ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Censorship Exhibition

All’s well that ends well, as Shakespeare said. But one has to wonder why such a fuss was raised in the first place about a painting that eventually was allowed to be shown with the senior class art show of Orange County High School for the Arts in Los Alamitos. The school ended up doing the right thing, but only after coming under criticism for attempting to censor the work.

To be sure, the painting, by student Letitia Houston, 18, was provocative in its depiction of two nude women embracing. Houston’s accompanying statement read: “I wanted to be free of the notion that I would burn in hell for choosing to love another woman.” And, yes, Houston is a self-professed lesbian.

Nancy Melbourne, director of the school’s visual art department, explained that she did not think the painting in question dealt with Houston’s stated theme of her struggle with religion. She also said that Houston had turned in the painting late and unfinished.

At first, Houston was told by school administrators that she could display the painting at the two-hour senior class art show if she draped it, as suggested by fellow students. This was an odd idea; what would have been the point of displaying a painting no one could see? Once the story on what was happening got out, however, the school allowed Houston’s undraped painting to go on display alongside her classmates’ works.

In the end, school administrators made the right decision. But it was a lesson for all in the importance of artistic expression.