City digs up wildflowers: artist sues, pt2

June 26, 2009 by William Shaw
Filed under: William Shaw 

I’ve had a couple of nice emails from Chapman Kelley thanking us for referring to his legal battle with the Chicago authorities over the removal of his artwork Wildflower Works.

He was pleased to find the site and see discussion about artists like  Robert Smithson on the website; back in 1968 Kelley had been a central figure in creating the programme at the Northwood Art School in Dallas, Texas. In 1972, shortly before his death, Smithson had been a guest teacher there. That year he’d also exhibited Newton Harrison’s work in his gallery in Dallas in 1972.

He’s also keen to correct story that Wildflower Works was a Chicago-funded artwork:

I personally funded the installation and was not paid one red penney to do it. In the course of my creating the Wildflower Works it was necessary for me to liquidate a portion of my personal art collection. Some of the items which were sold were: a 1960 Henry Moore bronze divided figure, a 1957 Calder mobile, a 1969 Frank Stella protractor, a 1968 Jules Olitski and three Franz Kline’s. In addition, I sold many of my own paintings…

I would like to emphasize that in addition to its renown as a work of art, the Wildflower Works was wildly successful ecologically. The plants blossomed continuously throughout spring, summer and fall. It thrived solely on rainwater and used no insecticides or fertilizer. Beginning in 1984 and for two decades afterward, a team of dedicated volunteers maintained the Wildflower Works under my direction. William, at the time, it was an excellent example of a private-public partnership between myself, our volunteers and the City of Chicago.

However, at this point William, my advocacy team and I could use–in whatever form–all the help we can get. Perhaps, after reading The Art Newspaper article and your blog, serious artists might step forward to stand up for artists’ rights.

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4 Comments on City digs up wildflowers: artist sues, pt2

  1. Wildflower Works followup | The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts on Tue, 30th Jun 2009 7:57 pm

    2. [...] of this court case, there have been two excellent posts on the Arts and Ecology Blog here and here. Also, there’s a good post from 2007 on the Aesthetic Grounds [...]

  2. News Room :: Wildflower Works followup on Tue, 30th Jun 2009 9:00 pm

    3. [...] of this court case, there have been two excellent posts on the Arts and Ecology Blog here and here. Also, there’s a good post from 2007 on the Aesthetic Grounds [...]

  3. Council for Artists' Rights (USA) on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 5:24 pm

    4. The entry below is used from the website http://www.clancco.com. It is the website of attorney Sérgio Muñoz Sarmiento, Associate Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, New York City.

    ” Oral Arguments Set for Chapman Kelley vs. Chicago Park District
    Clancco | | 5 August 2009

    It’s official. The oral arguments for the Chapman Kelley vs. Chicago Park District are set for Thursday, September 10th, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. in the Main Courtroom, Room 2721. Each side will be limited to 20 minutes. The oral arguments will take place at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The sitting judges will not be announced until that morning.

    Assuming no change in scheduling, the arts and legal community will have two new Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) opinions in the coming months (the other being Mass MoCA vs. Büchel), perhaps before the end of this year.”

    Of further interest is that one of the appellate judges of the Seventh Circuit is Diane Wood. Ms. Wood was interviewed by President Obama–she was on his short list of potential candidates for Supreme Court Justice–prior to choosing Sonia Sotomayor.

    John Viramontes
    Council for Artists’ Rights

  4. William Shaw on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 10:39 pm

    5. Many thanks for keeping us updated…

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