02
Nov
2004
Mike LoGuidice's review of the art exhibit Big Fiber in the October 13-19 issue of the River Cities' Reader was a welcome review of a small but rich show in Rock Island's growing arts district. He captured well the master/apprentice origin of the relationship between the artists, and his descriptions of the works were well penned. However, toward the end of his review, while commenting on the work by Rowen Schussheim-Anderson How Many Pink Slips Does it Take to Change a President, LoGiudice gave his readers the impression that his aesthetic experience of commenting on color, shape, and form had been soured by this work that had "strayed into propaganda." He also suggested that Schussheim-Anderson was also straying from her roots and artistic center in this work and perhaps that was not a good thing. Whether LoGiudice's assumptions were correct or not (which they were not) doesn't really matter. What matters is that a work of art has been created that has a voice.
A time-honored task of artists of all media has been to celebrate justice and protest injustice. No doubt the circles of the reigning despots in Germany, Spain, and Italy in the 1930s thought Picasso had crossed the line from his colorful cubist women and "strayed into propaganda" in his 1937 painting Guernica. In one contained and masterfully balanced composition, Picasso set down for all time the unbalance of a world at war.
At this time in our lives in this new century, we are all painfully aware of the precarious state of unbalance in our present world in regards to war and peace, justice and injustice.
It is no surprise that the figure of Lady Justice - an allegorical figure that harkens from Ancient Rome - has been so wholeheartedly adopted in America's legal visual culture. She personifies by the balance scale she holds, the reality that one person's justice might sometimes be another person's injustice. Thank goodness in America we have always been free to have such conversations and ultimately advocate for change to make America a better place. Yet when an artist is critically disparaged for entering into such a conversation with their artwork, it is not a good thing.
The artist, Rowen Schussheim-Anderson, who created the piece in question grew up in a family of dedicated civil servants and advocates. The ability to form and express opinions and advocate for social change has always been a part of her world. Some Quad Citians might remember the art auction a decade ago that Schussheim-Anderson organized that raised $20,000 to assist a fellow artist and colleague in her fight against leukemia.
Schussheim-Anderson's artwork has always utilized found objects, beadwork, and assemblage. LoGuidice would only have to take a look around town at the present moment at the Art at the Airport venue, and Iowa Artisans in Iowa City, to see Schussheim-Anderson's other series protesting injustice entitled All the Children Left Behind and Peacesong.
The Quad Cities are lucky to have an artist that creates works that speak out to make our city and country and a better place.
Janet Seiz
Rock Island
Law Disenfranchises New Voters
I thought you might be interested to know of my daughter's recent experience with the election process in Rock Island County.
She is a new voter, and was excited at being eligible to vote. She registered to vote online, and later applied to the Rock Island County Clerk's office for an absentee ballot, as she is attending college out-of-state and will not be able to return home until Thanksgiving.
We were notified by phone by the clerk's office that she has been denied by law the opportunity to vote absentee because she registered online - that is, not in-person. She will not be able to return to vote early in-person, and so will not be able to participate in the first election for which she is eligible. Both of us are extremely disappointed.
While I understand the reason for wanting to put an actual body with a registered name, it seems to me that the law, as it stands on the books right now, confuses and ultimately disenfranchises new voters.
Moreover, ballyhooing a convenient registration tool that ultimately results in disenfranchisement reflects badly on organizations that promote it. It behooves all state and local political parties seeking to "get out the vote" to make clear to new registrants any limitations registering online may place on their ability to vote by all the means they may, quite reasonably, expect to be available to them.
The political parties individually need to address this issue, and the legislature needs to remedy this fault in the law.
Nancy J. Strub
Port Byron, Illinois
A time-honored task of artists of all media has been to celebrate justice and protest injustice. No doubt the circles of the reigning despots in Germany, Spain, and Italy in the 1930s thought Picasso had crossed the line from his colorful cubist women and "strayed into propaganda" in his 1937 painting Guernica. In one contained and masterfully balanced composition, Picasso set down for all time the unbalance of a world at war.
At this time in our lives in this new century, we are all painfully aware of the precarious state of unbalance in our present world in regards to war and peace, justice and injustice.
It is no surprise that the figure of Lady Justice - an allegorical figure that harkens from Ancient Rome - has been so wholeheartedly adopted in America's legal visual culture. She personifies by the balance scale she holds, the reality that one person's justice might sometimes be another person's injustice. Thank goodness in America we have always been free to have such conversations and ultimately advocate for change to make America a better place. Yet when an artist is critically disparaged for entering into such a conversation with their artwork, it is not a good thing.
The artist, Rowen Schussheim-Anderson, who created the piece in question grew up in a family of dedicated civil servants and advocates. The ability to form and express opinions and advocate for social change has always been a part of her world. Some Quad Citians might remember the art auction a decade ago that Schussheim-Anderson organized that raised $20,000 to assist a fellow artist and colleague in her fight against leukemia.
Schussheim-Anderson's artwork has always utilized found objects, beadwork, and assemblage. LoGuidice would only have to take a look around town at the present moment at the Art at the Airport venue, and Iowa Artisans in Iowa City, to see Schussheim-Anderson's other series protesting injustice entitled All the Children Left Behind and Peacesong.
The Quad Cities are lucky to have an artist that creates works that speak out to make our city and country and a better place.
Janet Seiz
Rock Island
Law Disenfranchises New Voters
I thought you might be interested to know of my daughter's recent experience with the election process in Rock Island County.
She is a new voter, and was excited at being eligible to vote. She registered to vote online, and later applied to the Rock Island County Clerk's office for an absentee ballot, as she is attending college out-of-state and will not be able to return home until Thanksgiving.
We were notified by phone by the clerk's office that she has been denied by law the opportunity to vote absentee because she registered online - that is, not in-person. She will not be able to return to vote early in-person, and so will not be able to participate in the first election for which she is eligible. Both of us are extremely disappointed.
While I understand the reason for wanting to put an actual body with a registered name, it seems to me that the law, as it stands on the books right now, confuses and ultimately disenfranchises new voters.
Moreover, ballyhooing a convenient registration tool that ultimately results in disenfranchisement reflects badly on organizations that promote it. It behooves all state and local political parties seeking to "get out the vote" to make clear to new registrants any limitations registering online may place on their ability to vote by all the means they may, quite reasonably, expect to be available to them.
The political parties individually need to address this issue, and the legislature needs to remedy this fault in the law.
Nancy J. Strub
Port Byron, Illinois
