12 Pianet OF THE ARTS / FEBRUARY - MARCH. 1996 Jonathan Lander (Photo co-rep): “My priorities are to promote fairness and tolerance in the exchange of views at Students’ Union meetings.” YOUR STUDENT GOVERNMENT Jeff Antonio (Animation co-rep) “My priority to the Students’ Union is to get people to do stuff instead of just talking about it...now if | can only follow those words.” FACILITIES DRAWS THE LINE ON GRAFFITI BY DAWN BUIE The way the Facilities Department at Emily Carr has responded to sponta- neous student drawings on the white walls of the Institute has some stu- dents asking, "Who decides what constitutes a proper school environ- ment?" A month ago Bartek Prusiewicz and Jake Bauming, 3rd and 4th year animation student respectively, were asked by Facilities to paint over all drawings on the walls of Emily Carr. Through some clever sleuth work on the part of Facilities, the two were positively identified as the artists responsible for the drawings in question. Bauming reports seeing a man he presumes works for Facilities comparing a photograph of the wall drawings with the numerous draw- ings of a similar style on Prusiewicz's animation desk Bauming says they he and Prusiewicz made a conscious decision to draw in the hallways. "We started decorating the (animation) classroom without any real method. Then it kind of leaped out into the hallways. "We weren't terribly con- cerned about that because people seemed to dig on the drawings. Everything was going fine for a cou- ple of months. Then the hammer came down." Three months after the first large cartoonish doodles appeared, Bauming and Prusiewicz were each ’ given a brush and a can of paint by Richard Bidwell, technical assistant for the Media Department. Bidwell was following Facilities’ instructions, and told the pair to paint over all the graffiti in the school. "A lot of people are trying to find out why it was such a prob- lem to be painting on the walls. There were no little cartoons of peo- ple saying ‘fuck you’ and all that jazz. It was just a nice little happy affair while it lasted." Christine McFarland, a Facilities manager says the removal of graffiti is standard school proce- dure, and is followed to maintain the appearance of the school for "stu- dents, faculty, staff, guests, every- body." She denies that keeping the walls clear of drawings is part of a policy to satisfy the public or funding bodies. "If you allow a little bit to start it keeps going. If somebody comes in with a marker one day, someone else could come in with paint. Everything gets drawn on. Where do you draw the line?" asks McFarland. McFarland says students have been allowed to draw on the walls previously but in these cases they applied to Facilities for prior - permission and were responsible for repainting the walls at the end of their presentation. McFarland claims not to have an opinion on the artistic merit of the drawings involved in the Bauming/Prusiewicz case. " We don't judge the art work. We judge how it's being done. We look at whether it's safe and if it's going to interfere with fire exits. If it's noisy and there's a class going on next door, that won't work." Bauming says many fellow students were disappointed when they found out the drawings were to be painted over. “I got yelled at when | was painting over them; somebody told me to leave them. | had to explain that | couldn't leave them up." He says he and Prusiewicz chose to follow the wishes of Facilities because they didn't want to cause problems. "I don't know what would have happened if we had just left everything up, but I'm sure we would have had a visit of some nature in the form of a note." Some students question why the drawings in the animation room had to be removed. "It's its own contained environment," says Bauming, noting. that he doesn't know who put up the drawings that currently grace the walls. Prusiewicz says he only does drawings that are of a certain standard. "One night | did these drawings | didn't like. | had to censor myself. | wouldn't put up anything that's an eyesore for anyone." Bauming says drawing on the walls should be allowed at ECIAD, and is agreeable to the idea of using areas set aside for that purpose. He says if specific guidelines, such as no painting on the floor, are set he expects students would work within those parameters. "If people can keep it to just nice stupid little fun draw- ings, | say go for it. "| don't see it getting to be such a problem that people start carving totem poles out of the beams. | don't think people are doing it so they can destroy things. | wouldn't call it an outlet, I'd just say its a creative leak."