Vandals Ransack Sculpture Residency in Upstate New York

hyperallergic.com ^ | August 28, 2022 | Elaine Velie

[lowbridge]

Sculpture Space, a residency program for sculptors in Utica, New York, was ransacked and severely damaged by vandals in the early hours of Sunday, August 28. The Utica Police Department told Hyperallergic that an investigation is ongoing. The motive for the attack remains unclear.

Several donated pieces of artwork for an upcoming charity auction were damaged or destroyed in the raid, Sculpture Space said in a Facebook statement today.

The 44-year-old organization provides up to 25 artists-in-residence annually with housing, studio space, and equipment. The damage to the arts center, located in an old industrial plant, is extensive.

According to Sculpture Space, the vandals used materials they found inside the studios — including paint, sledgehammers, and torches — to smash windows, wreck the office (which included computers and archival documents), destroy kitchen equipment, flood the bathrooms and hallways, and destroy furniture, lighting fixtures, and video technology. The vandals also stole the artists’ bicycles, according to the statement. Sculpture Space has not yet returned Hyperallergic’s request for comment.

[Vermont Lt]

Not usually. My daughter has done a couple such residency gigs.

No government money was involved. They had to work at the co-op doing classes or manning the “store.” That was in exchange for studio space and gallery space.

You would be surprised at the places that do residencies; her husband had one at the Kholer plant for his metal work. Corning glass does them for glass blowers.

The Art world is a little ecosystem unto itself.

[Chode]

Sculpture Space counts ***New York’s Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts***

that’s taxpayer money...

the corning program is most likely funded by corning

[Dat]

The Vandals smash and grab, but the Ostrogoths play for keeps.