PORTLAND – What was billed as a discussion of public art’s place in society quickly and predictably turned into a renewal of the debate over Gov. Paul LePage’s decision to remove a mural from the state Department of Labor’s headquarters.

About 200 people attended the “Whose Art Is It?” forum Friday at the Portland Museum of Art. The mural’s artist, Judy Taylor, spoke publicly for the first time about the dispute over the state-commissioned piece depicting key moments in Maine’s labor history.

Taylor received a prolonged standing ovation when she was introduced.

But much of the debate was directed toward Ray Richardson, a forum participant who is a conservative co-host of a talk show on WLOB Radio.

Richardson said he found the mural to be pro-labor and “offensive” because it was seen mostly by a “captive audience” of Labor Department employees.

“I think it’s inappropriate in a public building because it’s one-sided,” he said.

LePage had the 36-foot-long mural removed last month and put in storage. He said some business owners had complained that it was hostile to employers.

The mural was installed in 2008. It depicts labor-related scenes and people, including a paper mill strike in Jay, female shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works, and former U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, whose parents were from Maine.

Federal officials said this week that because federal money paid 63 percent of the cost of the artwork, Maine must reimburse the federal Department of Labor about $40,000 or reinstall the mural.

Richardson said he is behind an effort to raise the money to reimburse the federal Department of Labor so that LePage would have more latitude in what to do with the mural.

Also Friday, lawyers asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to force LePage to have the mural re-installed. The lawyers claim that Mainers’ First Amendment rights are being violated because they are unable to see the mural.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock has scheduled a telephone conference on the request for Monday afternoon.

At the museum forum, Taylor said she never considered the piece political and noted that state Department of Labor officials didn’t interfere with or attempt to influence her art.

“I had free rein,” she said. “It was a wonderful commission.”

She said she worked with a labor historian to come up with key points in Maine’s labor history, including strikes, the state’s first Labor Day and child labor laws.

While Taylor may not have seen her piece as political, other participants in the forum said art inherently has a point of view.

“To a certain extent all art is political,” said Mark Bessire, director of the Portland Museum of Art. “And once you enter the public realm, you enter the political realm.”

Richardson said he thinks Taylor’s piece went over the line. “It looks like a bunch of oppressed people,” he said of the figures in the mural.

After several speakers noted that there’s a process to be followed for removing public art — several mentioned the route Portland followed recently to remove the “Tracing the Fore” landscape sculpture in Boothby Square — Richardson agreed that LePage did not follow the normal procedure.

“He could have done this better. He knows it,” Richardson said, adding that he’s sure LePage would have ended up ordering the mural removed.

“If he had (followed a process), we’d still be here arguing about it,” Richardson said.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com