>Here is a bit from the article linked above:
Misspelled library art do-over a no go says artist
RON HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 8, 2004
09:45 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
The artist who misspelled the names of famous people in world history on a large ceramic mosaic outside Livermore’s new library can spell one word with ease: N-O.
That’s Maria Alquilar’s new position on fixing the typos.
She had planned to fly to California and put the missing “n” back in Einstein and remove the extra “a” in Michelangelo, among other fixes. But after receiving a barrage of what she called “vile hate mail,” Alquilar said Livermore is off her travel itinerary and there’ll be no changes by her artistic hand.
“No, I will not return to Livermore for any reason,” Alquilar, of Miami, told The Associated Press in an e-mail. “There seems to be so much hatred within certain people. They continuously look for a scapegoat. I guess I am the sacrificial goat.”
She previously told officials in Livermore, about 40 miles east of San Francisco, that she would fix the 11 misspellings. She asked for $6,000 plus travel expenses to correct the work they paid her $40,000 to create. The city council, faced with the embarrassing prospect of leaving the typo-strewn work in front of its spanking new library, voted 3-2 to approve the expenditure.
The problem I am having with this artist is that she is not taking responsibililty for her mistakes. She basically takes the “I meant to do that” or Pee Wee Herman reasoning for her creation. Granted, the person or people who were overseeing the installation of the mosaic should have signed off on a proof or prevented the piece from being installed when they noticed the mistakes.
I guess it’s her attitude that I don’t like. She doesn’t act like a person who really meant to misspell Shakespeare.