‘DONKEY CART’ MOVES TO BALBOA PARK

“The San Diego Donkey Cart” which gained extensive publicity after the chief U.S. District Court judge ordered its removal Jan. 6 from the U.S. Courthouse plaza, is on exhibit at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

Artist David Avalos, who made the painted wood construction, failed to get a court hearing in the case, which he called censorship. The politically charged artwork depicts an undocumented Mexican being apprehended by a U.S. immigration agent. It will be on view today through Friday, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday a panel will discuss civil rights, artistic freedom and political art at the center.

Avalos vowed to press his court case “to challenge the unjust and unconstitutional actions of Gordon Thompson.” Judge Thompson ordered the donkey cart removed, citing security concerns. Avalos and his American Civil Liberties Union attorney have challenged that action. They did not get a hearing at the U.S. District Court level because all the judges in the Southern District had discussed the artwork at a meeting. When one judge excused himself from hearing Avalos’ case, Avalos asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco to force the District Court to hear his request. The appeals court denied the request.

“The ball is in their court. Whatever they want to do, they can do,” Thompson said Friday. That was news to Avalos’ attorney, Greg Marshall, who thought the burden of a hearing remained with the District Court.

“Technically speaking, my application for a temporary restraining order is still pending,” Marshall said. He will file an amended complaint, however. In a related matter, the San Diego office of the U.S. has declined to represent the U.S. General Services Administration, also a defendant in the case. The GSA will be represented by attorneys from Washington.

Later this spring the artwork will be shown at Cal State Sacramento as a solo exhibit and it will be seen Sunday through Feb. 4 at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

ARTS INPUT: The City of San Diego’s new consultants on the arts want to know what you think the city’s arts needs are. Should there be more programs linked to Mexico? Do the deaf and blind need greater access to the arts? Do we have enough theaters? Should there be more art museums? What about rehearsal space?

A public meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. next Wednesday at the Recital Hall in Balboa Park. Although they live in Los Angeles, Elizabeth Kennedy and David Lutz say they want to receive as much local comment as possible in formulating an arts plan for San Diego. “The more people can tell us, the better off we’ll be,” Kennedy said. Public responses will be limited to three minutes.

GLOBE GOSPEL: A nun has been elected president of the Old Globe Theatre’s board of directors. Sister Sally Furay, vice president for academic affairs and provost of the University of San Diego, was elected, with other officers, to a one-year term at the theater’s annual general membership meeting Monday. Furay, who also teaches law, has been a member of the Globe board for five years. Her order is the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Heart.

Other officers include Henk Hanselaar, president-elect; Eugene Trepte, executive vice president; J. Dallas Clark, vice president of development; James F. Mulvaney, vice president of government affairs; Evelyn Truitt, vice president of corporate plans; Donald Tartre, treasurer, and Charles Deane, secretary.

In other Globe matters, the W.M. Keck Foundation has given the theater a $70,000 grant to install a new lighting system for the Cassius Carter Centre Stage. Established by William M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Co., the foundation awarded $23.1 million to various institutions in 1985.

LIGHT CLOCK: Artist Peter Alexander’s Horton Plaza Light Clock is on temporary hold. “Peter didn’t realize what he was getting into,” said Tamara Thomas, the artist’s representative. She described it as a “major project” that surprised the Los Angeles sculptor. “He’s building an optical instrument that didn’t exist before,” Thomas said. For the time being he is working out the glitches with a Temecula engineering firm. March 1 is the hoped-for completion date for this third of three sculptures that are part of downtown’s fancy shopping mall.

ART AWARDS: Each year the National Society of Arts and Letters sponsors a competition to “encourage and assist young artists . . . in the creative and performing arts.” The winner of the national contest will receive an award of $5,000. The annual career awards rotate every five years among literature, drama, dance, art and music. This year’s competition is in art, specifically oil painting. Contestants must be U.S. citizens who will be between the ages of 17 and 26 by May 24.

The local chapter was formed three years ago and has sent contestants to the national competition in drama and dance in 1984 and 1985. The deadline for entries this year is Feb. 25. First, second and third prizes of $50, $25 and $20 will be awarded by the local chapter. Gerry McAllister of the Mandeville Art Gallery at UC San Diego has contest rules and information.

ARTBEATS: Soprano Kathryn Bouleyn is a late substitution as Countess Almaviva in the San Diego Opera’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” opening Saturday at the Civic Theatre. She replaces Pamela Coburn, who general director Ian Campbell said was unavailable “for what we considered adequate rehearsal of a very complex ensemble opera.” . . .

The Charles Ross sculpture is going in at the Wells Fargo Plaza. Although a wooden construction fence blocks the view from street level, those who have apartments in the top floors of the ritzy Meridian building report that they can see the pool in the light-refracting artwork. . . .