Canadian university apologizes for asking artist to remove his ‘political’ painting

The Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, part of the University of Prince Edward Island, has apologized to its former artist-in-residence, after he stepped away from the position over a dispute with one of his paintings.

Christopher Griffin had resigned from the unpaid position this week after the AVC asked him to remove one of his paintings from the campus or leave his residency, which he had taken up in November after moving to Prince Edward Island from Ottawa.

The painting, The Crossing, bears a resemblance to Washington Crossing the Delaware, an 1851 oil painting by Emanuel Leutze that depicts General George Washington with the Continental Army on the night of Dec. 25, 1776, during the Revolutionary War. However, instead of soldiers, the boat in Griffin’s version contains 10 lemmings.

“A couple of American faculty members had expressed concern that the painting had a political meaning,” Griffin wrote in a Facebook post, before announcing his resignation. The CBC reported that the college said they received three complaints, of which two were from American members of the faculty.

Yesterday in an email to National Post the college said: “The University of Prince Edward Island recognizes the importance of balancing freedom of expression and a supportive learning environment, and that learning can sometimes be uncomfortable. UPEI reaffirms its commitment to free expression, critical thinking, and public dialogue.”

This morning it released a second statement: “The Atlantic Veterinary College acknowledges that asking the artist Christopher Griffin to choose between taking down his painting or leaving his residency was a mistake. The decision did not reflect our institutional values, and we regret the hurt and frustration it caused. Art plays an essential role in education and public life — it challenges us, encourages dialogue, and fosters understanding. We fell short of our responsibility to protect that role.”

Griffin told National Post the apology came as a pleasant surprise when he awoke to it this morning.

“They extended an olive branch and an apology and that’s really all I could ask for,” he said. “That’s tough to do and I’m happy they took that step.”

He was astonished the news of the story had spread across the country, with coverage in Winnipeg, Lethbridge Alberta, CTV News, CBC and elsewhere. “I thought it might make the local Charlottetown news,” he said. “I had no idea it would spread beyond P.E.I., that’s for sure.”

He added: “The reactions and the support from Canadians across the country has … really reinforced my belief that we actually are a strong country and we will survive. So that’s a good thing.”

Griffin’s work has often featured animals, but his focus began to change after Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president in January.

“When my country was threatened by the government of the United States of America … I felt like I had to do something. I had to react,” he recently told CBC News. “My role as an artist is to communicate, so I came up with the concept of creating a body of work based on our national anthem.”

Those works included a polar bear, titled Strong and Free, and an elephant sporting a tiny Canadian flag. Griffin also recently posted to his Facebook page a “Made in Canada” logo he created for the Dominion Skate Company in Brampton, Ont., as a college student in 1987. It reads: “Canadian to the Core.”

He noted that other artworks have also taken inspiration from the same painting, including Shimomura Crossing the Delaware by Roger Shimomura, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian, and George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook, 1975, by Robert Colescott.

On the reason for the lemmings, he explained: “Lemmings are mythologized as participating in mass suicide by jumping over a cliff or into water. I felt this was an appropriate symbol to use in my painting to express my bewilderment at the self-destructive behaviour of the government to our south. However, I took great care to not create cartoonish or buffoonish creatures. I wished for them to have a dignity and a solemnity, because I care about them, and I do not wish them ill.”

He noted that the lemmings in his painting have the option to land on the other shore or turn around before it’s too late. He also pointed out that the myth of them as creatures bent solely on self-destruction is just that. “It’s not true.”

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