The million-dollar-budget arts organization and residency (whose vision statement was to redefine “the museum experience to make art more accessible and personally meaningful”) would prefer not to talk about the troubling reputation of recently departed executive director and founder Reesey Shaw. [...]
“I described it as an abusive relationship,” says former Deputy Director of Lux Dan Buryj in reference to working with Shaw. “I think every single person who worked there cried at least once in front of her. But at the same time you loved the mission, and you loved the people you were working with. I think that’s what kept a lot of people there. You felt camaraderie with your coworkers.”
Speaking to Buryj was the first time I was able to get anyone to openly talk about what I’ve heard among many peers in the art scene—stories of verbal abuse, high staff turnover and more. As I’ve talked about in the previous columns in this series, arts and non-profit professionals often fear for their careers if they speak about unfair working conditions and toxic leadership.
But if Shaw was making people cry, why was she allowed to lead for so long?
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Lux Art director out after staff and artist complaints
San Diego CityBeat:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Perhaps her supporters were the same supporters from the Escondido theater for the arts museum patrons on that board. The original premise for the Lux was to have environmental artists that fashioned twigs and grass into art objects. The featured artists were to provide public open access to the quarters where the art was made and being made, and the public could view and ask questions.
ReplyDeleteLux has taken on debt that could put them in the hole without support from La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe patrons. If that support is gone look for the Lux people to solicit money from the City Council. The Escondido City Council was paying a $1,000,000 a year to keep their art center from going into the red.
Reesey Shaw is a very hateful person - no surprise here!
ReplyDeleteLux has removed the listing of board members from their website. The recently built Lux campus is very nice $$$$$.
ReplyDeleteThis post seems to be a hit piece against someone. Not very cool to do that anonymously.
ReplyDeleteHow is it anonymous? Dan Buryj is being quoted.
DeleteOne quote doesn't condone the rest of the blog write up.
DeleteDid you read it? Here it is:
Deletehttp://sdcitybeat.com/culture/thank-you-for-staring/single-white-feminism-part-3-fear-and-loathing-in-encinitas/
Virtually every paragraph has quotes. I don't see assertions beyond the quotes. This really does not seem anonymous. Quotes are from:
Deputy Director of Lux Dan Buryj
Squeak Carnwath, painter and professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley
Ebony G. Patterson, an artist and associate professor in painting and mixed media at the University of Kentucky
Encinitas beach police in action:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailywire.com/news/31320/heres-bodycam-footage-what-led-viral-video-cop-james-barrett
Absolutely disgusting these people are immensely sick. Don't forget child trafficking is now a huge industry and takes place in every city. Corrupt misogynist and pedo cops are not on our side, this does not make the beach safer. All they had to do was tell her to pour out the alcohol and move on but they wanted to start trouble. And they will intentionally insert young, violent inexperienced staff in these situations.
Delete1:08 PM Trolls I can laugh at,and say rude things to, but this is just....????? Maybe it's the Ambien!
ReplyDelete8:45, seems like a good argument against the bikini patrol that the departed sheriff captain wanted.
ReplyDeleteAs a former Lux employee, I can vouch for every word written here. The Board knew about every issue and did nothing. Just check the Lux profile on glassdoor...
ReplyDeleteI'll vouch for this too. She is not an easy woman to work for. Her top priorities were her funders. Staff did all the work. She spent the money to build a beautiful building hopefully someone was watching and made sure it could sustain itself. I'll be going there now that she's gone. We all stayed for one reason, the art...we all left for one reason, Reesy.
ReplyDeleteI was a resident at Lux in 2012 and had no such problems with Reesey, nor was I aware of any such problems. I thought Reesey, the staff, and trustees were all compatible and certainly the programs were very important to the community. I'm sorry if this was happening. Hard to believe.
ReplyDelete