Daily Freeman news in Kingston NY 7/13/09
Replica of Hudson’s ship STOLEN from sculpture
By ROSEMARY SHARPEFreeman intern
The 18-inch-high replica of Henry Hudson’s ship the Half Moon shown at lower right in this photo was stolen from the sculpture, called ‘Henry Hudson and the Half Moon,’ sometime last week in Kingston’s Rotary Park. Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo
KINGSTON — The Half Moon is missing.Not Henry Hudson’s original ship, but an 18-inch-high metal replica of the vessel that was part of a sculpture at an outdoor exhibit in Kingston.People overseeing the Kingston Sculpture Biennial — which includes works at Kingston Point, Rotary Park and Hasbrouck Park — noticed last week that the Half Moon was missing from a 10-foot-high sculpture in Rotary Park called “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon.” The work was created by miChelle Vara to commemorate this year’s 400th anniversary of Hudson’s 1609 voyage up the river that now bears his name.Rotary Park is near the river’s edge.Vara said by telephone on Saturday that she’s upset visitors to the park won’t be able to see her entire piece, which took more than a year to create. She also said removing the ship from the sculpture couldn’t have been easy because it was double-netted to the rest of the work with a weld. Whoever took the ship must have had a plan and tools, she said.Vara said she did extensive research on Hudson’s life while deciding how to honor the explorer. She made Hudson himself out of various recycled materials, including a bicycle wheel, to represent his being a combination of several elements, she said.The sculpture depicts Hudson looking down at his ship on a map, with a hole in the map to symbolize the unknown.Vara said the life of Hudson parallels the life of an artist in many ways because people don’t always support artists or understand their goals, and they work in the unknown.Vara also noted the ironic historical significance of the ship being separated from Hudson and the rest of the sculpture: Hudson never was heard from again after his crew mutinied and threw him off the Half Moon, and now the sculpted Hudson and Half Moon have been separated.“History repeated itself,” Vara said.She said she hopes to build a new ship and make it sturdier than the missing one.And now, she said, whenever she creates a piece for public display, she’ll have to worry about vandalism, and that “takes away from the freedom of showing something easily and whimsically.”Vindora Wixom, executive director of the Arts Society of Kingston, which sponsors the sculpture biennial, called the vandalism of Vara’s piece “a shame” and said she is disappointed that the public now is deprived of seeing this piece it in its entirety.Wixom hopes the incident will raise public awareness about the importance of art and its continuing cultural purpose. She also believes it will serve as a motivation to never stop making and supporting art.The damage to “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon” was not the first incidence of vandalism associated with this year’s sculpture exhibit: A piece by Michael Ciccone called “Washed Ashore,” also in Rotary Park, was bent 90 degrees, and Ciccone had to come fix the work, said Meagan Gallagher, the exhibit’s curator; and a piece in the same park called “Buttercups,” by Randy Polumbo, which includes lights made from blue baby bottles in the shape of a buttercup, was missing one of the bottles around the same time the Half Moon went missing.Gallagher said city police have been notified about the vandalism, and Vara said she is offering a reward for information about the damage to her sculpture.
Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of DailyFreeman.com.
esopusdave wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:00 AM:
” Potential copycat criminals should be aware of two things: There have been security cameras installed at the sites, and the cost of buying one of these sculptures is far less than the fine – including legal fees and jail time. Enjoy, not destroy! “
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catsuny wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:45 AM:
” SHAME..unfortunately society must go with the cameras and lots of em…people today have no respect no self worth nothing and it is a doggy dog world If this person is caught jail isnt gonna do hit his pocket and dont let it go till hes PAID WELL “
The 18-inch-high replica of Henry Hudson’s ship the Half Moon shown at lower right in this photo was stolen from the sculpture, called ‘Henry Hudson and the Half Moon,’ sometime last week in Kingston’s Rotary Park. Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo
KINGSTON — The Half Moon is missing.Not Henry Hudson’s original ship, but an 18-inch-high metal replica of the vessel that was part of a sculpture at an outdoor exhibit in Kingston.People overseeing the Kingston Sculpture Biennial — which includes works at Kingston Point, Rotary Park and Hasbrouck Park — noticed last week that the Half Moon was missing from a 10-foot-high sculpture in Rotary Park called “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon.” The work was created by miChelle Vara to commemorate this year’s 400th anniversary of Hudson’s 1609 voyage up the river that now bears his name.Rotary Park is near the river’s edge.Vara said by telephone on Saturday that she’s upset visitors to the park won’t be able to see her entire piece, which took more than a year to create. She also said removing the ship from the sculpture couldn’t have been easy because it was double-netted to the rest of the work with a weld. Whoever took the ship must have had a plan and tools, she said.Vara said she did extensive research on Hudson’s life while deciding how to honor the explorer. She made Hudson himself out of various recycled materials, including a bicycle wheel, to represent his being a combination of several elements, she said.The sculpture depicts Hudson looking down at his ship on a map, with a hole in the map to symbolize the unknown.Vara said the life of Hudson parallels the life of an artist in many ways because people don’t always support artists or understand their goals, and they work in the unknown.Vara also noted the ironic historical significance of the ship being separated from Hudson and the rest of the sculpture: Hudson never was heard from again after his crew mutinied and threw him off the Half Moon, and now the sculpted Hudson and Half Moon have been separated.“History repeated itself,” Vara said.She said she hopes to build a new ship and make it sturdier than the missing one.And now, she said, whenever she creates a piece for public display, she’ll have to worry about vandalism, and that “takes away from the freedom of showing something easily and whimsically.”Vindora Wixom, executive director of the Arts Society of Kingston, which sponsors the sculpture biennial, called the vandalism of Vara’s piece “a shame” and said she is disappointed that the public now is deprived of seeing this piece it in its entirety.Wixom hopes the incident will raise public awareness about the importance of art and its continuing cultural purpose. She also believes it will serve as a motivation to never stop making and supporting art.The damage to “Henry Hudson and the Half Moon” was not the first incidence of vandalism associated with this year’s sculpture exhibit: A piece by Michael Ciccone called “Washed Ashore,” also in Rotary Park, was bent 90 degrees, and Ciccone had to come fix the work, said Meagan Gallagher, the exhibit’s curator; and a piece in the same park called “Buttercups,” by Randy Polumbo, which includes lights made from blue baby bottles in the shape of a buttercup, was missing one of the bottles around the same time the Half Moon went missing.Gallagher said city police have been notified about the vandalism, and Vara said she is offering a reward for information about the damage to her sculpture.
Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of DailyFreeman.com.
esopusdave wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:00 AM:
” Potential copycat criminals should be aware of two things: There have been security cameras installed at the sites, and the cost of buying one of these sculptures is far less than the fine – including legal fees and jail time. Enjoy, not destroy! “
Report Abuse
catsuny wrote on Jul 12, 2009 9:45 AM:
” SHAME..unfortunately society must go with the cameras and lots of em…people today have no respect no self worth nothing and it is a doggy dog world If this person is caught jail isnt gonna do hit his pocket and dont let it go till hes PAID WELL “