LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—A nonprofit arts organization terminated a 20-year relationship with Wells Fargo over censorship claims after the branch removed a 36 quilt-exhibit containing a gambit of political messaging about civil rights, climate change, and COVID-19.
“We were recently informed that the Community Art Project is terminating its pro-bono use of space at our Laguna Beach branch,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Josefina Talavera told The Epoch Times in an email. “We wish the organization well and remain committed to the arts in the Laguna Beach community.”
At the end of March, the bank amended its agreement with the Community Art Project (CAP), giving the branch the right to review or revoke any art it “deems inappropriate or potentially offensive” to the customers or employees.
Prior to the amendment, Wells Fargo could not veto the artwork, and the bank never questioned CAP’s exhibits in the past, according to Faye Baglin, treasurer of CAP, which was founded in 1998.
The change in the agreement was sparked by customer complaints who allegedly labeled some of the 36 quilts from the “Piece-ful Protest” exhibit as “aggressive” earlier this year, Baglin told The Epoch Times.
Although Wells Fargo did not disclose which quilts offended the branch customers, someone from the bank’s corporate office ordered CAP to remove the display from the building within a week of its installment, Baglin said, adding that was why the nonprofit ended its long-term relationship with the bank effective April 30.
“We were disappointed that this relationship has ended because it gave artists—up and coming artists very often—an opportunity to show their art in downtown Laguna in a very beautiful space,” Baglin said. “But censorship is just not something we can accept.”
Baglin echoed Laguna Beach Mayor Sue Kempf’s sentiment on a local radio show shortly after the exhibit’s removal, who said, “if you don’t like it, you can look away.”
“Art is there to cause conversation and make us think,” Baglin said. “I’ve certainly been to many art exhibits in my lifetime where I didn’t particularly like the art or feel comfortable with it, but still, there’s something to learn from everything you see.”
Quiltmaker and textile artist Allyson Allen created “Piece-ful Protest” after winning the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance $5,000 Honarkar Family Grant in 2019.
Her work, which she called “a juxtaposition between soft quilted textiles and harsh text and images,” was initially scheduled to be displayed in 2020 at the CAP gallery space inside the Wells Fargo Bank. However, the pandemic postponed its debut.
When CAP told Allen the bank’s decision to take down her display, which was scheduled to run from Jan. 20 through April 22, she called the response “extreme” and “appalling.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how this could possibly be the first time in 20 years that there’s something controversial about art hanging in that space,” Allen told The Epoch Times. “Traditionally, your impression of a quilt may be similar to a blanket to comfort you, and these issues are about uncomfortable things. It could only offend someone if they realize what’s looking back at them in the mirror.”
CAP relocated all 36 “Piece-ful Protest” story quilts to the nearby Neighborhood Congressional Church Laguna Beach, about a half-mile from the bank. It has attracted approximately 500 visitors, according to Baglin, and will remain on display until April 24 before traveling nationally at various gallery spaces, museums, and quilt shows.
