Valerie Sklarevsky and Ed Niles are two of Malibu’s visionaries. Last week, there was a confrontation between the activist and the architect. Coming from opposite ends of a development issue, surely one of the most significant for Malibu’s future, I would like to propose that this unfortunate event quickly be switched to a positive track. Here’s an idea.

Valerie, I do not condone your destructive act. However, you accepted responsibility and you offered yourself to arrest. You used the law to bring attention to your cause. You need not apologize for your action, but you should offer to pay for the damage you caused. You have engendered the outrage of many in the community and, in the future, I would suggest that you offer a constructive alternative rather than trashing someone else’s property.

Ed, I hope that you can accept payment from Valerie for $2,500 — or whatever the amount turns out to be — and immediately return it to her that she can pay to have a model or a rendering made (or start a fund to raise more money from supports, if necessary) that can depict her vision of what the area could look like. Further, I would hope that you would display this vision alongside yours, and any others that might be offered. You were off to a good start educating the citizens of Malibu. The more public presentations, such as you have already put on, the better. This is such an important issue that each and every person who lives here should be able to make a choice that will be heard and counted.

Engendering divisiveness among the governed is a classical ploy and should not be used in Malibu. The bias and inability to negotiate compromise of our elected leaders has turned off many talented, hard-working and caring people. Others, sadly, have not yet become involved, although their futures will be significantly impacted by the outcome. Our community is blessed to have the participation of Valerie and Ed. Now they have an opportunity to create a positive, pro-active plan to involve the entire population in the decision making process. Think of yourselves as two professional boxers who have fought it out for 12 or 15 rounds. At the end, you embrace each other out of respect for your opponent’s great effort. In our case, you leave as individual people who honor each other’s ideas, and who can differ on issues but still be good neighbors. Carpe diem.

Dick Lowe

Sculptor and sculpting teacher Robert Cunningham is the creator of a marble bust, or rather a series of busts, on exhibit at the Getty Museum. The model was his father. “They wanted a series, from the beginning to the finished product,” he says, “to demonstrate the marble-carving process.” The works include a 9-inch clay head, a full-sized clay head and three marble busts showing the beginning, middle and final stages of cutting. They are displayed at the information center of the West Pavilion, where 18th and 19th century art is housed.

“I wanted to do a face with character in it and something with clothing. My father always flipped his collar up,” he says. The pieces have much of 18th and 19th century artistry in them.

He worked on them part-time at the Getty and part-time at his studio. At the Getty, he says, “People could watch. Very seldom was there an idle moment. I was talking as I was carving. People would take marble chips with them. Once in a while, I would let people peck at it.

“You worry about it,” he says. “Is it good enough? Is it really finished? Could I do more here?”

Cunningham is presenting an exhibit of his students’ works at his Culver City studio Dec. 5 and 6. He estimates the show will include at least 150 pieces by 50 different sculptors, “all different sizes, all different styles, from kitch to advanced.”

Cunningham also teaches at Santa Monica College, but the exhibit is from his Methods and Materials class and from his Figure Modeling class at his studio. He says the majority of students exhibiting have also exhibited in galleries and shows.

How does one know which to admire, which to buy? “Generally, you’re buying art to enhance your life,” he advises. “If you’re not, you should be. Art as an investment isn’t always a good thing.

“The person may be uninformed or naive,” he continues, “but they still have an initial response. Whether that response is enhanced by education, sensitivity, experience, they still have that initial response.”

People buy “names,” he suggests, because they don’t trust their own judgment.

What is the creative process for a sculpting student? “Most students visualize the piece. They have an idea and they can get it out in some form. Once in a while, they try, for example, to make the letter A and it comes out in a squiggle.”

Even he must find a creative impulse. “Sometimes I’m just pushing clay around,” he says, “just getting the movement. The proportions have no significance to me until after the image starts emerging.”

He enjoys the teaching process. “This has given me an opportunity to learn about people. Otherwise, I would be holed up in a studio.”

Robert Cunningham Sculpture Studio presents the 1998 Sculpture Exhibition, Dec. 5 and 6, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 11847 Teale Street, Culver City.

Telephone: 397-2697;

Website: www.robertcunninghamstudio.com;

E-mail: bcunningham@netwood.net

Now the beaches won’t be crowded,

Nor the Highway running full.

The tides will reach to their extremes,

Because of lunar pull.

The Northwind will be coming soon,

With clear skies most everyday;

And maybe too, the rain is due,

With storm clouds out to play.

We can wear the leather jackets,

And the coats and sweaters too;

And other warm and wooley things,

Hiding in the closet too.

And Nature will be resting —

Nor more fertilizing trees;

But I miss the happy bird songs

And the humming of the Bees.

But it is a time of doing —

Things inside that needs be done;

Perhaps I can catch up on typing,

The past Poems that have come.

And in between these things to do,

I shall walk the empty beach;

And enjoy the special quiet times,

That “Standard Time” will teach.

And yet, I still look forward,

To the long days and short nights;

When Spring returns with “Daylight Time,”

In the middle of the night.

H. Emmett Finch

PARCS President Kristin Reynolds only scratched the surface when she described the recent city-sponsored survey as “very confusing.” The wording of individual questions was incredibly complex and convoluted; as a respondent, I found the vast majority of them difficult (if not impossible) to follow. The survey was apparently designed to explore several key issues which will have a real impact on our community — everything from city parks and recreation to additional development near the Civic Center. Unfortunately, the questionnaire was so poorly conceived, designed, and administered that it undermines the validity of the data.

As the owner of a market research firm, I’m embarrassed to admit that the survey was so difficult that I soon gave up trying to give any real answers: midway through, I started giving the same response over and over again just to get the interviewer off the phone. At least one local resident was reportedly interviewed twice. Unfortunately, in the survey business it’s “garbage in, garbage out” — if you don’t get good data from your respondents, if you present them with a survey they can’t follow, you jeopardize the accuracy of your findings.

If Malibu City Manager Harry Peacock plans to use this survey to determine “how much money people would be willing to spend to solve this problem,” he should be especially careful when he reviews the results. Councilman Harry Barovsky may want to know “how the community feels about acquiring more lands . . .and how they want to go about it,” but the manner in which this survey was conducted may not accurately reflect that.

At the very least, all of the decision makers involved in this project should have someone read the survey aloud to them, to determine for themselves exactly what kind of a survey we 400 respondents were presented with. As Ms. Reynolds aptly states, “It’s different when you read a survey and when you hear it over the phone. It’s a whole different animal.” If anyone involved in this project understood this fact, it certainly didn’t show.

Scott Tallal, president

Advanced Research Services