The San Diego Union printed this on January 15, 1982:
     "An item in the San Diego Artists Guild bulletin has apparently ruffled some feathers at the San Diego Museum of Art.
     Written by former SDMA exhibition curator Dennis Komac, whose fine exhibits at SDSU Art Gallery have been widely supported….
     After the article appeared, SDMA board president Lois Roon asked the guild to clear such notices before publication."

     Here is that article written by Dennis Komac, from the January 1982 Bulletin:
POLITICAL ART DISTRIBUTION/DOCUMENTATION
     "At the time this is being written the world political and social temperament is seething. Everyone is watching Poland, hoping strength and right will combine successfully against overwhelming odds; Israel is challenging world opinion on her credibility as a mature nation; in the U.S., Reagan White House policies are threatening the last twenty years of human rights achievements. In general, little progress is evident anywhere on the planet - in fact, it is an achievement to maintain the status quo, merely to avoid regression.
     Where are the world's artists? Despite the direct threat to their freedoms in an increasingly 'morality-dictated' society, artists must rise to the occasion and assume the burden that is uniquely theirs: to observe and document, and thereby expose, to all who will see, the hypocrisy, the impending elimination of basic humanitarianism and the insolence of world powers: political and commercial.
     Connect with your fellows in the struggle at Political Art Distribution/Documentation. P.O. Box 2064, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10163. This organization, founded by Jerry Kearns and Lucy Lippard, is publishing, documenting, publicizing and encouraging artists in their attempt to be heard over the rising din of a perilous time."

     1982 was the year of the last Winners' Show, Joe Nyiri, Vicki Cole, and Dixon Fish had their three-person exhibition at the SDMA. At the time the Guild had 280 members.

     The following was recorded in the January 19, 1982 minutes:
     "The meeting opened with a discussion of the Artists Guild Newsletter, Sternberg advocating an 'Open' column, and the Board taking official note of the Museum's objection to political issues."
     They also discussed the proposed cancellation of the Awards Show with Grant Holcomb.      "The Board asked how the artists in the Guild could voice their opinions before this recommendation to eliminate the Awards show became final… The Board expressed general shock at the changes.
     Holcomb suggested the membership write Brezzo and Oatman letters of protest, registering with them not to consider the Awards Show issue until the Guild board has time to notify the members."

     Andrea Hoffman wrote this article published in the San Diego Union on January 22, 1982:
     "ARTIST GUILD MEMBERS are up in arms over the San Diego Museum of Art's exhibition committee recommendation to do away with practice of allowing the three best of show artists in the Artist Guild annual exhibits to have solo shows in the museum.
     Exhibitions curator Grant Holcomb said the proposal will come before the full SDMA board next week. Guild members claim that doesn't give them enough time to organize or to present their side to the museum board and…. have drafted a letter of protest and sent it to the committee.
     They argue that Guild membership prestige and the success of Guild exhibits hinges on the possibility of winning one of these coveted awards. They rejected the committee's reported contention that cash prizes would be just as valuable to the artists as the possibility of having a solo show at the museum.
     Holcomb said the idea of eliminating the awards was discussed by the exhibition committee before being shelved two years ago.
     Holcomb, who arrived at the museum last September, said the exhibitions committee wants the museum to maintain complete control of the exhibit space, rather than having to provide space for solo shows based on best-of-show awards made by outside jurors.
     The plan to remodel temporary and permanent exhibition space in preparation for the American Association of Museums conference to be held at the SDMA in June 1983 has been suggested as another reason the committee does not want to tie up museum space for the solo shows….
     Elinor Oatman is a co-chairman of the exhibition committee. Her daughter, Christine Oatman is a member of the Artist Guild and a former solo award winner."

     A Special Meeting of the Guild Board of Directors was held on February 14, 1982. The following was recorded in the minutes of that meeting:
     "The meeting opened with a motion by Eaton that the Artists Guild Board of directors collectively resign, with allowances for dissenting votes with the resignations to be made at the reception for the Artists Guild Show April 23, 1982, with Board members present… the motion carried. Ahswede moved and Sternberg seconded to approach the Museum staff for a written commitment to the Artists Guild Show. The motion carried unanimously."

     This article by Mary Hellman appeared in the San Diego Union on February 19, 1982:

GUILD VS. MUSEUM
Showdown In The Arts Arena

     "Laaaadies and gentlemen. Shaping up in the center ring today is another battle at the San Diego Museum of Art.
     In one corner, we have the usually meek San Diego Artists Guild - several hundred visual artists who are fighting mad about plans to end their annual Awards Exhibition, a 12-year tradition at the Balboa Park museum. With quick jabs, they've attacked SDMA for trying to lock out local artists.
     In the other corner is the battered museum board and staff which, in the past two years have faced a parade of challengers at odds with plans to modernize the once sleepy museum. They're on the defensive again, saying they intend to show works by local artists, but don't want to be confined to just guild members.
     The contest is an emotional one. Guild members resent what they view as another step by the museum to sever ties that date to the early 1900s when guild members helped found the museum. They also fear for the life of the guild if members lose the opportunity for a prestigious museum show.
     On the other hand, museum leaders are struggling to strengthen control over exhibition space and programs that they say are in the hands of professional curators at museums around the country. It's an ongoing shift in authority being felt throughout the museum that has kept tensions high between staff and once-powerful volunteer committees like the guild.
     The match is scheduled to be decided Tuesday by a vote of the museum's board's executive committee, the focus of a guild letter writing campaign. But a guild spokesman hinted broadly that it won't be the final round, if the committee goes along with the staff recommendations to end the show.
     'My board has made a move, but I can't say what our plans are until after the vote,' said painter Gary Hansmann, head of the guild. 'We've called a meeting for March 8 that I think will be the most important one in the guild's history.'
     'The San Diego Museum needs artists badly and artists need the support of the community. If every city treated its artists the way San Diego does, there would be no American arts.'
     Hansmann's sparing partner is the museum's new curator Grant Holcomb, who joined the staff five months ago after 13 years in academia. Holcomb is the author of the staff recommendation that the Awards Exhibition end.
     'Gary says, the museum is trying to disentangle itself from local artists,' he said. 'That isn't the case. The museum's professional staff wants to make decisions that have been in the hands of artists or outside people in the community. And we don't want to be limited to the guild.
'What's at issue here is the museum's responsibility to the arts in a community. We have a commitment to local artists and I believe what we're proposing will enhance and broaden that relationship.'
     At present, the 'Awards Exhibition' features works by three artists chosen from entrants in the guild's annual All-Media show at SDMA. Selection is made by a juror mutually agreed upon by the museum staff and guild leaders. Past winners have included artists Barbara Weldon and Martha Alf, who are now nationally known.
     (Ironically, in the growing heat of this battle, this year's Guild Awards Exhibition is currently on display. Featured artists are Joe Nyiri, Viki Cole, and Dixon Fish.)
     Holcomb plans to continue the Guild All-Media show and award the top participants with cash prizes instead of an exhibition. In the place of the Awards Exhibition, he would like to substitute another show by area artists that would be conceived and executed by the professional staff, and an exhibition of works by San Diego photographers that is scheduled this spring.
     'The question is, do we want two shows restricted to 280 artists who are guild members?' he argued. 'I know some damn good artists who don't belong to the guild.'"

     On February 19, 1982 Rev. Dr. Charles A. Eaton of the Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church wrote this letter to Gary Hansmann and the Guild Board Members:
     "As the Guild Board discusses its options in regard to current policy changes, I would strongly urge that an appeal to the San Diego City Council be considered.
     It is not the City Council can really do much, but at this present juncture communication with the Museum is not accomplishing much either, and at the very least an appeal to the Council would provide a public forum.
     The grounds of such an appeal would be that the Museum is not carrying out its responsibilities to the community in that it has gradually closed the doors to serious input from the artists themselves.
     The museum argument is that the issue is one of control. In Holcomb's words, 'the museum professional staff wants to make decisions that have been in the hands of artists or outside people in the community.' In fact, the Guild has never asked for control, (nor have other artists), they have only asked for opportunity. Nor has there ever been any outside 'control' of museum shows. Jurors have always been nationally recognized persons agreed on in advance by both the Guild and the Museum. What the Museum is actually asking for is for further exclusion of local artists.
     Grant Holcomb claims that he knows some 'damn good artists who don't belong to the Guild,' as if the Guild shows somehow restrict the participation of artists. The true restriction would be if the Museum would adopt the patronizing attitude of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary art -- which does present some local artists, but never on the basis of open competitions. Having 'quality control' is another word for maintaining standards which are in every sense parochial.
     I know some 'damn good physicians' who are not members of AMA, but I know of none that could not belong if they wanted to support the larger aims of that organization. Organizations exist for particular functions. The Guild exists for the promotion and advancement of fine art in San Diego. If the museum wants opportunities for non-Guild artists, then let them reinstate the California-Hawaii show. In the meantime, restricting opportunities of artists to have museum-level shows is a default of community mandate -- and deserves to be brought to City Council.
     In the Council presentation, the Museum should be challenged to make good on its claimed commitment to local artists -- and in ways that are open, not arbitrary."

     On February 20, 1982 Rev. Eaton wrote another letter to the Guild:
     "Inasmuch as museum staff members have several times mentioned (with a sense of longing?) that many other museums across the U.S. have already divested themselves of local art groups, I would think that it is time to request in writing their assurance of the continuation of the Guild show.
     There are those who would rather let sleeping dogs lie, but the Guild really is up against the wall whether individual members are conscious of it or not. The question of whether the museum will get rid of the Guild is not as appropriate as the question of when it will do so. My concern is that the museum will wait until the Guild is too weakened for any significant Guild options to take place.
     Much talk has been made of the Board members demitting their office -- and perhaps giving up their membership in the Guild at the same time. This surely would be playing directly into the hands of the museum inasmuch as it would deprive the Guild of some potent and concerned leadership at just the time when their knowledge and experience is most needed. It would be little more than a dramatic gesture, and the museum would then be dealing with a somewhat weakened Guild.
     However, if the Guild membership were itself in regular or specially called meeting to vote to disengage itself from the museum, it might place itself in an independent position which might give it future effective influence within the museum and in the larger community. Potential influence within the museum would be felt as an independent Guild became a potent lobby for open exhibitions of the California-Hawaii type (with one-artist or three-artist award shows!) External to the museum, the Guild could launch an annual 'Amory'-type show which would be held in a rented inflatable building (such as used for all-weather tennis courts in skiing resorts) on any prominent and desirable public property. I can imagine this annual event taking a significant place in the history of American Art, a show partially underwritten by the city and completely designed by artists for artists. The possibilities are endless -- and boggle the mind. It would be the 'San Diego Museum Guild Museum Show' -- hang on to your name!
     Finally, I am much taken by the suggestion that Pauline has been making that any act of severance be accompanied by some bona fide performance art. I can see a major media event, cleared by the city, in which a Guild vehicle crashes through a quadrangle of burning Old Masters and museum-type restraining ropes into an inner space of exhibition/performance. Perhaps a full-sized Marlboro billboard and some moppets could be included in the pyro-technic event!
     P.S. The above comments clearly apply only to the possibility that the museum will not be willing to make assurances of future Guild shows, a possibility which should be planned for.
     P.P.S. It may be that the leadership of the museum is already enough pressure that a well-publicized potential exit of the entire Guild from the museum would be enough to re-instate artist award-shows. That is worth thinking about, but time may already be past."

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