's a reflection of the world we're living in," Souza said. "The issue is not the work that is created but the world we live in. If we're choosing to ignore the nature of that world, what are we doing?"

Students Alicia Valenzuela, 17, Bianca Ceja, 17, Leslie Wyatt, 17, and José Ramos, 16, are happy to have a forum for their paintings and drawings.

"It's not like any of these are horrible," Valenzuela said.

Their art was rejected from the annual Young Masters Art Show, which features the work of people ages 1 to 18. Art teachers were allowed to submit 20 pieces (two pieces per student, at most), with all entries accepted as long as they followed the rules that none be copies or cartoons.

All rejected student works invited

Of the 400-plus submissions this year, six students were rejected, with all but two coming from the Central Valley High School AP art class. The other students are from Modesto Christian and Ceres high schools, and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Souza said he is willing to show the two other students' work in the theater as well.

Nancy Bassitt, volunteer chairwoman of the nine-member Young Masters show committee, made the decision to pull the art. She said the gallery has received complaints in the past about gang imagery in displayed works. She said she wasn't targeting Central Valley High School and pointed out that Shane Prasad, another Central Valley student, won best of show for the ages 11 to 18 category.

Bassitt based her decision in part on the opinion of a Modesto Police Department gang expert, who told her some of the art depicted gang-related images. That officer has chosen to remain anonymous and has declined to comment to The Bee.

Brad Hawn, president of the Central California Art Association, which runs the Mistlin Gallery, said he has not seen the rejected art but supports Bassitt's decision. As a nonprofit gallery, "we're responsible uniquely beyond what a normal gallery would be, especially in a case like this, because we're talking about young children," said Hawn, a Modesto City Council member.

"It's an issue of responsibility we feel to the public over an artist's personal expression. The art gallery we have is not for profit. We need to be responsible to the public."

The Central Valley High School students have the support of their art teacher, Marcie Carriker, and Principal Roberto Serrato.

Both said they did not see anything objectionable in the art. Carriker said she wished the police gang expert would call her to give her specifics on the problems.

Sgt. Brian Findlen, the police public information officer, said the gang expert was unavailable but that he (Findlen) would contact her.

Serrato said he was impressed with the students' talents.

"The art was very well done," he said. "The students obviously put a lot of work into it. These kids -- I know none of them are anywhere related to gang activity. They are great kids."

Good learning experience

Scott Siegel, assistant superintendent of the Ceres Unified School District, said the controversy is a good learning experience for the students.

"There are going to be times if they're artists that people are going to be judging their work," he said. "You're not always going to agree with what the critics say. Learn to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go on."

Still, Siegel said he is proud of the students, who stood up for themselves and questioned why they were rejected from the gallery.

Grace Lieberman, executive director of the Stanislaus Arts Council, hasn't seen the art but said that as a rule, she thinks galleries shouldn't censor work based on one person's opinion.

Vicky Boese, the art department chairwoman at Johansen High School, who did see the rejected works, said she didn't see any objectionable content and was surprised that they were pulled.

"They were excellent pieces," she said. "Strong composition, strong color."

Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan can be reached at lmillegan@modbee.com or 578-2313.

This story was originally published February 3, 2009 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Students' rejected art on display at Modesto theater."