By KATHERINE PETERSEN
The Sunnyvale Community Center removed an art exhibit last month that included nude sculptures, saying the show wasn't checked for appropriateness and other criteria by staff members.
"An error in judgment was made when the art was put in the case without the staff person there, so we removed it," said Nancy Steward, the city's superintendent of arts and youth services.
One staff person is in charge of coordinating displays, and exhibits must fit criteria including quality, theme, promotional value for programs and appropriateness.
While center personnel do not object to displaying nudity, the sculptures were removed because the proper channels were not used during its installation, Steward said..
The community center is not a private gallery, and children comprise a large segment of its clientele, she added.
"We have actually shown work from the figurative sculpture class once before," she said.
Yet, before the display was taken down, artist Marie Franklin confiscated her own sculpture after seeing that her name tag had been placed over her statue's penis.
"I didn't want to leave it in. I felt very strongly that it was going to be a piece of uncensored artwork--uncensored or not in the show," Franklin said.
Staff members took out all the "genital-specific" pieces, none of which was larger than 12 inches Two pieces were left in the case, approximately four feet long by three feet high.
Currently, one case holds Mexican art while the other displays baskets that identify various types of weaving.
Franklin, an art teacher at Stocklmeir School, has taken classes in the community center for two years and will continue to do so.
"We use nude models because it's the only way to learn to do figures," Franklin said. She added that the sculpture took about four hours of work, although she said she kept nitpicking at it.
As an art teacher, Franklin said she is sensitive to things, but said her piece was conservative.
Dan Snyder, who filled in as the teacher for the sculpture class that produced the art works, said he thought that displaying the class's work would boost the center's art programs.
"The class did some beautiful work. I thought a display would be a good idea. They have some very straightforward rules about the displays that I was unfamiliar with," Snyder said.
He said he did not check into the proper channels before putting up the display.
He understands that many children pass through the lobby.
"We chose the wrong forum in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 10, 1996.
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