Council member speaks out against piece of art that promotes diversity in Pierce County

A Bonney Lake City Council member is uncomfortable with a piece of art hanging in the city’s Justice and Municipal Center.

The artwork is titled “D I V E R S I T Y.” It’s a copy of a painting by Anthony David Gipe. It features nine hands that spell out the word “diversity” in American Sign Language on a colorful background.

At the Aug. 27 City Council meeting, council member Gwendolyn Fullerton brought it up. She spent about 20 minutes discussing the sign. She said it was political and biased – one of the hands in the painting wears a ring that reads “BLM.”

“As I speak right now ... I’m shaking a little bit because this is a very sensitive subject and very polarizing,” Fullerton said at the council meeting.

Fullerton, who was elected in 2021, did not immediately respond to The News Tribune’s request for comment.

Gipe is a member of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission. He also serves as a judge for the Kent Municipal Court. He has a passion for fine arts and painting, according to the Minority and Justice Commission’s website .

The commission focuses on “ensuring that all courts in the state of Washington remain free of bias so that justice might be adjudicated in a neutral and fair manner,” according to its website. It has been around since the 1990s.

Bonney Lake Municipal Court Judge Joanna Daniels said at the council meeting that the city received the artwork as a gift from the commission.

Gipe gave it to Daniels in July. He told The News Tribune Aug. 29 that it was offered to courts not only in the state but also across the U.S. He said almost 100 copies of it are in public spaces around the country.

Many courthouses throughout the state already have the same piece displayed, Daniels said.

Daniels started working for the city in 2021.

“We look at it as a piece of art and something that supports … everyone in the community, not as a negative or divisive political statement,” Daniels said at the council meeting.

When asked if the court’s new artwork would be taken down at some point, Daniels told The News Tribune Aug. 29 she does not know.

The artwork is still hanging in the lobby as of Aug. 29. It was originally hung in the courtroom.

“It’s a beautiful piece of art,” Daniels said.

Bonney Lake Mayor Terry Carter told The News Tribune Aug. 29 that the city relocated the artwork from the courtroom to the lobby of the Justice and Municipal Center per the city’s art policy. Discussions regarding the policy are ongoing, he said.

The city’s administrative policy on art displays states that art is allowed in the lobby of the Justice and Municipal Center.

At the City Council meeting, Fullerton referred to the city’s administrative policy on political activity and said the “sign” violates that. The political activity policy states that city employees may not display or distribute election materials on any city-owned property.

The political activity policy does not say anything about artwork, and it does not say artwork counts as election material.

“Just the word, also, brings about stress,” Fullerton said at one point during the meeting.

“You mean the word ‘diversity’?” Daniels asked.

“Yes,” Fullerton said.

Fullerton also said at the council meeting that the art creates a “hostile work environment.”

“It’s the ring that one of the letters is wearing that is, in my mind, a hate group,” Fullerton said at the council meeting.

BLM, also known as Black Lives Matter , aims to fight institutional injustice. It highlights racism, discrimination and inequality experienced by Black people. It was founded in 2013.

“I feel like it doesn’t go with the sentiments of the city,” Fullerton said at the meeting. “Any artwork or signs that we post – we need to make sure that it is content neutral. It needs to not have something that can be construed as political, polarizing or divisive.”

Daniels wrote in an email to The News Tribune Aug. 30 that she was “completely unaware” that there was any issue with the artwork until she was sitting in the Aug. 27 City Council meeting.

“I was completely surprised and had no idea I would be called on that evening to defend the location of this piece of art and the fact that it is a piece of art hung in that location to welcome all that visit this building to conduct their business with the city and the court,” Daniels said.

Gipe told The News Tribune Aug. 29 that he created the artwork in 2018 before he became a judge. It expresses diversity and inclusion, and he said it was designed to bring people together.

“I’ve never heard anyone express that belief about it,” Gipe said, referring to Fullerton’s thoughts about his artwork. “Inclusion is for everyone even if we don’t agree with them.”

Bonney Lake community court funding paid for the frame. Daniels said at the council meeting that the artwork went along with the concept of community court as it supports the concept of inclusiveness.

Daniels also wrote in her email Aug. 30 that the painting encourages sobriety and is a form of sober support for court participants.

The News Tribune reported in 2022 that the city got a $395,293 grant from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts to start providing therapeutic court services for those with substance use disorders or behavioral health needs, and that the new program would be run similarly to other community courts in places like Spokane and Olympia.

“Statistics nationwide show that the recidivism rate is quite low for people that have actually successfully completed the therapeutic court program,” Daniels told The News Tribune at the time.

Those in Bonney Lake Municipal Court are there for misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor cases in Bonney Lake, Eatonville, South Prairie or Sumner.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include additional comments from Bonney Lake Municipal Court Judge Joanna Daniels.

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