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It ain’t easy jettisoning public art devoted to tolerance. But the Bonner County commissioners are trying. Artist David Kraisler’s “Tolerance” – a 10-foot steel-and-wood piece – has “graced” the courthouse lawn in 
Sandpoint for 11 years, since its creation in response to a planned 2001 Aryan Nations parade that didn’t happen. The city of Sandpoint got first shot at hosting “Tolerance,” but passed on it, claiming at the time that lack of a policy for public art was the problem. Trouble is, the sculpture resembles two giant stick figures coupling. “Tolerance” has many detractors. An arsonist once tried to burn it down. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports on the balancing act performed by commissioners. They support the idea behind “Tolerance,” but not necessarily the offbeat sculpture. Besides, the wood is rotting. And courthouse expansion plans could crowd “Tolerance” off the lawn. Maybe it’s time to check back with Sandpoint city leaders to see if they have finally adopted a public arts policy/DFO, SR Huckleberries. Complete Sunday column here.
Other SR weekend columns:
Question: What do you do when public art is too weird or ugly?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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ShoshoneConservative on January 17 at 9:46 a.m.
I’ve always considered “modern art” a racket - throw some objects together or splatter some paint on a canvas, pick some arbitrary thing it’s supposed to represent, then either find a sucker to buy it, or get a government grant.
As for “Tolerance,” If the thing is falling down and the courthouse expansion won’t leave enough room for it, it only makes sense for it to go. If the city REALLY wants it, then I suppose the county could stow it in the back of a shop at the County Barns until the city can develop a “public art policy,” then put it up in a park somewhere.
To the question - it depends on how much the “art” cost.
Sisyphus on January 17 at 10:04 a.m.
(face palm)
Kage_Mann on January 17 at 10:09 a.m.
Didn’t ex Spokane mayor Mary Verner get a raise halfway thru her term as mayor? From $100,000 to $170,000. It doesn’t make sense that you’d give big raises to the citys employees,
when there’s not much money in the citys coffers.
duroc on January 17 at 10:27 a.m.
Question: What do you do when public art is too weird or ugly?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any public art that qualifies as “too weird” or “ugly.”
And if I did, my solution would be very simple: Stop looking at it.
Kage_Mann on January 17 at 10:49 a.m.
“What do you do when public art is too weird or ugly”.
Those multi-colored moose and those ‘Mudgy the Moose’ statues around the CDA area are just plain tacky. I wouldn’t want to leave the city in charge of what they perceive as ‘good art’ for the masses of this CDA area.
Spudbob on January 17 at 12:21 p.m.
Shocon: I always react poorly when I hear, “That’s art? My kid could do better than that!” and all of the related statements which include the ones you made. If you see an art piece you don’t like then go ahead and don’t like it but to condemn all modern art is akin to saying, “all Republicans”, “all Conservatives”, “all Democrats”, “all Liberals”, and so on. Those are small minded, uneducated, bigoted comments and they do not reflect well upon the speaker.
If you think that “tolerance” is junk then you are welcome to your opinion but some modern art is magnificent and wonderful. Being open to it is a good thing for your soul.
Thank you for listening. You may now go back to whatever you were doing.
By the way: I love modern art but the piece named “tolerance” doesn’t do anything for me either. I would wait until no one was looking and I’d somehow get rid of it.
JIMMYMAC on January 17 at 11:55 p.m.
Kage, I believe the multi colored moose you see were part of EXCEL Foundation’s fundraising auction. Several artists painted them and private individuals and businesses purchased them at an auction raising a few hundred thousand dollars for school district 271. If these are what you are referring to, no public money was spent on them. I believe the same is true of the Mudgy statue. And with respect to the Mudgy statue, I see parents taking pictures of their kiddos with it all the time and they are all smiles.