By Leslie Lodestro

Other Voices

Last year my son painted a turkey in kindergarten. It hung in the window of his classroom, facing out for all to see. It was the best turkey I had ever seen. A real work of art, one of a kind - he even signed it with shaky, brown brush strokes: “S A M.” When November ended, so did the turkey project. Sam learned something about turkey anatomy, color and paint technique.

This year a small collection of former Los Altos School District students and teachers have their smocks in a twist because part of the school reconstruction plans require that murals which were painted on the walls of Blach, Egan and Covington over the past 30 years must be demolished.

The group has organized, has a name (Save the Murals) and has hired a lawyer so that if they need to, a lawsuit can be filed based on the “Visual Artists Rights Act.”

Excuse me, but those murals, like my son’s turkey, were school projects designed to teach students something about art and (in the case of the murals) artists.

The murals evolved out of a program which had seventh and eighth graders assume the identities of famous artists, then select a work of art and paint it on an exterior school wall.

To complete the experience, they even signed the works in the name of the artist they studied.

By nature, mural art is quite big, covering large expanses of real estate on a vertical surface. The murals in Los Altos schools are no exception, each painted and added to over the years so that many feet of concrete and stucco are adorned.

Removing the art in order to preserve it is hard. Eight-foot chunks of wall would have to be sawed out.

Once the murals are removed, they would have to be reinforced on their reverse sides.

The quotes for mural removal are coming in at $8,000 each and fingers are pointing at the school district to pay.

So let’s say the mural fairy flies in and drops a pillowcase of cash on Marge Gratiot’s desk to pay for the removal. Then what? Here is the kicker: No one quite knows where the mural art will go. I am not an artist, but I can tell you that these murals, all of them, look like they were painted by seventh and eighth graders.

Looking at other students’ art is simply not as satisfying as looking at your own child’s art. And maybe this is why no one is lining up with forklifts to move the murals to homes, offices or properties.

I’m also not a lawyer, but there are a couple of points where the students’ case may not be supported by the Visual Artists Rights Act. The statute emphasizes protection for “fine art with recognized stature,” a bit of a stretch, I’d say.

As well, the text calls for works to be signed by their authors, which, of course, the school murals are not, because they bear the fake signature of their historical artist.

The whole thing sounds like it would be better suited for an episode of “Ally McBeal.”

Paint me unappreciative, but I think we ought to rebuild our schools on time and according to plan, maintain the murals that don’t need to be affected and look forward to all the fresh mural canvas which will be created for future art students. Just make sure before any brushes are handed out that every student waives their “right” to come back and claim their turkey, er, mural.

Leslie Lodestro is the president of the Los Altos Neighborhood Network (LANN), a community group committed to encouraging residents to voice their opinions on issues of importance. For more information, call 949-5560.