Anna Judd

There’s an artist in L.A. named Anna Judd. She’s a painter. A good one. And she’s an avid runner. A marathoner, in fact. And she wants to run a marathon that courses along the Great Wall of China. She can swing the airfare, but…

…like always in this world, there’s a catch: along with buying tickets to China, she is required to book a tour package and hotel stay offered by the race sponsor. Here’s the sponsor’s site: http://www.great-wall-marathon.com/ The price: $1,210, each, for a double; $1,370 for a single. The race is May 15th, 2010.

The deadline is April 15th.

This marathon is a really big deal to her. She’s trained hard, she’s ready to go, but she can’t muster the cash to cover five nights in that hotel room she doesn’t want.

Read her own words below, and then ask yourself if you think she deserves a few bucks to finance a passion that may lead to a billion dollar painting in the future — think of Gauguin, then think of it as an investment. Buy one of her paintings and send her on the run of a lifetime! You can see her paintings and contact her here: http://www.annajudd.com/

Without further ado:

Here is the original blog:

I’m sure that not all of you are aware of this, but I’ve been training for a marathon since the beginning of the year, namely the Great Wall of China Marathon.

Much to my dismay, as I was arranging travel tickets and about to buy my bid for the race, I realized that in order to go there I have to buy a tour package, I can’t just buy my bid by itself. I wish that I could afford this, but I can’t. I was going to grab a discounted flight into China as a courier, carrying a mysterious package that leaked a yellowish powder and stay in a $2 a night hostel in Beijing for the days preceding and following the marathon.

Their plan is AMAZING (five star hotel, you get to hang out with all the other runners of the marathon, they take care of your meals, you get your own personal servant and masseuse who will follow you around 24/7 to make sure that you are in good spirits and good health) but costs nearly five times what I could finagle it for.

So I wrote them a letter.

To Whom it May Concern:

I just spent a few minutes filling out the contact form, but I don’t think you received it. The computer froze. So, I’m going to make an ass out of myself again, and hope that at least it’s the first you will have to experience it, although it is the second time around for me.

I need to run the Great Wall Of China Marathon. It is an innate need rooted deep within me. I’ve been consciously training for this run for the last four months, but unconsciously, I’ve been training my whole life. The Great Wall calls to me, begging me to trod upon it.

Unfortunately, I was not blessed with the sense that God gave a goat, and my finances are exactly what you would expect from an art school drop out who makes her living on a painting by painting basis.

I have been saving my nickels and dimes in a Mason jar for the last two years, existing on nothing but Top Ramen and packets of ketchup that I pilfer from McDonalds. I have finally saved enough fly to China, stay in a dumpy hostel and assuming that I can con the stewardess into sneaking me a box of peanuts, I’ll be able to eat on my trip.

I’m sure that a million people (who no doubt have hundred dollars bills overflowing from their pockets) contact you every day, miserly jerks who are looking for another way to cut costs and save money by not going through your company to buy the tour package. I’m not one of those people. I would love to stay in a lavish hotel, eat a glorious pasta dinner with the other runners the day before the race, and enjoy the splendours of China not by myself, but with a group of kindred spirits. However, the load I carry is a weary one, and I know that I am a lone wolf.

Would you consider letting me simply sign up for the race without buying everything else?

It’s really the only way I can manage the trip. I thought about setting up a 501c3 for Underprivileged Runners, and then shaking people down for tax deductible donations, which would pay for my airfare, but I don’t want that kind of  bad karma following me to the East.

The bit about me being an artist is true. I’m a painter. If you guys let me just buy my race bid, and nothing else, I’d let you have ANY painting on my website, and some are priced at higher than ten thousand dollars. That is how bad I want this.

I would even volunteer for your company, doing whatever menial task no one else wanted to do.  I’d arrive to the race early at 2 am and cut little orange slices for the runners before I started the race. I’d run the race and along the way I’d be a cheerleader, encouraging other runners not to give up, to keep on keepin’ on. I’d assemble and disassemble port a potties. I’d work in the massage booths afterward, and if you don’t have a massage booth, I’ll fashion one out of wild bamboo and palm fronds.

Please consider my offer.

Cheers,
Anna

Tom says I’ve lost my marbles and I’m retarded to think anyone would negotiate with a person crazy enough to send an email like this one.
But, my fingers are crossed.

Now, buy a painting that comes with a great story for cocktail parties, and send Anna to China…http://www.annajudd.com/

Here’s her blog: http://annajudd.blogspot.com/

The race is May 15th, 2010.

The deadline is April 15th.

– grassfedart

Sean P. Means, writing for the “Salt Lake Tribune” outlines the controversy that surrounded an $80,000 publicly funded mural painted in Utah’s Supreme Court chambers by V. Douglas Snow in 1998. After some to-ing and fro-ing,  a curtain is used to conceal the mural when the court is in session.

Here’s a shot borrowed from Mr. Means’s blog: Culture Vulture

Capitol Reef: mural by V. Douglas Snow, 1998 (source: Culture Vulture)

Read the article here: Culture Vulture: The art cover-up that wasn’t

The “Capitol Reef” mural controversy reminds me of Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” in the Detroit Institute of Arts (a private enterprise). It was commissioned by Edsel Ford in 1932 and prompted shrill outcries from the museum board — among other things, Lenin appears in the mural. Now it’s considered “the finest example of Mexican muralist work in the United States” by the museum. Have a look:

Detroit Industry: mural by Diego Rivera, 1932 (source: Detroit Institute of Arts)

Still, with their permanence, murals seem like a questionable choice for publicly sponsored artwork. It’s a certainty that the work’s popularity will wax and wane over time, and during the wane times, the municipality is stuck with the work in prominent view. Would not paintings, sculptures, or other portable work make more sense in public places, and leave muralists to work for more appreciative audiences in private spaces?

Municipalities would retain control of public spaces, and, and worst case, the municipality could sell the work (probably at a loss, and then years later will rue the day if the work skyrockets in value).

carefully considered thoughts on painting will be here