NEWS

Board dumps VP who backed controversial exhibit

Linda Borg
lborg@providencejournal.com
A Bradley Wester piece, titled "Kiss," from his exhibit at the Bristol Art Museum. [Courtesy Bristol Art Museum]

BRISTOL -- The Bristol Art Museum is back in the news, this time for ousting the board's vice president, who spoke out against what she described as attempts to censor photographs from an exhibit that opened last week.

Alison DeKleine said she was voted off the board of directors after a hastily scheduled meeting Wednesday in which at least two of the voting members had already resigned. She said she was removed for "failure to meet fiduciary responsibility."

It followed controversy involving an exhibit, "Dead Ringer," that includes photographs of soldiers dressed as women or posing as women, which, the artist said, are meant to "capture moments of levity, tenderness, as well as hazing rituals demeaning women and homosexuals."

Although the show had been planned for months, DeKleine said, some members hadn't looked at the images until two weeks ago. After seeing them, several members raised questions. One board member resigned due to those concerns.

DeKleine said the exhibit has attracted a record number of attendees since it went on display last week.

DeKleine said she is being punished for standing up against artistic censorship.

"I'm done with this museum," DeKleine said Thursday. "It's an institution that favors censorship. Their actions have been totally unprofessional. What artist will want to show there now?"

The president of the board of trustees, Jane Lavender, also recently resigned from the board for what she said were personal reasons. But in a statement released Thursday night, she said that board rules stipulate that resignations only take effect 60 days after they are submitted.

Lavender said that DeKleine was removed not because of her support for the exhibit, but because of her public comments about board discussions.

"Unfortunately, one member of our Board has chosen to discuss our internal Board deliberations and mischaracterize Board discussions as well as the reasons why two other members have resigned," the statement said. "On June 12, the full Board voted unanimously to immediately remove that board member for not working in the best interests of the Museum and its membership."

Lavender also expressed her support for the "Dead Ringer" exhibit, calling it "a powerful exhibit that encourages appreciation of the arts in line with our mission and the exhibit and ensuing dialog is central to our goal of engaging diverse audiences with the arts of our time."

Exhibit curator Elizabeth Duffy, however, said the exhibit wouldn't have happened without DeKleine's "tenacity, fortitude, dignity and intelligence," adding that she was shocked by the board's decision.

Bradley Wester, whose photographs were at the heart of the debate, said, "Three times it was cancelled. There is no doubt that censorship is at play here."

lborg@providencejournal.com

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