University police and the UA Museum of Art are keeping their eyes on the campus' many outdoor sculptures after a spate of vandalism has left two pieces of touring artwork damaged in one week.
The sculptures were both part of a national exhibit, "Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place," which is based in Washington, D.C. The UA is one of 10 schools participating.
The first incident involved a green cage-like sculpture by Kendall Buster titled "Garden Snare/Shade House," which was installed along North Park Avenue in front of Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall, 1010 N. Park Ave.
The sculpture measured 19 feet long and comprised a steel frame of more than 100 pieces covered with nylon mesh and staked to the ground.
It was last seen intact on Jan. 6. Sometime over the weekend, the sculpture was uprooted and rolled off a 3-foot wall and onto the sidewalk, where it was found the morning of Jan. 9 by museum employees, University of Arizona Police Department reports stated.
"This is the first case where we've had a report of damaged or moved artwork," said UAPD spokesman Sgt. Eugene Mejia.
Mejia said UAPD had been notified about the exhibition, that other participating schools "had not experienced any problems," and that routine patrols should be adequate security for the artwork.
But later in the week another piece in the exhibition, a 7-foot onion-shaped sculpture fashioned of chain link by John Ruppert titled "Vessel," was found upturned in a similar manner on Friday morning.
"It challenges my faith in the goodness of humanity," said Robert Orser, a fine arts graduate student and employee at the UA Museum of Art who discovered the damage Friday morning while photographing pieces in the exhibition.
"Vessel" had been uprooted and flipped over in a similar fashion to "Garden Snare." While it suffered less damage and was able to be repaired and reinstalled at its original location in front of the Communication building, 1103 E. University Blvd., it was misshapen in a way that could not be easily repaired.
Outdoor works in the exhibition are scheduled to remain on display until April 2, but museum employees are increasingly concerned that further vandalism may force the five remaining outdoor exhibits to be removed.
"I'm worried about all of them," said Richard Schaffer, a curator for the museum who repaired "Vessel." "If this molesting of public property continues, we'll have to take them down, and that's a loss for everybody."
Another piece by John Ruppert, consisting of several large metal pumpkins, was originally going to be displayed outside of Old Main, but concerns about damages inflicted by students led to it being displayed in the Joseph Gross Gallery with the other indoor pieces.
"After some conversation we decided that those pumpkins were just too tempting," Schaffer said. "We hoped that the other pieces would be too large to be disturbed, but I guess we were wrong."
Schaffer said that he has asked UAPD to patrol the works more frequently since the second incident, but that he understands the challenges faced by a limited force patrolling a large campus.
Mejia said that following the second incident, UAPD will be studying to "see if there is a pattern to the damage and develop an assignment on how to address the issue," but that in cases like this, UAPD relies heavily on the eyes and ears of the campus community to help locate those responsible.
Lisa Fischman, chief curator at the museum, said that the artists have been notified about the damage, but the UA is not sure how the artists are going to handle the issue of compensation.
Any claims made by the artist will be handled by the UA's insurance, which is managed through the state. Fischman did not wish to disclose the monetary value of the pieces, but said that the cost of damages to the state could be in the tens of thousands.
"The 'Garden Snare' has lost its integrity as a piece of art," Fischman said, adding that the piece has since been withdrawn from the exhibition and is now in off-site storage awaiting shipment back to the artist.
"It's beyond salvagability," Fischman said.
The museum is offering a cash reward for accurate information that helps identify the vandals. Anyone with such information is encouraged to contact the UA Museum of Art (621-7567) or UAPD (621-UAPD).