This announcement came out in the San Diego Evening Tribune on September 18, 1984:
11 Named to City's Arts Panel
     "San Diego now has a new Public Arts Advisory Board, the 11 members of which were approved by City Council yesterday. The single vote in opposition was cast by Councilman Bill Cleator.
     At a Sept. 11 hearing, Cleator had complained that a member of the slate nominated by Mayor Hedgcock would not 'know a statue from a garbage can.' He refused to say to whom he was referring.
     Yesterday, Cleator said he 'probably should apologize' for the remark, but went on to say 'I'm not so sure I'm wrong.' Leaders of San Diego's major visual arts organizations, however, reacted favorably to the composition of the new board….
     Nancy Livesay, past-president of the 250-member San Diego Artists Guild, said last night of the board, 'it sounds dynamite to me. It's a good group. They've got a real mixed bag on there and it sounds to me like a qualified board. It sounds like it fairly represents visual art, which has not always been well represented in the town."

     This announcement was collected by the San Diego Clipping Service: The La Jolla Light Nov. 8., Blade Tribune Nov. 15, and the Daily Californian Nov. 14 & 23, 1984 recorded the following:
     "For the first time in the 70 year history of the San Diego Artists Guild, the annual All-Media Exhibition will be open to all professional artists in San Diego and Imperial Counties. In years past, the Artists Guild, a committee of the San Diego Museum of Art, accepted only Guild member's entries to San Diego's oldest annual art competition." (Note: The exhibition opened Feb 15, 1985)

     Dennis Komac, Director San Diego State University Art Gallery wrote this letter to Steve Brezzo, Director SDMA and to Artists Equity on December 1, 1984:
     "… Perhaps in order of importance, the first issue is that of requiring artists to pay to enter the competition process. It is not that my concern is with the amount, even though $10 is excessive and there is a double standard allowing two views of three-dimensional work and only one of two-dimensional works, (are paintings always so readable without the benefit of detail close-ups?) but with the general concept of them having to pay at all. This puts the museum, a professional, non-profit institution in the position of being regarded with the same motives as a vanity gallery. Moreover it bespeaks an attitude unaware of the financial straits suffered by most artists in our nation today. Certainly there are those who can afford it, but vastly more who cannot. Again, however, ignore that issue and consider the appropriateness of having the exhibited artist pay to show their work.
     Add to that the questionable system that allows and requires artists to pay to have their work rejected….
     I also think you and I are in agreement that the bulk of this sort of exhibition, and probably 85%, is not museum quality work and was selected only because the juror was impelled to put together an exhibition of a minimal size for the space allowed….
     Obviously the question is one of how the museum can properly relate to its most obvious constituency: artists in its community. I will state categorically that I do not feel the museum owes its local artists exhibitions within its galleries. But, there is some degree of responsibility upon the museum and its staff to be aware of the local art community and to support it….
     The curatorial staff can make studio visits, be present at gallery openings, and just generally be aware of what is going on under their noses. An attitude of isolation and lack of concern is counter-productive and leaves the institution open to criticism and defensive posturing….
     Please accept this commentary in the spirit in which it is offered: constructive observation and dedicated commitment to our community and its institutions and artists. These observations are most certainly not my own or am I the author of the underlying concepts. Locally the Artists Equity chapter has long lobbied for this consciousness…Finally, it has been said that the issue of responsibility to regional artists in San Diego is the proper purview of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art… But every local art presenting institution has some stake in this issue, including the university galleries. I feel the San Diego Museum of Art should realize the necessity for the exchange of interest between it and local artists….
     The fact is the system and committee are already in place in the form of the Artist Guild to address these issues. I feel they need your support and guidance, as not only as the Director of the museum but also as an aware observer of national and, I suspect, local art scene. You are burdened with being their conscience, mentor, and arbiter. Sure there are complicated politics inherent in the situation and feathers will be ruffled, but such will always be so and the museum will be able to take ready defense in its knowledge that it is ultimately correct, honorable and well-intentioned."….

     The local chapter of Artists Equity replied to Dennis Komac, Steve Brezzo, and Guild President, Robert Simpson in this letter penned by Gerry Grove, Corresponding Secretary, in December 26, 1984:
     "We of Artists Equity, wish to commend you concerning your letter to Mr. Steven Brezzo. You have presented valid criticisms which were very direct but not offensive, viz.:
     1. responsibilities of the San Diego Museum of Art to members of the local art community,
     2. 'industrialization of art' as a for profit venture as opposed to the display of works which are of true museum quality,
     3. insularity of the curatorial staff as opposed to their active participation in local art functions,
     4. need to reinstitute colloquia and informal discussion groups which may have interdisciplinary overtones.
     Your criticisms and concerns were constructive and positive. It is hoped that Mr. Brezzo (and the Guild) will give them serious consideration."

     From January 25, 1985 - March 24, 1985 the Felicita Foundation for the Arts held a "small image" show for the Guild at the Mathes Cultural Center in Escondido. (Note: This center later evolved into the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Art Museum)

     This review, by Mark Elliot Lugo, appeared in the San Diego Evening Tribune on February 22, 1985:
Artists Guild Opens Its Juried Show
     "Over the past few years, San Diego's most important juried art exhibition -- the San Diego Artists Guild all Media Membership Exhibition -- has been predictable and uneven.
     This situation was unfortunate because the San Diego Museum of Art, which holds the exhibition, offered guild members and their works the prestige of museum affiliation (guild exhibitions are held in the museum itself) and unrivaled exposure to the general public. Contributing to the exhibition's problems were its jurors. Many of the out-of-town museum administrators didn't seem to have an eye for art. The guild membership, moreover, seemed generally uninspired, perhaps because the museum had discontinued the practice of awarding solo museum exhibitions as prizes to winning guild exhibition artists.
     Undoubtedly keeping an eye on the museum's administration, which has slowly but efficiently been exorcising the curse of local art from its programs, the guild's board of directors enacted an exhibition-enlivening and rather historic idea this year. The idea, one that has been debated at guild board-meetings for several years involved opening up the competition to non-guild members, not only in San Diego County, but in Imperial County as well.
     Now, it appears that this new exhibition variant, dubbed 'The Artists Guild Open Juried Exhibition,' could replace the annual guild membership exhibition once every three years. This limited implementation will partially preserve the major benefit of being a guild member, that is, the privilege of being eligible to compete for guild exhibitions.
     To help inaugurate the open exhibition, Robert McDonald, Chief curator of the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, was enlisted as juror. McDonald is well-liked locally, has a lot of jurying and art-writing experience, and his taste in art is wide ranging and liberal enough to accommodate whatever the situation might demand. He's also quite familiar with, and a staunch supporter of, San Diego's art community…. the exhibition is better looking than those of the past few years. This is primarily due to the broad range media represented, the colorfulness of the artworks, and the excellent way the exhibition is displayed.
     Unfortunately, better looking does not necessarily nave anything to do with substance or content or an 'edge,' either in conceptual or formal terms, and it is in this area that the exhibition could use some additional strength, some character, some 'uglying up.' Selections were, by in large, very traditional and very safe, with a few pieces blatantly commercial looking and innocuous. Those are better suited to hotel lobbies or offices than to a museum exhibition.
     McDonald has defended his choices, calling them 'a portrait of the community,' as effective a statement as any in neutralizing any criticism. If a community produces decorative art, then it gets a decorative exhibition. Right?"

     On June 18, 1985, the Guild minutes recorded the following:
     "$800 has been approved for the purchase of Solander Boxes to be donated to the museum."
     On September 17, 1985 this was recorded in the minutes:
     "The board authorized a check request for $130 to be paid to COVA."
     However on October 15, 1985 this was recorded in the minutes:
     "As the museum does not donate to other art groups, we shall make no further donation to COVA. Individuals who desire to do so can join COVA on their own for $10 per year."

     The San Diego Evening Tribune October 18, 1985 printed this announcement:
New Galleries to Open Nov. 1
     "EXCEPTIONAL EXHIBITON: Group exhibitions of artworks by members of the prestigious San Diego Artists Guild are rarely seen outside the walls of the San Diego Museum of Art. Tonight, an exception to the guild's museum exhibition tradition opens with a public reception from 5-8 p.m. in the plaza of the Arts Room. The room is a formal gallery space off the lobby of First Interstate Plaza, 401 B St. It is provided through the courtesy of Bowlen Holdings Inc. Russell Baldwin, Boehm Gallery director, selected 23 works for the exhibition. Prizes were awarded to Ken Maney and Jean Swiggett."

     The San Diego Union in January 1986 printed this article by Ed Jahn:
Artwork removed at judge's order
     "San Diego Donkey Cart,' an assemblage by National City artist David Avalos, is supposed to 'encourage direct social dialog,' according to the flier announcing its installation this week in front of the Federal Courthouse downtown.
     The artwork, showing an undocumented alien being frisked by an immigration officer atop a Tijuana tourist cart, lasted only a day before Chief U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson made his own art statement.
     Yesterday, Thompson overruled an earlier approval for the installation and ordered the work disassembled and removed. Thompson said the structure, along with the barbed-wire-topped fence surrounding it, presented 'a security threat' to the courthouse.
     Avalos, who is the artist-in-residence at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, had intended to spend his lunch hour with the assemblage talking to bystanders during the work's planned two-week stay at the courthouse. Now he says he will be doing his talking in court and with the media.
     Avalos said he believes Thompson may have taken offence because the federal court system handles many undocumented cases.
     The American Civil Liberties Union chapter here said it is preparing a federal lawsuit to have the work returned. Members of the city's Public Art Advisory Board said the judge's actions were 'an insult to the community' and leaders in the Chicano community called his act 'clear and simple political repression.'
     'I refuse to submit to a violation of my freedom of expression,' said Avalos yesterday….
'The idea that that work represents a security threat is complete baloney….' Avalos said.
     'I played by the book and got the permit,' he added. 'Now a federal; judge is acting as art censor and trying to put on a cover-up.'….
     As for whatever political statement the work might be making, Thompson said…. 'I did not interpret (the work) as being political.' Thompson added that it was impossible to work out a compromise 'because security risks call for summary judgment.'
     The Avalos assemblage was subsidized through a $2,700 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, according to Lynn Schuette, director of the non-profit Sushi Gallery that is sponsoring a 'Streetworks' show involving Avalos and three other artists."

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