Artists report theft after gallery closes

Tacoma artist Kristin Vermeer is missing 52 pieces of art – more than $7,000 worth – that she had displayed in a Coeur d’Alene art gallery that’s no longer in business.

Vermeer and two other artists have filed theft reports with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department alleging the owners of the Eclectic Artisan’s Gallery closed up shop and took the artists’ wares with them. The gallery was located at 211 E. Coeur d’Alene Ave.

Since learning the shop closed around the first of the year, Vermeer said she hasn’t been able to reach owners Carol Eagle and Maria Mills.

“I’m a divorced mom with a mortgage payment, and this is how I make a living,” said Vermeer, a Sandpoint native. “This really comes as a blow.”

Eagle and Mills could not be reached for comment Thursday. The phone number for the gallery is disconnected.

Vermeer said she learned of the gallery from her brother, who was working across the street from the shop and told her it looked like a “nice spot.”

The artist met with Eagle and said she agreed with her brother. “It was a very quality shop,” Vermeer said. “I liked her a lot.”

She delivered her art to the gallery in August with the agreement that Eagle would receive a 30 percent commission on sales. A few months later, Vermeer got a call from her brother.

“He said it looked like she was packing up shop,” Vermeer said. She said she tried calling Eagle, with no luck. Her brother went to Eagle’s home, she said, but got no answer at the door.

Vermeer, who does paintings and fused glass work with a hieroglyphics motif, said she never received a dime from Eagle. She said she called Eagle on occasion to see how her artwork was selling, and Eagle replied that nothing had sold.

“It’s unusual because my work sells fairly well,” Vermeer said.

Two other artists, Crystal Strobl and Sue Palm, whose addresses weren’t listed in the police report, also reported thefts of their artwork that had been for sale at the gallery. Strobl hasn’t yet provided police with an inventory, but Palm reported nearly $2,000 in wood turnings, including candlesticks and bowls, as stolen.

Palm told police she paid Eagle $25 a month to have her art displayed at the shop and also agreed to pay a 20 percent commission. She told police she received $18 in sales in the 10 months her art was at the shop.

Anyone with information on the missing artwork is asked to call the Coeur d’Alene police tip line at (208) 769-2296.