Artists upset by vandalism
A day after a little astronaut guy gracing the rump of her moose statue was snapped off at the ankles by vandals, Jennifer Riggs is ready to transform her art piece: Get ready for Second Man on the Moose.
“Hopefully Buzz Aldrin will arrive tomorrow,” Riggs joked from her California home Tuesday. “And my dad will go cement him down.” She is mailing a second astronaut figure to replace one stolen Monday by vandals.
When local artist Marcia Ryan heard about the damage to Riggs’ moose, “I got sick to my stomach. I got dressed and I went downtown to check my moose because it’s right next to hers.”
Ryan, who described herself as “New York Italian” said if she catches a vandal, “I’d start at his kneecaps.” Whether she goes up or down from there, Ryan said, would depend on the egregiousness of the vandalism. She finds herself swinging past her moose more often than before and plans to baby-sit it during the Fourth of July.
Artists involved in Coeur d’Alene’s No Moose Left Behind project, in which 26 vibrantly transformed Fiberglas moose have been scattered around the city, expressed a variety of reactions to the damage and theft that the moose have endured since their public unveiling two weeks ago. The artists also expressed a variety of creative approaches to punishment if vandals are caught.
Artist George Flett, a member of the Spokane Tribe, recounted his sense of cultural connection and the immediacy of history as he painted his moose Gathering Water Potatoes Along Lake Coeur d’Alene. The project reminded him of the rituals and roots and plant knowledge that helped indigenous peoples here survive the winters. And he guessed other artists involved experienced a similar sense of connection to their place in the world and their place in life as they chose themes for their moose.
Riggs, for example, said she has always wanted to be an astronaut and saw her moose as a canvas for exploring not only her sense of humor, but also her passion for space. Other artists, both native and newcomer, used the moose to express their sense of wonder at the beauty here. Many of the statues are tattooed with salmon, osprey or entire conifer forests.
“I guess, as artists, we try to do things that tie into our own backgrounds, culturally or personally, that give people some knowledge of what kind of people we are,” Flett said.
He was thoughtful and measured Tuesday evening in his Wellpinit-area studio as he considered the question of punishment. His suggestion went to the core of art: It would be interesting to see, he said, what the vandals would do “if they themselves had a moose they were supposed to paint and put out right smack in the middle of town and we would get an idea of what was happening in their own minds.”
Coeur d’Alene police report five instances of vandalism to moose. Flett’s piece was one of two knocked over the first weekend they were on display. It suffered a shattered ankle where the Fiberglas body attaches to a concrete base.
The other moose damaged that night, Matilda, by Spokane County artist Stephen Strickland, was repaired, set back out and promptly hurled over again.
“I’m not sure why mine was attacked twice,” Strickland said. He said he briefly had dark thoughts about hiding in bushes to ambush the vandals.
“I am hurt, of course, but as an artist you finish your work, you hand it over and you have to let some of it go,” Strickland said.
Sometimes that can be difficult, Spokane artist Melissa Cole said. “I did put a lot of work and soul into my moose and you do get attached to them,” said Cole, whose Salmon Mousse is another neighbor to Riggs’ vandalized statue. “I know a lot of people who have enjoyed going around the city looking at the moose. It’s sad certain individuals can wreck that.”
About the same time Matilda was going down a second time, someone sawed or chiseled an entire moose – a Rocky and Bullwinkle-themed piece by Spokane artist Rick Gendron – away from its base, and it hasn’t been seen since. Then came the damage to Riggs’ First Man on the Moose about 2 a.m. Monday.
Police, for the first time, may have a lead. A security guard was able to give a decent description of four young men running away from the cluster of three moose at Second and Sherman downtown, and of their vehicle.
The EXCEL Foundation, which is conducting the summerlong moose exhibit as a fund-raiser for area schools, has offered a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
Riggs said she knew the little astronaut guy would be a target. She didn’t invest the emotional energy into making her own, but found a specialty store that sold astronaut figurines and ordered several.
“I am most surprised that it lasted this long,” she said. And she thought it a hoot that his little space boots are still attached to the moose.
What it comes down to, she said “is you don’t let the threat of vandalism stand in the way of the choices we make.”