An unknown man stole piece of artwork placed at Class Gate yesterday just before Ohio University administrators instructed the students who created the piece to move it to a different location.
The artwork was a charred cross with a tattered American flag draped over it.
The students who created the piece put it at the gate around 2:45 p.m., and it was taken about 30 minutes later, said Diane DeStefano, a sophomore art major who helped create the piece.
The burnt look of the cross was done purely for aesthetic reasons. It was not meant to be associated with burning crosses, DeStefano said.
The students stressed that they are not discriminatory toward any group of people.
We were taking the two most loaded American icons -- the cross and the American flag -- (and) putting them together in a way that people had never seen
just to make them think DeStefano said.
The placement of the piece violated a university policy that designates specific spaces where groups can plan events said Terry Hogan, dean of students. Other places off-limits include the Howard Hall site, College Gate, Lindley Cultural Center and the front steps of Baker University Center.
We put it in an open space so people could have their full reaction without having to worry about damaging somebody's stuff
said Simon Miller, a sophomore art major and collaborator in the piece's creation.
Neither the students who created the artwork nor the administrators know who stole the piece. Administrators were in the process of discussing where the artwork could be displayed when it was taken, Hogan said.
A young man came along who said it was his
picked it up and put it in his car and drove away with it
he said.
The man was not one of the artists who created the piece, DeStefano said.
He told them that it was an art project and it was his and he was taking it back to the art building
but it wasn't his
she said. (I have) no idea who that guy was.
DeStefano said she and Miller do not intend to file a report with OUPD regarding the piece's theft.
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