Digital Limit
June 15th, 2006, 12:41 PM
Pictures, article, and responses here: Click! (http://savemanny.blogspot.com/2006/06/hs-teacher-ms-hoovers-artistic-nudes.html)
Austin High School Art Teacher Tamara Hoover has shown her students a lot...Including her boobs...and now she may get fired for it...
The Austin School Board voted last night to begin the termination process for Mrs. Hoover. Officials say she should not have appeared topless on-line. She has been on paid leave since May 19th...and this morning on her My-Space account, she defends the pictures as art and not pornography.
That evil empire known as the religious right has struck again. I can't stand the prude ass American's with their antiquated views on sex. This story has been all over the place the last few days and it's being spun to sound that Ms. Hoover was in some sort of porn shoot. I managed to track down the abovementioned photos and what I found is the farthest thing from porn.
Despite the fact her name is Ms. Hoover, this isn't some stud asking the teacher how he can get some extra credit after class. These pictures are done by what looks like a professional photographer and have artistic value. Further these pictures were taken during her free time and have nothing to do with her ability to effectively teach a high school art class. I know the argument will be made that the existence of these photos is a distraction to the student body, preventing her from teaching her class effectively. This however is complete bullshit as I'm sure the kids are just as distracted, if not more, when a young teacher wears a skirt or low cut top.
As not to get all legal on your asses, I won't even get into how this is a blatant violation of her 1st amendment rights...
Check out her MySpace page below I believe she is collecting donations to help her mount a legal battle.
And some responses to the article:
makes me wanna puke, 29 my ass, she looks about 50
that isn't art. i'm glad to see someone with that vision of art isn't being allowed to forcefeed it to her students
nazis!
Nudity is not the end of the world.
your innocent high school children jerk off to worse than this daily.
It is refreshing to see pictures of a naked woman who hasn't been airbrushed to within an inch of her life. And, no I don't think she was forcefeeding her art to her students, this is just something she wanted to create, statements she wanted to make, in her own time.
I agree that they're not pornographic (although the S&M shots are borderline), but artistic value? I think not. They are a lame attempt at art by a h.s. art teacher. You know the saying: "Those who can't, teach."
it's the HUMAN BODY. EVERYONE HAS ONE. why are people so afraid to look at it?
Because we live in an puritanical, facist country!
Who cares how she looks? It's friggin art people! They aren't my style, but who the hell am I to say that it shouldn't be seen?
Manny, thanks for posting these. Seems Danger has taken them down from Flickr.
The rest of you: One thing that you're forgetting is Ms. H did not take these photos, she was modeling for someone else who is an artist. We haven't seen ANY of Ms. H's art, so how can you thrash her (as an artist) like that?
I think it was indiscreet of Celesta Danger to post the photos on a site as public as Flickr, but she surely cleared it with Ms. H.
Is it art? Dunno. I've seen photos of lesser quality go for thousands.
Is it wrong of the school to fire her? I don't think it is. Excessive? Yes. Definitely. She should be reprimanded and suspended for X amount of days without pay with a note in her personal file. But the school *is* within its rights here. I think it sucks that she'll lose her job, though, especially in a town as allegedly progressive as Austin.
Any high profile employee (teacher)of a company (in a school)has a professional responsibility to uphold the image of his or her company (school)in the public eye. Because of Danger, Ms. H was unable to do that.
Artists, too, have a responsiblity to respect their subjects. Danger was wrong to have posted the photos knowing how negatively they could impact her girlfriend.* There are plenty of ways Danger could have used the photographs in other arenas (outside of Flickr) to respectfully express her artistic vision.
*Or maybe she did not know what impact the photos might have? I don't buy that argument, but I have to consider it as a possibility.
Thoughts?
Austin High School Art Teacher Tamara Hoover has shown her students a lot...Including her boobs...and now she may get fired for it...
The Austin School Board voted last night to begin the termination process for Mrs. Hoover. Officials say she should not have appeared topless on-line. She has been on paid leave since May 19th...and this morning on her My-Space account, she defends the pictures as art and not pornography.
That evil empire known as the religious right has struck again. I can't stand the prude ass American's with their antiquated views on sex. This story has been all over the place the last few days and it's being spun to sound that Ms. Hoover was in some sort of porn shoot. I managed to track down the abovementioned photos and what I found is the farthest thing from porn.
Despite the fact her name is Ms. Hoover, this isn't some stud asking the teacher how he can get some extra credit after class. These pictures are done by what looks like a professional photographer and have artistic value. Further these pictures were taken during her free time and have nothing to do with her ability to effectively teach a high school art class. I know the argument will be made that the existence of these photos is a distraction to the student body, preventing her from teaching her class effectively. This however is complete bullshit as I'm sure the kids are just as distracted, if not more, when a young teacher wears a skirt or low cut top.
As not to get all legal on your asses, I won't even get into how this is a blatant violation of her 1st amendment rights...
Check out her MySpace page below I believe she is collecting donations to help her mount a legal battle.
And some responses to the article:
makes me wanna puke, 29 my ass, she looks about 50
that isn't art. i'm glad to see someone with that vision of art isn't being allowed to forcefeed it to her students
nazis!
Nudity is not the end of the world.
your innocent high school children jerk off to worse than this daily.
It is refreshing to see pictures of a naked woman who hasn't been airbrushed to within an inch of her life. And, no I don't think she was forcefeeding her art to her students, this is just something she wanted to create, statements she wanted to make, in her own time.
I agree that they're not pornographic (although the S&M shots are borderline), but artistic value? I think not. They are a lame attempt at art by a h.s. art teacher. You know the saying: "Those who can't, teach."
it's the HUMAN BODY. EVERYONE HAS ONE. why are people so afraid to look at it?
Because we live in an puritanical, facist country!
Who cares how she looks? It's friggin art people! They aren't my style, but who the hell am I to say that it shouldn't be seen?
Manny, thanks for posting these. Seems Danger has taken them down from Flickr.
The rest of you: One thing that you're forgetting is Ms. H did not take these photos, she was modeling for someone else who is an artist. We haven't seen ANY of Ms. H's art, so how can you thrash her (as an artist) like that?
I think it was indiscreet of Celesta Danger to post the photos on a site as public as Flickr, but she surely cleared it with Ms. H.
Is it art? Dunno. I've seen photos of lesser quality go for thousands.
Is it wrong of the school to fire her? I don't think it is. Excessive? Yes. Definitely. She should be reprimanded and suspended for X amount of days without pay with a note in her personal file. But the school *is* within its rights here. I think it sucks that she'll lose her job, though, especially in a town as allegedly progressive as Austin.
Any high profile employee (teacher)of a company (in a school)has a professional responsibility to uphold the image of his or her company (school)in the public eye. Because of Danger, Ms. H was unable to do that.
Artists, too, have a responsiblity to respect their subjects. Danger was wrong to have posted the photos knowing how negatively they could impact her girlfriend.* There are plenty of ways Danger could have used the photographs in other arenas (outside of Flickr) to respectfully express her artistic vision.
*Or maybe she did not know what impact the photos might have? I don't buy that argument, but I have to consider it as a possibility.
Thoughts?