THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 11, 1996 TAG: 9611110034
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 64 lines
The age-old conflict between artistic freedom and social responsibility has probably never before centered on this: a volleyball.
But when one of those was included in a painting by Indian River High School senior Jennifer Burns, it sparked a monthlong controversy between the artist and the school administration.
Burns' painting is a homecoming totem representing the Class of 1997. It was unveiled at a pep rally Oct. 16, but it will not take its place at the front of the school until Tuesday - after a few changes are made.
``This has been blown way out of proportion,'' Burns said. ``I've missed a lot of class, the principal came to my house, and no one even knew it was a volleyball until I told them because it looks like a sun.''
The saga began last year when Jennifer and her friend Marie Bersamin designed the scene depicting male and female Indians, representing the school's nickname, the Braves. Their design was chosen from among several entries to be made into a 7-by-8-foot sign. But when Burns, who has played volleyball since middle school and considers it her trademark, had finished the painting, a volleyball tattoo was painted on the male where a diamond design was originally planned.
When other students got wind of the change, some protested. Burns said she was told they thought it was unfair to single out one sport, and it was not the original design the class supported. Principal James L. Frye said students were not permitted to use their ``tags'' in their designs because they were supposed to represent the whole class.
``Other students' designs were turned back for that reason,'' he said. ``We're proud of volleyball, but the point is that if you make rules everybody has to follow them.''
For weeks, Burns would agree only to paint the red volleyball yellow, to make it look more like a sun. She even collected signatures from a majority of the class on a petition asking that she be allowed to keep the volleyball. But Friday, after her mother, Jan Burns, crafted a compromise with Frye, Burns said she would remove the lines that distinguish it as a volleyball.
Jan Burns said an agreement had to be reached to stop the pressure on her daughter and return the painting to the seniors. Jennifer, she said, had missed several classes because administrators kept calling her to the office to work out a compromise. Burns also said administrators accused her of stealing the painting and threatened her with court action unless she paid $40 for it. On Thursday, Burns said the principal and a plain-clothes police officer came to her home in a cruiser.
Jan Burns said she didn't want to force her daughter to change the painting, and she didn't want to pay the school for it, either.
``That would mean that I would own the painting, and the seniors would never get it back,'' she said. ``But it doesn't belong to me, and it doesn't belong to Mr. Frye. It belongs to the seniors.''
Frye said he never accused the Burns family of anything and that he went to the house with the school's youth officer because Jan Burns would not return his telephone calls. He said he let her take the sign from the school only because he thought Jennifer was going to alter and return it.
``I wanted the seniors to have their sign, too,'' he said.
The altered painting will be returned to the school Tuesday, both sides agreed Friday.
Jennifer said, ``I'm just glad it's going on the school.'' ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP
In their design, Indian River High students Jennifer Burns, left,
and Marie Bersamin depicted male and female Indians, representing
the school's nickname, the Braves. by CNB