Brevard artist says painting 'educational' after library calls it inappropriate, removes it

John Cielukowski hung his veganism-inspired painting on the wall of Cocoa’s library, among dozens of other pieces of art, on Sept. 21.

Just four days later, he received a call from the library’s director saying it couldn’t be displayed because it was inappropriate.

By that afternoon, the painting was sitting on the floor of an office, turned away from the door.

Cielukowski, who is part of the Central Brevard Art Association — a group that regularly hangs paintings in public buildings, including Cocoa’s library — said he was never told specifically what was inappropriate about the painting, "A Mother's Love."

The painting, originally displayed in an area near the children's section, depicts a cow and her calf separated, with a blue background and a heart above the mother's head. Above the calf is a stark message reflecting the 65-year-old's stance as a decades-long vegan:

"She was torn away from her mom shortly after birth, never to see her again. They cried for each other for days. Unfortunately, she will suffer the same fate as her mom, continually raped and impregnated to produce milk, only to be killed in a few years, when she can no longer stand or produce. Her brother’s fate was far worse, stolen and sold to the veal industry he was kept in isolation for 3 months, then killed … a mere baby. A mother’s love is no less in the animal kingdom."

“I asked … ‘What is so offensive about the painting?’” Cielukowski said. “(The library director) never told me, ‘Well, this is actually what is the offensive part of it.’”

Wendi Bost, director of Brevard County Library Services, backed the decision to take down the painting, saying it was not appropriate for all ages.

"I am unsure if you have seen this piece but it has a narrative as part of the painting," she said in an email statement to FLORIDA TODAY.

By Sept. 29, Cielukowski was standing in the library parking lot with the painting, ready to load it into his vehicle.

“I feel like I’m fighting a fight that needs to be fought,” he said. “It’s not even especially for the content — it’s just that truth should not be suppressed, no matter what truth it is.”

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What does or doesn’t belong in libraries — particularly in schools — has been a topic of debate for the past several years, with PEN American recently reporting that more than 40% of the nation's book bans took place in Florida during the 2022-2023 school year.

In Brevard, three Rupi Kaur books of poetry were pulled from Brevard Public Schools library and classroom shelves in June, when a review committee decided they were inappropriate due to their artwork and discussions related to topics such as sex, rape and abuse. A number of other books were pulled following a board meeting where parents read passages containing sexual content, though the district has not said the exact number of books pulled and which specific titles.

Dozens of other books have been removed from shelves in Brevard school libraries and classrooms until they can be reviewed by the committee, which is on pause indefinitely.

While the battle over books so far has been mostly contained to schools, Cielukowski said having his painting removed from a public library reinforced fears he'd already felt related to freedom of speech.

“Me personally, I don’t like being censored,” said Cielukowski, who made his first art sale at Cocoa's library. “Slowly but (surely), they just keep encroaching upon freedom in the arts and in education. And that just really, really makes me angry.”

An important message or an inappropriate topic?

"A Mother's Love" originally hung in an area near the children's section where the wall is filled with paintings depicting everything from sea birds and roosters to seasonal landscapes. Cielukowski offered to move it to another area of the building, but said he was told by Julie Ventura, director of the library, that it would not be appropriate anywhere in the library.

Ventura did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.

Cielukowski said the painting — which won third place in 2017 at the Central Brevard Art Association Cape Canaveral art show — was a good conversation starter.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about the painting,” he said.

“If anything, it’s educational. It’s not a PETA kind of thing, where you have an animal head hanging on a hook or anything. It’s very appropriate for children, because I think it’s educational, and like I said, it makes people stop and think.”

Bost disagreed, bringing up that members of the Central Brevard Art Association must keep their art appropriate for all ages.

It’s true that the Central Brevard Art Association’s form artists sign when they hang a piece in public states that all art “should be suitable and proper for all ages and audiences,” but Cielukowski said the only hard and fast rule is that art cannot contain nudity.

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Bost said Peggy Nolan, Central Brevard Art Association's president, agreed that this painting was inappropriate for the library.

Nolan did not respond to a request for comment.

How an individual interprets art will vary from person to person, said Cocoa Beach artist Michael Moffett, who has faced controversy of his own over the years.

“When you’re looking at an artist’s work, you’re the one who brings all the information to the artwork,” he said. “A child will look at it totally in a more innocent (way) than an adult. Adults can have a back history of — it could be abuse, it could be a history of being at war, it can be a history of crazy family story, it’s just all these things, and it triggers something, and their response is going to be based on all that information.”

Censorship in Brevard: What libraries can and can't do

Censorship isn’t new to Brevard’s libraries. In May 2012, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the first title in the bestselling erotic saga by E.L. James, was pulled from all libraries in the county.

Then-library services director Cathy Schweinsberg said the book didn’t meet the county’s selection criteria. She acknowledged that no one had asked for the books to be removed.

“We looked at it, because it’s been called ‘mommy porn’ and ‘soft porn,’” she told FLORIDA TODAY in 2012. “We don’t collect porn.”

The book's removal, which sparked a drive by a Brevard mother and daughter to return it to library shelves and made headlines worldwide, was reversed within a month.

While school libraries have been the battleground for conservative parental rights groups such as Moms for Liberty and Moms for America, those in favor of removing books they believe to be inappropriate have said they believe public libraries should have books for all ages available.

But some have skirted close to the issue. Former "Growing Pains" television star Kirk Cameron joined publisher Brave Books in sponsoring 300 book readings in August around the country, saying in an Instagram post that the event was meant to "bring faith and good moral values back into our public institutions."

The event was posed as an alternative to drag queen story hours and included Cameron and University of Kentucky women's swimmer Riley Gaines, an anti-transgender activist.

Moffett said he knows what it feels like to have your art censored.

He faced backlash in 1980 after sculpting “Fountainhead” for the city of Cocoa — a drinking fountain made of bronze that was cast from four different human models. The sculpture was pronounced "macabre" and banned from the city.

The sculpture was displayed in a museum in Melbourne, then taken on tour before finding its home in Moffett's art studio in Cocoa Beach.

“It worries me a lot,” Moffett said of the incident with Cielukowski, adding that he’s been in similar situations where he’s been turned away from art shows by directors offended by his artwork. “They always use, ‘Oh, I’m doing it for the children, I’m protecting the children.’”

Moffett disputed this argument, saying that ultimately, the removal of books and artwork will harm children's ability to think critically.

“It’s just so anti-intellectual, and when you start challenging people about the reason they don’t like something, they usually don’t have a very good answer,” he said.

According to the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, libraries are to provide resources for the "interest, information and enlightenment" of everyone, and materials shouldn't be removed because of their origin, background or the views of the people creating them.

The bill of rights adds that material and information at a library should present all points of view on current and historical issues and not remove material because of partisan or doctrine disagreements. It also says that libraries should challenge censorship and cooperate with people or groups concerned with "resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas."

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Cielukowski said concerns about book bans and the "rewriting of history," including the teaching of Black history in Florida, are part of why he felt compelled to stand up for his work.

"Kurt Vonnegut was like a lifesaver growing up," he said.

"When I was in high school, it was just like reading his books was just like, ‘Oh, OK, now I get it’ — it was like it opened up a whole new world for me.

"So for someone to turn around and say, ‘You can’t read Kurt Vonnegut,’ or, ‘We’re pulling these books that we haven't even read, but we’ve heard about, we’re pulling them off the shelves …’ That was one of the driving (reasons) why I’ve taken this so far."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard artist decries library's removal of veganism-inspired painting