William Penn Life, 2008 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2008-01-01 / 1. szám
Striking a chord Guitar sings the legac/ of freedom LAST YEAR, THE UNITED WAY of Greater Cleveland sponsored its third Guitar Mania, a public art project in which oversized Fender Stratocaster guitars are transformed into works of art by local artists and national celebrities. The guitars were displayed on Cleveland city streets and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from May through October. They were then auctioned off with the proceeds benefitting United Way charities and the Rock Hall's education fund. The two previous GuitarManias (in 2002 and 2004) raised more than $1.6 million. One of 2007's guitars was created by Krisztina Lazar, daughter of Branch 14 Cleveland member Andrea Lazar. Her guitar was sponsored by organizations and individuals of the Cleveland area Hungarian American community. The 9-foot-tall guitar, entitled "Singing the Legacy of Freedom," was created as a tribute to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and to the memory and spirit of those who participated in it. It incorporates images from those historic days and the words of President John F. Kennedy. The guitar was purchased at auction by the WPA and now stands in the main lobby of the Home Office. Ms. Lazar, 26, is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Both of her parents and their families emigrated from Hungary. She spoke only Hungarian until age 4 and still speaks, reads and writes in Hungarian. "Since I was bom," Ms. Lazar writes on her website, "my heritage has made a HUGE impact on my life and continues to influence me greatly in many ways." We wanted to learn more about this fascinating work of art and its creation. William Penn Life: How did the idea for the Hungarian guitar come about? Krisztina Lazar: My father is the curator for the Hugarian Heritage Museum here in Cleveland, and in the spring of 2006, he began working on the extremely extensive exhibit commemorating the 1956 revolution the museum would be having for the anniversary. As usual, my mom and I helped put the exhibits together, and my father had asked me to scan in images of the revolution into the computer. As I was working on this, I began to really empathize with the people I saw in the photographs. I began to try and put myself in their shoes, feel what they might’ve felt, try to really understand what they went through the best I could. My mom’s family escaped in January after the takeover, and both my grandparents were very active in the resistance. So I tried to imbue the photographs with all of the stories I’ve grown up with and really give life to the faces I was looking at. I felt that I had to communicate these sentiments somehow. I thought that in light of the 50 year commemoration of the revolution, I could present the information about the revolution and our culture in a totally different way, a way that could reach a totally different audience and educate a new strata of the population. So right around this time, I remembered that Cleveland was due for another round of guitars. I thought it was a perfect fit. I believe public art is an essential tool for education and one not so often utilized as it should be. The guitars are on display in the city for passersby to stop and take a look and, really, what a better way to introduce a living history as well as commemorate the events. WPL: Normally, sponsors choose artists to create their guitars. But, for this project, it was different. How so? KL: The way it usually works is that an artist submits a design and a sponsor, like National City Bank, chooses that design for its guitar. Sponsorship costs $7,500.1 figured, with my specific idea, it would be hard to get a company to foot the bill. So I thought I would raise the funds, not to mention it would get the community involved and really make it something unique to the project and to the city. So, I wrote up a professional proposal, explaining my inspirations, some history, my thoughts on public art, an examples of what I was thinking of doing on the guitar. I sent it out to various members of the community and after a lot of work, a lot of talking and telling people about the project— and months and months of collecting the funds—I reached the goal just in time for the payment deadline. 6 William Penn Life, January 2008
