Art of the Courthouse 2:
Nine Sketches from Week 2, I’m Saturated By Art and Humanity
As I offered Counter Arts readers a week ago — here — I am a sketch artist at work in the federal trial, U.S. v. Thao, et al. All three defendants are under criminal scrutiny in the district court in downtown St. Paul (MN). The trial commenced on Monday, January 24, 2022.
For much of the week jurors (and correspondents like me) were given testimony from witnesses. The prosecution team starts, then the defense has its turn, with this alternating all day. Besides testimony the jury was offered videography aplenty.
Over two weeks, during my media-room sketching from cable TV, I would take breaks and walk the ground floor with a 4 x 6 inch sketchbook. My purpose was to gather quick visual impressions via what I call my court-house art. I draw with outline shapes in graphite, adding color notations so I may finish them back in my studio.
Figures 1 — 3, sketches of ground floor venues (from my week 1 sketchbook)
I gained a media-seat to make sketches inside the courtroom the afternoons of January 27th and 28th. Sketches from those two days are noteworthy for me as they mark memories of the testimony that I heard as background narrative but of course had no time to type notes about, hence they were too — fleeting. All told I was oversaturated with imagery, words, and proximity to other gallery attendees.
The courtroom felt crowded to me. Others attending the trial that I spoke with did not seem to share that perception. Some commented that they have been present at many trials, suggesting to me that one eventually judges it “routine.” Not me: I was stunned. Perhaps my perception was the density I experienced, that of so much humanity — with variety — infusing the space: around me were folks with skills, brainpower, high stakes, emotions, families of both prosecution and defense witnessing testimony, etc.
Courtroom art I’ve seen over the years on news sources and social media featured nice, clean tables, spaced out comfortably. That’s not courtroom 7D. A few tables looked slightly messy and cluttered. That said, the gallery viewing benches were clean, with tissue and hand spray in abundance. All benches are hardwood and had placards that mark where attendees sit, with obligatory and precisely measured social distancing. Media correspondents and yours truly were seated at the rearmost, along one bench. I asked myself, “Wait, am in church?”
In 7D a U.S. Marshal sat to my immediate right. I introduced myself and told him I was an artist but used “analog media,” art-objects not iPads: my art supplies may clatter a little as I rummage my metal trays of pastels/pencils, erasers, etc. Often I make slightly-scratching sounds on my sanded paper. I asked him, “Do courtroom attendees disfavor ‘noises of the artist?’ ” He remarked, “If more than three heads ever swivel to look at you then that’s a problem.”
Much of courtroom art that you see in broadcast news, newspapers, and online is saturated with brown-tones. I’m not sure why. The Burger building is mid-20th century modernist. Public areas are mainly gray and white. 7D does have some warm-toned paneling. The east wall has much brown and ochre that alternates in its vertical wood slats, with attractive visual rhythms. However, I had too little time during that week in 7D to sketch such architectural details.
Figures 4–5, week 2 sketches from inside courtroom 7D
One brief observation this week — from the heart
Court sketching is tough, not just technically. I’m also listening to testimony, something that I cannot simply ignore, being, well, human. Last week I heard body-cam-recordings of four police officers listening to pleas of Mr. George Floyd — “can’t breathe, Mama, …” — not just a few seconds, but for many minutes. Did all three defendants simply abandon their humanity for 10 minutes of their lives? It’s one of many challenges to jurors that they will face by month’s end.
Additional figures 6–9, these were drawn while in front of cable TV
More context: one loose thought
I live in downtown St. Paul so I inquired of my city-councilor by email about concerns that I had about conditions around the courthouse block. As the week (and month) commenced I pondered what might happen if/when protestors or occupiers spill out from the fencing (that had reduced sidewalk width) into traffic. I worried there would be blocking of light rail — accidental or intentional — in the month ahead.
My councilor got a quick — and tightly worded — response from Deputy Chief Murphy of St. Paul Police’s Community Engagement Division by whom I was cc’d…
“Part of the fencing plan includes a public gathering space on Robert between 4th/Kellogg, which is directly in front of the main doors of the federal courthouse. We believe this is a space where individuals can come out and have their voices heard in a safe location. There will be law enforcement and other staff in the area throughout the trial educating individuals on this public gather space location. We routinely respond to “pop-up” events and demonstrations throughout the city and have contingency plans in place if that were to happen.”
It turned out that there’s been little or no “pop-up events” (whew!) west of the Burger Courthouse. This may be in part due to all the below-zero weather and stout winds last week. What happens as we approach the trial’s end remains hard to predict.
What’s next
My weeks of wide-ranging visual exploration of drawing styles, media, and surfaces will likely taper off soon.
While in the courthouse today all correspondents present were told a defendant was diagnosed with Covid. Then Judge Magnuson cancelled the remaining court days this week (February 2–4, 2022) with a call for more testing and assessment, in the hope the trial can restart February 7.
To be continued…
Acknowledgement: Editing assistance courtesy Kathy Heuer. Errors that might remain are mine and mine alone.
J. Kevin Byrne (MA/Minnesota, MFA/Cranbrook, MSc-Cert./Saint Mary’s) is Professor (now Emeritus) at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MN/USA). He has published in print and continues to do so online. Feel free to Link-in to him here.
