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Show your kids nude sculptures!
Some uptight parents at Morikami Park Elementary School west of Delray Beach want these sculptures removed before school starts on Aug. 18.
The set is in a shopping center near the school, and parents say the nudity is upsetting their children.
I get my hair cut in this shopping center, Addison Plaza, and never even noticed the statues before the controversy emerged. The family of three is called "Journey to the New," by Boca Raton sculptor Itzik Asher, and represents the voyage of Russian and Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
Our kids today learn almost nothing about art, never mind nudity in art. Their only exposure to nudity is the semi-porn they see on TV and in videos. So if you pass this sculpture with your kids, I say get out of the car and talk to them about the beautiful ways artists can interpret the human body.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
Finally, an intelligent comment on this "Controversy". Nude art is not going to upset the kids, only the parents. Nude are is not going to turn your kids into sluts, your inattention to them and the other sluts in school will
Posted by: Danny | August 5, 2009 8:42 AM
Well stated, both Ms. Solomon and Danny.
Posted by: Tutor | August 5, 2009 11:50 AM
The statue is quite beautiful. I don't know why prudes feel the need to force their opinions on everyone else. If you don't like a particular piece of art, ignore it. The rest of us will revel in its splendor.
Posted by: Claus Moner | August 5, 2009 12:17 PM
What a wonderful viewpoint. The nude human body in art is a rich artistic tradition explored by artists for centuries without insinuating vice (most of the time).
Posted by: Danny | August 5, 2009 4:02 PM
This art has no place at the entrance of an elementary school. For the people that do not understand this they need to appreciate that we as parents of young children attending this MPE are offended by the sculptures. Not by its artistic value but the graphic nature of genitals.
My wife and I are certainly not prudes nor close minded, we just not believe this location is appropriate for the sculptures or message. If the shopping center owner does not get it or care, I hope that the school’s PTA starts a boycott of the shopping center to show our great distaste of these sculptures placement.
I am personally shocked by moral comments from Lois Solomon. I suspect that Lois is so open minded and non prudish that Lois never had children to raise or understands the necessity of protecting children from unnecessary vulgar images at school.
Come on Principal Renee Elfe take a position and demand removal.
Posted by: DM | August 15, 2009 6:40 AM
Being offended by a nude statue and calling it "vulgar" is the definition of being prudish and closed minded, regardless of where it is located. While I don't have children, I have nieces and nephews and I don't assume they will be traumatized by a nude statue. Kids do not have a problem with nudity until they are taught to be afraid of it by parents and others in society who are obviously less mature than some children.
Posted by: kms | October 29, 2009 8:46 PM
Its funny how so many people tell us how prudish we are when we object to a statue with great detail paid to the male genitals and then turn around and tell us that female nudity is objectifying women. Start placing anatomically correct female nudes around and see how quickly the tone will change.
Posted by: Fred | November 19, 2009 8:45 PM