Arts Chief Resigns Over Anti-War Exhibit

The president of the Ventura Arts Council has resigned in protest of an anti-war exhibit, saying the group’s executive director is promoting her personal beliefs at a city-sponsored gallery.

“How you stand on the war is immaterial,” said Bob Alviani, a Ventura bank manager who resigned Friday as president of the arts council’s unpaid governing board. “It’s a question of using a public facility for a private forum.”

Maureen Davidson, the council’s executive director who hastily organized the exhibit last week, denied that she was abusing her authority or pushing a point of view. But she acknowledged that some pieces in the exhibit are controversial.

“I don’t think the role of the arts is to decorate your life,” she said. “The arts have a lot to do with social change.”

Two members of the Ventura City Council, which provides about 40% of the arts council’s $185,000 budget, said they do not expect a cut in funds to the art group.

“This is just another avenue for people to express themselves on a very important issue,” said Councilman Todd Collart, the City Council’s liaison to the arts organization.

The exhibit opened Monday at the Momentum Gallery in downtown Ventura and is scheduled to continue through Saturday. Among the pieces by 23 artists is “Johnny ‘91,” a papier-mache work by Chuck Aliberti consisting of a bloody torso--minus arms, legs or head--supported by giant crutches.

It was a visit last Wednesday to Aliberti’s studio that inspired Davidson to stage the exhibit, she said.

“His work is so moving and disturbing,” she said. “I had this brainstorm to do a show about the war.”

Although Davidson works for the board, she said she controls programming at the gallery. Even so, she decided to poll board members by phone before going through with the idea.

“I knew it would be controversial,” she said. “It was an idea. I wanted input. That’s what I look to the board for. I’m not a loose cannon. I’m not queen of the arts in Ventura. I have a responsibility to be responsive to the public.”

She was unable to reach Alviani despite several attempts, she said, but she talked to 10 of the 12 board members, who said they approved of the idea, though some had reservations.

“What I proposed was an anti-war show,” Davidson said. “I admit it. That’s my point of view.” But after some board members expressed concerns about “what kind of response we would get from the conservative Ventura County community,” Davidson said, the exhibit’s title became “23 Artists Respond to the Threat of War.”

Davidson said she put out the word to the city’s artistic community, and all of the 23 artists who responded brought anti-war pieces.

“Nobody wants a war,” she said, although she added that she would have welcomed other points of view. A giant sheet of paper where visitors can write their own views hangs on one wall of the gallery.

As of Tuesday afternoon, all of the written comments were anti-war.

Alviani said Davidson is “using the gallery for her own private views.”

“To claim that you’re the official art organization for the city and then to come out with a political position on a controversial issue . . . I think it just creates more controversy,” he said.

Alviani also said the question of who decides what is displayed at the gallery “has been a bone of contention for some time.” He said Davidson should have called a special meeting of the board rather than conducting the phone poll of board members.

But another board member and former president, Patricia Olney, said the exhibit was “a very appropriate thing to do” and commended Davidson for staging a timely exhibit during a week when the gallery otherwise would have been empty.

“I believe it’s using both public and private funds to look at a major event our country is facing,” Olney said. She said the exhibit will “bring attention to the arts and bring attention to the subject.”

Olney said she saw the exhibit and “thought there were some very strong pieces, but certainly nothing anti-patriotic.”

A Korean War veteran, Olney said: “I’m a staunch supporter of my country, but I’m a stauncher supporter of the Constitution and the right to free expression.”

The controversy prompted Marty Veselich, a surfing enthusiast visiting from Santa Monica, to take a look at the exhibit. He said he is not sure how he feels about the possibility of war, but added: “It’s possible that the U.S. may be right this time.

“But regardless of how I feel, I came here to show support for the idea that artists should be free to express themselves.”