Posted October 15, 2004.

Mosaic Spells Trouble for Livermore Library

The Miami artist who created a mosaic for the Livermore (Calif.) Public Library’s new Civic Center library that was riddled with spelling errors has agreed to correct the mistakes. Maria Alquilar originally refused to fix the misspellings because of the “nasty messages from people who don’t understand art,” according to the October 9 San Francisco Chronicle. After receiving angry phone calls and over 1,000 e-mails about the errors, she told the newspaper she’d prefer that the city destroy the work, for which it paid $40,000.

However, the Chronicle reported October 15 that Alquilar had agreed to return to Livermore to correct her work—for an additional $6,000 fee, plus travel expenses—but not until her critics have calmed down, probably sometime next year.

The circular mosaic, measuring 16 feet in diameter, includes 175 historical names and cultural words. Among the 11 misspellings are “Eistein,” “Shakespere,” and “Van Gough.” Alquilar told the Chronicle the names were correct on her sketches, but she misspelled them while executing the piece. She said she noticed “Einstein” was misspelled but went ahead anyway: “I just wasn’t that concerned. None of us are particularly good spellers anymore because of computers. When you are in a studio full of clay, you don’t give it much thought.” Earlier she told the Associated Press, “The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake’s concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words. In their mind, the words register correctly.” The mistakes went undetected until the mosaic was unveiled at the library’s opening in May.

The upside to the controversy is that the publicity has prompted a boost in visitors to the library. “People are still dropping by to see what all the fuss is about,” Library Director Susan Gallinger told the Chronicle.

Posted October 15, 2004.