Though it is taking place in Augusta, the mural controversy at the Maine Department of Labor affects every Maine citizen, and certainly those in Franklin County. Governor Le Page has decided that redecorating the Department of Labor lobby is a priority, and is removing a beautiful, touching, historical mural about Maine’s labor history. Many of our grandparents and parents have been part of this history, yet Gov. Le Page has decided it is “partisan” and should be removed.
There are 17 executive departments in our Maine government, including a Department of Economic Development. Their lobbies are all worthy of their own murals. Rather than taking down an appropriate mural at the Department of Labor, why not add murals in the other departments to celebrate them? It would also add to the employment of artists, paint supply stores, and tourism as people visit the lobbies.
For a laugh to keep you from weeping, Jon Stewart on the controversy click here.
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Governor LePage’s contact info:
http://www.maine.gov/governor/lepage/citizen_services/ideas-suggestions.shtml
Office of the Governor
#1 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0001
Phone 207-287-3531
People of Maine, unite! Do not let the struggles to end child labor and achieve safe working conditions be erased! One hundred years of Maine sacrifice deserve respect and thanks, not suppression. Sadly, dictators usually start by suppressing art, and go on to the press, unions, and then to anyone who speaks up.
Thank you,
Joan Braun
Weld
LePage will be rewriting federal labor law. You’d better contact him before we’re all making 50 cents an hour!!
its funny these murals were not even celebrated when they went up!
One man’s art is someone else’s garbage.
Gov. LePage has removed the mural from the Labor Dept. Goodbye Rosie the Riveter!
Taxpayers money doesn’t need to be going to feed starving artists. They are starving because their “art” stinks. Have you seen the celery stalks down at UMF. Is that really art?
It is my understanding that there was a plan already in place to move the mural before the election! If so what is the big issue?
Cisco, why ruin a good article with facts ?
The real phrase is a beautiful, touching, historical mural about Maine’s labor union history. Unions represent a small fraction of Maine’s labor and the mural does not deserve its dominating position at the DoL.
Move it to the headquarters building of the Maine State Employees Association (SEIU).
Good job, Gov.
I knew there was a reason to cringe when the “open for business” sign went up …
Dear Cisco,
1. Would you please document your statement “plan already in place to move the mural before the election..” I could not find it by Googling.
2. Even if there were plans under the Baldacci Administration, there was a contract in 2008 with the artist that she be notified and be part of any discussion about any changes of any sort to the mural. Baldacci would have had to follow the contract I imagine that you and Rodney and Frostproof and “a Vet” do believe in contracts. If you make a contract for anything, from having your someone install something in your kitchen to building or having a house built for you, both parties who sign it have to honor the contract or be legally liable.
3. Governor LePage did not follow the contract. He did not notify or discuss anything with the artist. Over the weekend, when the Department of Labor was closed, he had it taken down and stored in an undisclosed location.
4. Would you like your work, tools, or property to be taken from you without your knowledge and stored you know not where or under what conditions?
5. Whether you like a work of art or not (I agree with you, Rodney, that the sculpture in front of the Education building looks like celery!) does not give me or you or the Governor the right to vandalize or remove it. It, too was made under contract.
6. Hutch, there was a celebration at the Department of Labor when the mural was installed in 2008. I saw the photo on line and will try to refind it. It shows the artist standing at a Department of Labor podium in front of her mural. It took her a year to research and paint the mural. Again, would you like a year’s work of yourstaken away stealthily?
I look forward to hearing from you, because I think you can really consider the contractual facts of this situation. Valuing property rights is a Maine and American value we all agree on, no matter what end of the political or aesthetic spectrum we come from. It’s is something we all hold in common.
Thank you.
So Joan,
So using your line of reasoning, if I hire a plumber to install and new kitchen sink, I have to get their ok before removing it?
In response to #4 : The artist was paid for her work, nothing was “taken” from her.
I noted on PPH’s website that on panel 7 in the back ground I noted something I found disturbing. Without mentioning it to persuade anybody’s viewing it, go look for yourself and let me know what you think.
Sell the mural to Cuba, they’re still a Communist country and would appreciate it.
So being a hard working American makes one a communist? You are undoubtedly innocent of that charge. However your scorn and contempt for those whose toil built this nation would convict you of devout anti-Americanism. You must hold our veterans in especially low esteem.
Where do you learn this stuff? No doubt from such had working war heroes as Beck,Limbaugh,Hannity,Cheney and Rove.
My Paternal ancestors were a part of the historical struggle for fair wages and conditions for West Virginia coal minors, in the 1920s. How very soon we, as a people, forget! The people who pontificate about Communism, as it relates to the struggles of the American people to develop labor unions, in our past, have obviously not done their homework. It saddens me to think that so many of their fathers and mothers suffered, and yet they choose to not honor them.
I understand that unions have been, and likely always will be, a partisan issue. However, some situations need to be taken into proper historical perspective, and then honored appropriately; rather than dismissed, based on little more than sound bites one may have heard on “news” shows.
When a serious artist creates a work of art it is generally an attempt to express something we have never seen or even thought about before. Rather than using words to convey an idea the visual artist uses images. In presenting their viewpoint the artist hopes the viewer will trust them, that what they are sharing will be, at the least, informative, and ultimately uplifting. We all know that when Van Gogh was alive he sold only one painting and that was to his brother. Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet is now valued at nearly 140 million. Why? It seems it has taken over 120 years us to accept Van Gogh’s vision of what art could be. This to me is a lesson in trust. Trusting that a work of art can offer us a unique experience if we give it our time.
The ” celery stalks” at UMF are a good example of what happens when one does not take the time to see/hear what an artist is saying. The “stalks” are actually blades of grass. The seed heads are composed of lawn mower blades. The artist lets the viewer decide what is inferred. For myself I enjoy the graceful curve of the stems and the irony of mower blades representing seed pods.
So Rodney, next chance you get take another look at the “celery”. And know this, people do not become artists for the money or to be denigrated. Most of the artist I know essentially can’t help but make art. And work day jobs so they can afford to do what they love.
I looked, it still looks like celery.
Rodney is not a really common name. Once before I posted here under the name Rodney. I hope my friends who know of my interest in the mural issue realize that I definitely am NOT the Rodney that posted on this page. I do not agree with anything I have read on this page by Rodney. From here if it doesn’t have my full name on it, it probably is not me.
Look folks, what this whole thing boils down to is a few people who do not like Governor LePage. They aren’t concerned with listening to what he is trying to accomplish for the people of this state. As far as the mural, I feel that it is essentially a labor union recruitment poster. It should have never been placed at the Labor Board. It needed to come down. Maybe the state and UMF should ask the taxpayers opinion before they contract so-called works of art.
Joan, i heard twice that the mural was going to be moved, one time I can tell you was on the George Hale Ric Tyler show. Most art is rotated.
Interestingly the artist was given a $60,000 grant to do the mural. Not a bad payday for a years work.
Also while searching through the most vile and disgusting articles, all calling Gov. LePage mean spirited I found this in an AP article which is my opinion is the most profound information I saw:
“Employers lose two-thirds of the misconduct cases held at the Department of Labor, and Maine created just 56 net jobs over the last decade,” Bennett said. “While we appreciate Ms. Taylor’s personal story and talent, the governor knows that the Department of Labor must serve both employees and employers for Maine to prosper. Changing the decor of the agency is just the first step.”
56 net jobs over the last decade, and we wonder why we have a brain drain from the state of Maine! Obviously the Dept of Labor is doing nothing to increase the labor force!
This just in: Displaying uncommon bravery, Governer Ralph Kramden has fled to Jamaica to lay low until the heat of his most recent folly dies down. It is no doubt a paid vacation,made possible by the efforts of American Labor and collective bargaining. He intends to stimulate Jamaica’s economy.
Cisco posted that he found this quote from the Governor’s press representative most disturbing.
“Employers lose two-thirds of the misconduct cases held at the Department of Labor, and Maine created just 56 net jobs over the last decade,” Bennett said. “While we appreciate Ms. Taylor’s personal story and talent, the governor knows that the Department of Labor must serve both employees and employers for Maine to prosper. Changing the decor of the agency is just the first step.”
I to find it disturbing but probably for different reasons. The implication of this statement,
“the Department of Labor must serve both employees and employers for Maine to prosper. Changing the decor of the agency is just the first step.”,
associated with the opening statement,
“Employers lose two-thirds of the misconduct cases held at the Department of Labor”,
implies that the Governor intends to see this ratio become more balanced REGARDLESS OF THE MERITS OF THE CASES.
No wonder the Governor wanted the Mural removed. The Mural’s depiction of historical episodes in the battle to insure fair treatment of employees would fly in the face of this implied agenda.
Cisco
Just a thought. Repeating an unsubstantiated rumor (i.e. plans to move the mural prior to transition) heard on a talk radio show does not make the rumor any more true. I am confident that if there had been any such plan in place the Governor’s representative Ms. Bennet would have been sure to mention it. While I disagree with the Governor’s decision his press representative is clearly a smart and articulate woman who would not miss that opportunity to soften the negative press on this issue. However if you could provide any actual evidence for this rumor I would be happy to apologize.
Baldacci drove a lot of the good workers and brains from Maine. Hopefully LePage will do the same for whiners and career welfare recipients.
I am certainly thankful that we have LePge. First, he set me straight on what my place in Maine should be as a retired teacher…. Public Enemy #1. I certainly should have left teaching in the ’60’s for the benefit of my family and the people of Maine, and certainly would have had I realized what a drag I was on society. Next, he exposes what a low-life my father was. Day after day (two-thirds of the time nights) walking to work in a paper mill to support his family (and voting Republican the whole time (nudge nudge). what he talked about was gaining washrooms, locker rooms and toilets for the women (the floor drains were what the company provided on its own, and cleaner, better-lit, areas for workers, medical attention available, vacation time, and safety education for workers. Communist!!! I should have never loved the likes of a bum like that! I feel so much better about my state now that business is in control.
Well put Tom. I have several family members in education. I have always believed they were honest hard working people who cared deeply about educating our children. Now I know I was wrong. I am learning from deeper thinkers than I that my mom, grandmother, aunt, uncle, sister, and three cousins are actually lazy and greedy and most likely communists, liberal, socialist, gay, lesbian, anti-American and whiners who refuse to watch Fox News. And, get this, they are upset that our smart ,hard working, thoughtful Mr. LaPage wants them to give him the money that, my second favorite governor, “Jock” borrowed from their retirement fund and never paid back. Even though they had already paid in. And I am sick to death of them stealing my tax dollars just to educate my children. I went to high school. I can educate my own kids. All those teachers should stop collecting welfare and we should drive them out of the state. Along with the workers in those murals, and all the lazy artists. And those union people. They are the worst. I knew one once. She really scared me.They all just cause trouble you know. Maine should just be for people like me, deep thinkers.
So thank you again Tom, oh and you to Hutch and Rodney, and Cisco and Frostproof, and Bob, and A Vet and the rest of the truly enlightened.
“So thank you again Tom, oh and you to Hutch and Rodney, and Cisco and Frostproof, and Bob, and A Vet and the rest of the truly enlightened.”
Ok 5thGENME, I know you want to lump everyone together because we are evil people who write with a more conservative slant, but please feel free to repost any comment in which I called any teacher lazy! I have the utmost respect for teacher’s and have several in my family. Anyone who gets up every day or for any shift at any job has my respect and thanks for supporting themselves and their family! I have the utmost respect for Tom Knight even though I may not agree with him all the time. My comments were about a mural except for interesting quote I found concerning the Department of Labor!
To citizengeorge, you are correct I should have clarified on my original post that I heard about a plan to move the mural on a radio program. In my defense I was driving, texting, drinking my coffee and listening to the radio all at the same time! Just kidding – let’s lighten up a little bit!
I don’t know why 5thGENME went off on a tirade. I don’t recall any
one but her calling teachers names of any sort. We where talking about the mural. How did that lead to hatemongering? Did I miss something?
Sorry cisco, I stand corrected.