Eakins plaque trashed by Blick?
Bummed.
Friend of PW CAConrad wrote a protest Tuesday that makes sense in this mixed up, corporate-everything world. Basically, it appears the new Blick art store on Chestnut between 13th & Broad yanked a plaque commemorating Thomas Eakin’s old studio space.
Then today, CA wrote in this update:
“During the construction of the new art store a heavy metal fence was put up around the doorway, and I took a friend new to the city to see the plaque and to look up at the studio. The plaque was THERE, and we read it together through the fence.
A week later when walking by the construction site the plaque was GONE! I kept waiting for the plaque to return to its home, but it didn’t. And when the art store opened I finally realized the TERRIBLE IRONY of it being an art store selling canvas and paint who had removed this VERY IMPORTANT artist’s plaque.
I wrote about this on PhillySound: http://PhillySound.blogspot.com which you’ll see includes a photograph of the art store, and I point out how you can notice the marking in the photograph to see the missing plaque.
Yesterday I went to the store and spoke with a manager named Sean. I asked him to please walk to the top of the steps with me so I could show him what I was talking about. While walking up the steps I asked him if he knew who Eakins was, and he said, “Oh that famous writer.” When I told him Eakins was a painter it jarred his memory and he mentioned the GROSS CLINIC situation.
But once Sean realized what I was talking to him about his initial reaction was, “Someone probably stole it!” But of course as I’ve already told you in this email, I saw it BEHIND the heavy construction site fence.
This is a situation which needs to be addressed.”
Tara, THANK YOU SO MUCH for bringing attention to this situation!
BLICK needs to rectify this situation, Philadelphia art lovers will NOT put up with this!
Dear BLICK, PUT EAKINS’S PLAQUE BACK NOW!
Thanks again Tara,
CAConrad
Hello,
I would like to clear up a couple of points that were incorrectly stated in your blog referencing Blick Art Materials and the missing Thomas Eakin Plaque. I would like to clarify that the plaque was removed by someone other than us and stolen. This happened early on in the construction of the store. I can assure you, we were just as outraged as you. We have found a suitable picture of the plaque, and are having a new one produced to resemble the original. It was never our intent to have the plaque removed, and we are honored to be in the same location as Mr. Eakins studio. We hope to have the new plaque installed in the next couple of weeks. If you could please make the necessary changes to your blog to reflect the above information, or remove it that would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jayson Mellott
General Manager
Blick Art Materials
im really surprised at the terrible reporting these blogs often reflect. i’ve been reading through a few of your backlogs pw– and you need to up the quality to reflect what is actually going on in this city. you had actually had your writers do some investigative journalism when this was written instead of having an editor okay a story pointing fingers and saying “oh i saw it through a fence and then it was missing therefore this company is evil”. which, is really very petty and unproductive. is a ridiculous assumption- you would know that there was a police report filed when it was stolen, and blick art materials apparently recreated the original and paid out of pocket for a new sign because it was important to them to be in that building. blick is great and is a second home to artists in this city. they live up to the importance this space represents for the arts.
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