Our Lady of Disagreement

By MAUREEN DOLAN

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Some people say those offended by a piece of art on display in the front window of a Sherman Avenue gallery should just avoid looking at it as they walk by.

A local legislator weighing in on the now controversial artwork said freedom of expression is a constitutional right, one that often leads to disagreements that are representative of a healthy democracy.

But Fr. Dennis Gordon, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene, said it's not that simple.

The work garnering all the attention is a sculpted depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a revered holy figure Roman Catholics believe to be the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to a peasant in 1531 in what is now Mexico City.

“Have you ever found that a good way of beginning a healthy dialogue is by publicly insulting another person's mother?” Gordon said, in a message to The Press.

The clay piece, named “Our Lady of G and Me,” shows a female figure standing, wearing a veiled cloak. Her hands are clasped in prayer and one of her breasts is exposed, with the nipple showing.

Gordon said Catholics see the Virgin Mary as a mother because in the Bible, in Revelation 12:17 she is called the mother of “those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Gordon is among several people in Coeur d'Alene's Catholic community who have asked Art Spirit Gallery owner Blair Williams to take the piece down.

Williams told The Press Wednesday she considered the request, but declined because, she said, she will always defend an artist's creative choice.

A story published Thursday about the controversy sparked a dialogue online and in letters sent to the paper.

Done in the style of the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday when people remember loved ones who have died, the sculpture offers a corpse-like presentation of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her face is skull-like with the lips that appear to be sewn shut, although it is the way teeth are detailed in Day of the Dead style.

“I am also Hispanic, even growing up within sight of Mexico. To claim that this is just a cultural Day of the Dead display misrepresents what are authentic cultural displays for this day,” Gordon said. “Shouldn't art promote the common good? How does it promote the common good to insultingly display a grotesque image that mutilates a religious icon that is beloved to millions of people? Isn't it a greater good that children should be able to walk down the streets of Coeur d'Alene without having their religion blasphemed in a display which is obvious to the public?”

Gallery owner Williams said she suggested to Gordon and other Catholics who contacted her that they consider setting up a community discussion about the artwork, but there was no interest.

“We disagreed, but it was pleasant,” Williams said.

Mary Frances Dondelinger, a local artist whose work is displayed at Art Spirit Gallery with “Our Lady of G and Me,” said she lived in the American Southwest for a long period of time and she too includes symbols from the region in her work.

“...spirits for spirits and the living...to help us ease the pain of the loss of our loved ones,” Dondelinger said, in a message.

She apprenticed in Italy as an orthodox iconographer with master iconographer Fr. Gian Luca Busi, and before that with Sr. Carolyn Miguel at St. Gertrude's Monastery in Cottonwood, and has been “writing icons” for 15 years. Many of her icons are in the collection at Saint Alphonsus Hospital in Boise.

“Perhaps learning how other regions and cultures celebrate their Christian faith might be instructive, however it is possible some people are not open to the vast horizons of expressing one's Christian faith beyond their own area's religious traditions,” Dondelinger said.

Idaho Rep. Paul Amador (R-Coeur d'Alene) wrote, in a letter to The Press, that there are broad protections for freedom of speech and expression in the U.S. and Idaho constitutions.

It's not uncommon, Amador said, for those constitutionally protected rights to create disagreements.

“The melting pot that is our country, which so often brings us opposing views and cultural friction is not what makes America so amazing, but rather it is the protections for those viewpoints and the freedom that we enjoy to express those opinions without fear of persecution from our government,” Amador wrote. “Living in America is not always comfortable, and for that I am very thankful.”