The last entry I entered for this blog concerning the status of my pursuit to get official, public credit and acknowledgement for the artwork I did of the bear mascot for Evansville Central High School (which the school used as the predominant image of the mascot for three decades) was the lowdown on the August 2016 meeting I had at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation building with officials of the EVSC. If you are not aware of the history regarding this situation, check out the earlier entries of this blog that detail pretty much everything up to the point of this entry.
THE PROPOSED RESOLUTION
On September 13, 2016, I received the following message from EVSC Chief of Staff, Paul Neidig:
Good morning Mr. Hawes,
I
bring you good news... We have decided to create a display at Central
featuring the evolution of the Central Bear. Celebrating the history of
Central in this way will be a great way to pay homage to all that have
contributed to the school's mascot over the years. In that display you
will be given credit for the version of the bear that you drew while a
student at Central.
I am truly sorry that this has upset you.
Paul Neidig, M.A., C.A.A Chief of Staff"
I informed Mr. Neidig that this would be satisfactory to resolving the issue for me if I am credited as stated. I further asked if there was some sort of time frame for the completion of the display, and asked if I would be invited to attend its unveiling.
After not getting a response to my questions, I waited another week and asked again, more insistent on getting a response. Having dealt with the EVSC for the past few years on the matter of my art credit, I have learned not to put stock into what the EVSC says without substantive evidence. Mr. Neidig responded after I pressed the issue, writing the following reply:
"We are moving forward with the creation display. I will let you know when it is finished."
I wrote again for an update a month later, in October of 2016, and received the same basic response. I wrote again the next month, in November, and Pamela Hight of the EVSC responded this time with the following message:
"We are working on the final layouts and design. We will let you know as soon as it is done."
Yet another month went by, and I was not alerted to any new developments regarding the display, so I wrote the EVSC once more, before the new year, seeking an update. I once more asked when the display was planned to be completed, and also asked again if I was going to be invited to see the display at its unveiling. Mr. Neidig responded with the following message:
"Good Afternoon Matt,
I trust that you had a Merry
Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy New Year. I stand by my
September 13, 2016 statement to you. As you can imagine it is taking
quite a bit of time to research the history of the Central mascot. We
simply don't have a date set to complete and unveil the history of the
Central Bear. I am sure it will be ready within the next several
months. We will let you know when it is completed.
Paul"
I replied noting that I know all too well about the time it takes to research, having done plenty of research on my own (much of it on display in other entries in this blog). I challenged him on whether it should take them so long, though. I offered to assist in researching the display, letting him know that I am willing to go to Central and help go through files, etc., pertaining to the history of the mascot. I even offered to help with the construction of the display. Mr. Neidig has yet to respond again.
On January 5, I decided to be more public in my questioning, and asked about the status of the display on the Twitter page for the EVSC. This time I got a response from the EVSC (presumably from Pamela Hight, who handles the communication for the EVSC on Facebook, and I believe Twitter, as well):
I asked if the display would be completed within the 2017 school year, and was told "yes."
Noting that at the least the EVSC was responsive when asked in a public forum, I followed up be pressing the issue of my offer to help research and construct the display. This is what I got in response to that:
"Yes, work is almost complete." (EVSC, Twitter post, January 13, 2017)
Interestingly, looking back on this string of responses, Pamela Hight told me they were "working on the final layouts and design" in the email dated November 30, 2016, but the email from Paul Neidig on December 27, 2016 -- Nearly a month later -- makes it sound as if the are still in the midst of researching the display. Does the January 13, 2017 Twitter post really mean the work is almost complete, like sooner rather than later, or is it another stalling maneuver from the EVSC?
Going back to Paul Neidig's email to me from September, 2016, he mentions that the EVSC and Central, through the display, will credit me for the bear drawing I did for the school as a student. This, after the EVSC tried desperately to deny me any credit in my exchanges with them in messages and at the August 2016 meeting. If the EVSC is at the least not fighting me on whether the drawing is my work any longer based on that email, why is there such a hold up on putting out the display? Surely, they would be as eager to resolve this matter as I have been all this time?
I have been clear that all I am seeking is the rightful credit and public acknowledgement for my work. The cause for the recognition for my art has been something I have only become more steadfast in seeing through to its conclusion ever since the letter Mr. Neidig sent me in 2012 that sought to discredit me for that artwork. I have tried everything I can to settle this matter between us without having to seek out legal recourse. I simply want them to acknowledge publicly that the artwork is mine.
The proposal to give me that recognition in the form of a display detailing the history of the Central bear mascot was their idea to resolve things. I had already informed them that such recognition could be as simple as placing a framed document on the wall at Central with my bear drawing in it, crediting me for my work. Obviously, the EVSC has decided a display would benefit their interests more in some fashion, and as long as I get the credit for my art I have told them I am fine with that.
But, I do expect the EVSC to, you know, actually, truly, really go through with it. I also think it's more than generous enough to expect the display to be finished within five months time.
I remain hopeful that the next blog entry I make on this subject will be to announce the completion AND unveiling of the display. One thing is certain, until that happens, my cause will continue.
At the end of the 1987 school year, Evansville Central High school teacher David Koehler approached me to ask if I would want to take part in some sort of contest to draw a version of the Central Bear mascot. The drawing was to be based on the painted mural that had been hanging in the school gymnasium the past couple of years prior. I agreed and drew the bear and handed the drawing over to Mr. Koehler. The school year ended, I graduated from Central, and I never heard another word from Mr. Koehler or the school about the drawing or the status of the contest.
At the end of the 1989 school year, my younger brother was set to graduate Central. My parents had ordered graduation invitations from the school and that is when I first saw that my drawing of the Central bear was being used. I was somewhat taken aback that there had been no word to me from the school about its use, and I did not receive any acknowledgment or credit as being the artist of the drawing the school used.
As the years passed, I noticed more and more that my drawing was being used by Central for several different purposes. The image appeared in newspaper articles relating to Central High school, both sports related and academic. The class of 1996 donated a street sign bearing my drawing of the bear which faced First Avenue for years before being replaced and located to a ball field or other area on school property.
This street sign donated by the class of 1996 features my artwork of the Central bear. It faced First Avenue in Evansville, Indiana in the front of the school for many years before being replaced.
Many people I know would tell me that I should approach the school and ask about receiving credit for the use of my artwork, but I feared that the endeavor would prove futile. I just figured that if the school was going to be decent enough to give me some sort of acknowledgement for my work it would have happened all ready. The teacher who commissioned me to draw the bear, Mr. Koehler, had since passed away. It wasn't until the matter of the bear drawing was brought up on my Facebook page in 2012 that I decided to see what could be done about getting some credit for my work.
A former teacher of mine from the high school, Jim Wootton, since retired from teaching, saw comments about the drawing on my Facebook page. He wrote to me in a message telling me, "I do remember when you drew this."
Mr. Wootton offered to contact some people at the school on my behalf about getting some sort of recognition for my art. He sent a letter to Darla Hoover, principal of Central High, in May of 2012.
Wootton wrote to Hoover, "...I think Central owes Matt an apology and an ongoing acknowledgment."
"...I remember when he did this and had no idea until now of the injustice."
As far as I knew, there was no further conversation on the matter. Months went by until October of 2012 when Mr. Wootton messaged me again through Facebook and informed me that he took the initiative and contacted Central again for a follow-up on the credit situation. He received a reply from school secretary, Sue Mattingly, who wrote to him that she had brought it to the attention of Paul Neidig, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Central High principal, Darla Hoover.
The response from Neidig and Hoover said that they supposedly had discovered that the bear in question appeared in yearbooks prior to when I had said I had drawn the bear. This was not possible, and I stated as much in a response I wrote and sent to the concerned parties at Central and the Evansville Vanderburgh School system.
In my letter I went over the history much as I have here. I strongly disputed the claim made by Neidig and Hoover that the bear drawing -- My drawing -- had appeared in yearbooks prior to the year I said I had drawn the bear.
In reaction to this, I did my own research. I did not need any proof for myself, naturally, that I had drawn the bear in question, but I wanted to see what other representation of a bear was used in a yearbook prior to my contribution. I wanted to verify whether or not there actually was a similar-looking drawing that maybe they were thinking about.
The covers to every Evansville-Central High School yearbook from 1909 to 1987, minus 1944, and including the 1908 cover to "The Record" from Evansville High School. The EHS/CHS yearbook began officially in 1909, but was discontinued until 1912 when it resumed publication annually, which continues to this day.
In my research, I only discovered only one bear drawing that came close to resembling my drawing. This bear drawing was on the cover to the 1983 Evansville Central yearbook. To prove my points, I went as far as to create a video that I posted on the website YouTube that examined the issue and showed examples of the use if my drawing, and comparisons to the mural. A person commenting on the video noted that the art from that 1983 yearbook was taken from the publication, "How To Draw Bears" by Joseph Maniscalco, published by Walter Foster.
This was interesting, I thought.
This is the Walter Foster publication which features artwork that Central High of Evansville took and used for its 1983 Yearbook and for the painted mural that hangs in the school gymnasium.
I figured that the school had taken that 1983 yearbook image from some sort of clip-art publication, and now I had some confirmation on its origins. I decided to look up this publication on eBay, which I found and then promptly purchased for my evidence. Sure enough, that exact drawing on the 1983 yearbook cover came from that art book. Even more interesting, though, was that within that art book there was another drawing of a bear that had the same pose as the one on the mural in the school's gymnasium, on which I had based my drawing.
With some cleaning up, removing the other bear heads, for instance, this is the drawing of the bear from the Walter Foster publication that Central High School took and put on its 1983 Yearbook.
The mural was in fact a combination of the body of one bear in that art book, merged with the head from another bear drawing.
From the Walter Foster art book. Central took one part (the body of this bear drawing) and...
...added merged it with the head from another bear drawing in that same publication in order to...
...have someone at the school (sometime around 1984 as far as I can tell) project the Walter Foster merged art and paint the large mural that remains in the Central gymnasium. It is this mural which my drawing was based upon, but my art retained distinct details that differ it from this source.
There was no proof of a bear drawing that even looked exactly like mine ever having been used for a yearbook at Central, and my drawing was not an exact replication of the bear mural, either.
While my drawing was based upon a mural, as per the instruction by Mr. Koehler, my drawing was still distinctive in a number of ways from the actual painting.
My drawing of the Central bear mascot.
And, it is my actual artwork that is being used to this day by Central High school. It continues to be used on official Central High products, items, and signage to this very day.
T-shirts, signage, folder art, student ID cards, website graphics. school vanity plates, and so much more: Central has used and profited from my artwork for three decades without any acknowledgement or credit given to me as the artist.
The above image shows the distinctions between my drawing and the mural. The image Central has used for 30 years is my work and looking over the images here on this blog should make that clear to anyone.
I received a letter from Paul Neidig dated November 13, 2012 in which he wrote:
"We have investigated your claims concerning the Central Bear mascot and find that although you have, in the past while a student, contributed to the mascot's design, the basic 'bear' drawing compilation now in use was in use prior to your contribution. Thanks for your concern."
(Above) Official letter from Paul Neidig. It curiously attempts to continue to discredit me, while unwittingly acknowledging I had contributed to the mascot's design. Since my only contribution was the drawing in question, would that not be an admission that I drew the bear in use? Was this an example of Neidig clumsily attempting "lawyer-speak"?
The details of the investigation by the EVSC and Central were not discussed in any detail. I assume that Central High School must surely still retain the original artwork from which all the various reproductions are made. If that original artwork still exists, and has not been altered, such as to have been cropped or marked up by other persons, then my signature should still be on that piece.
Interestingly, Neidig's comment that, in their findings, I did contribute to "the mascot's design" there is no clarification given as to what that contribution was. If it is not the artwork that is still in use by CHS to this very day, than what exactly did the investigation show as having been my contribution?
That was my contribution: the artwork!
It seems that Neidig thought by using the phrase, "in the past while a student" somehow weakens my argument in some way? In fact, I would suggest that it verifies what I have said all along, and actually strengthens my position. After all, why would the fact that I drew it in the past, as a student, affect my claim? Rather, it points out what I said was true, that I was approached in my senior year as a student at CHS in 1987 by teacher David Koehler to draw the school mascot for what I was told at that time was a contest of some sort.
The comment by Neidig that the basic bear compilation now in use was in use prior to my contribution seems to be some sort of dodge to me. My claim is that the artwork being used on the ball fields, and on jackets, and jerseys, posters, folders, pins, websites for the school, vanity plates, and whatever the school could slap it on, is reproduced from my actual artwork. It is not reproduced from the huge, painted bear mural, nor is it the same artwork that appeared in any yearbook prior to 1987, nor from any other publication.
If Neidig, Hoover, and anyone else from the EVSC or Central High would challenge my claim any further, I would ask that they offer indisputable proof by producing for examination the original artwork of the bear drawing in question and show it to be intact, without any sign of attempts to cover up the signature.
I would also ask for the name of the artist that they might claim did the drawing. Neidig says the matter was investigated, so surely he can offer substantive proof as to who did draw it, if he insists it wasn't drawn my me.
I have heard back from friends who were my classmates at the time I drew the bear, and like Mr. Wootton before them, they also can recall me drawing it. They wonder why is it that Central High and the EVSC would not want to acknowledge the contributions of a former student? They figure that it must surely be that the Central and the school system fear that I would seek some financial recompense.
I frankly cannot accurately answer why I am not only denied my credit, or even worse, why the school has made attempts to actually discredit me. I have made clear in my communication with CHS and the EVSC that I am not making a financial claim, I simply want acknowledgement for my contribution, credit for my artwork.
A friend of mine that currently teaches at Central has told me that my drawing appears all over the school, and that the secretary keeps the original closely guarded like some sacred tome. It pains me, and even somewhat angers me, to think that the school and the EVSC would willingly and deliberately attempt to discredit me.
After one last attempt to appeal to the decency of the people in charge in 2014, I figured that my initial concerns about approaching this matter years ago had indeed been proven to be correct, and that my attempts to get proper credit and recognition would indeed be futile endeavor.
The time of this writing, August of 2016, is the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. It will be the 30th year since I graduated Central High School, and the 30 years since I drew the bear drawing.
Perhaps it was serendipity, or maybe even fate, but this summer I chanced across two items that would further strengthen my claim. These two items I had for some time, but were buried away in the corners of my home. If these items do not serve to make any impact to further my claim and hopefully achieve the recognition I seek, then I don't know much else that will do that job short of some sort of public attention or legal means that would make Central produce for evidence the original artwork itself and settle the matter for once and for all.
The first item I came upon as I was going through old copies of "The Centralian," the high school's newspaper. I did the comic strip for that publication from my sophomore year at the school until my senior year. As far as I know, no other student was on the paper for the length of time, as the usual requirement for being on staff was that a student be in the junior year of school, and enrolled in the journalism class, neither of which applied to me. Anyway...
I was pulling out these old school newspapers, organizing them by date, when I came across an article in the October 10, 1986 edition. The article was titled, "'Bear' is officially adopted." In the article written by staffer Blake Rogers, it is reported that "there is not just one drawing of a bear that would be identifiable as Central's mascot." It is also noted, "This might change shortly."
The October 10, 1986 edition of "The Centralian."
The article goes on to mention that a committee of students and advisers met to agree on choosing depictions of the Central bear, one comical, the other more realistic and fierce-looking. The realistic bear was planned to be used for more formal occasions, while the more comical bear would have been used for "such things as t-shirts and stationary."
Teacher Mr. David Koehler were noted as having "played a big role in the whole project." Other school staff participants mentioned in the article were Mr. Phil Jarke, and Mr. William Asbury. The article concludes, noting that "So far, the committee has decided that the 'tough' bear will be the one exhibited in Gym B."
The article from the October 10, 1986 issue of "The Centralian."
There it was, a smoking gun of sorts for anyone not dodging the blast!
It is apparent that I was approached after this decision, after the article was featured in the school newspaper, but it (pardon the expressions) bears out what I have stated all along.
The very same school year I was approached by David Koehler was the same school year where he was instrumental in the decision to formalize the look for a school mascot, a mascot to be based on the painted mural hanging in the school gymnasium.
When the decision was made to use an official image, Koehler drafted me as a student to take what existed then only as a huge, painted mural and redraw it in a form, in black and white and on paper that could be used to make reproductions for all the various uses that the school had in mind for the drawing. The idea of the more comical bear obviously was dropped, and my artwork based on the bear mural was officially adopted.
Short of a signature, can there be any more solid proof to back my claim?
Well,... there is that other item I mentioned.
You see, years after I had graduated, but also years before Mr. Wootton contacted Central High over the matter, my nephew was going to Central as a student. This was sometime around 2002-2003, or so. Now, my family and friends had all ready been made aware of my unhappiness over the lack of credit for my bear. I would point out how, as far as I knew, I never received any formal acknowledgement or credit for it. That remained true at the time I was visiting with my brother and his children, but there was something I noticed on the folder that my nephew had brought home from school. My bear drawing graced its cover, but more importantly was what I saw at the bottom of the drawing, but the bear's rear paws:
The printing of the scan I took of a pocket folder that I recently rediscovered. It actually has my signature in abbreviated form! The one instance I have been able to find where my signature is not removed. What would Paul Neidig make of this, I wonder?
A signature!
It was an abbreviated signature, but it was indeed my signature. The staff at the school had obviously overlooked it, otherwise it surely would have been removed as it was in every other instance I had seen before or since.
Not an official credit, but this one time my signature escaped notice of the staff and went out to the students. I made a scan on my brother's computer, but at the time I had no other way to take the scan with me other than to print it out, which I did. Over the years, I remembered seeing that folder, but I forgot that I had actually made a scan and printed it out. During the same time I was going through my papers at my home and found that old copy of "The Centralian," I also came upon the scan I had made!
Examples of my signature from the same period surround the abbreviated signature in the illo above.
For anyone who would question the signature, I had searched out artwork I had done for the school as a student from the same period to compare the signatures. The one on that folder was abbreviated, as I mentioned, but it clearly was my signature, and the corresponding letters in the signature match with the way I wrote my name during the same time frame.
So, in light of these recent discoveries backed with comments from former teachers, students, and other evidence that I did indeed draw the bear in question, will Central High School and the Evansville Vanderburgh School System finally do the right thing and give me the proper and official acknowledgement and credit I deserve?
Shouldn't there be some accountability when the school and the EVSC actively seek to continuously discredit me?
Is it not fair to ask that they also back up with evidence their own counter-claim argument?
Thirty years.
Three long decades!
I ask Evansville's Central High School, and I ask the EVSC, to at long last show some decency, to exhibit some honor, to display some integrity, and give me my proper credit for my artwork which has served that school well, so very, very well, for so many, many years.
It's blatantly obvious that my art has done so very much for the school, what with all that has been made from my art for three decades now. Central High and the EVSC might even want to consider offering some small apology for denying me credit for what is my artwork. It should never had had to gone this far.
Video response made back in 2012 to Paul Neidig's letter. This was before I came across the article in "The Centralian" newspaper and the folder which shows my abbreviated signature. Posted here for posterity and reference.
