Hehehe...
Mosaic misspelling flap won't die
By Lisa P. White
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
LIVERMORE - In the newspaper business, reporters benefit from copy editors who diligently check -- and then double check -- their stories before the paper hits newsstands.
Professional artists don't have anyone reviewing their work before its unveiled, but since numerous spelling errors were discovered in the ceramic tile mosaic in front of the new Livermore Public Library, Gail Shearer thinks maybe they should.
"Many people writing need an editor. They need someone to check their spelling before it's submitted to the public, and I would say she's one of these people," said Shearer about Maria Alquilar, the Miami-based artist who designed and installed the $40,000 artwork.
The trouble started in May, when the $26 million library opened. The errors in nine of the names spelled out in the mosaic were glaring to some residents. "Shakespeare" is missing the second "a," Michelangelo includes an extra "a" and "Einstein" has one "n" too few.
Alquilar has defended her work, saying the spellings were "interpretive," but in May she said she had offered to make replacement tiles at a cost of $125 each.
At the Livermore City Council meeting Monday, Shearer and a small group of her fellow spelling sticklers asked that city staff members research options for correcting the misspelled names. The group suggested negotiating with Alquilar to make the corrections, having the city attorney determine the legal options available to the city, looking at the feasibility of mounting a "corrections" plaque and determining how to pay for any corrections.
After listening to the speakers, the council asked the city manager and the city attorney for a report detailing the city's options for having the mistakes corrected.
"I value having things spelled well, so yes, I have certainly thought it was embarrassing," said council member Lorraine Dietrich. She said that although the meeting was the first time the council had taken up the issue, "it's a question that has been bubbling in parts of the community, so it was really a question of when, not if."
The irony of incorrectly spelled words immortalized in tile in front of the public library -- a citadel of knowledge and a beacon of learning -- wasn't lost on Livermore residents like Jim Hadley.
"I felt very uncomfortable when I saw that otherwise very beautiful entrance area to the library with what looks like clumsy misspellings," said Hadley, who believes the mosaic is sending the wrong message to library visitors. "To children it looks like spelling doesn't matter and to adults it looks like Livermore doesn't care."
Susan Gallinger, the director of library services, said some library patrons aren't that concerned. In fact, she said people have told her they regret the misspellings are stealing the limelight from the shiny new library.
"It's unfortunate ... it would be nice if it were all correct, but it isn't," she said. "On the other hand, I don't think that it's all that significant.
"It's a piece of art, so I don't know that I have a feeling one way or the other about the misspellings," Gallinger added. "She's an artist and it's her interpretation. I wouldn't tell van Gogh to make that pear yellower."
By the way, Alquilar also misspelled van Gogh, adding a rogue "u" to the Dutch painter's name.