Vandalism Friday night devastated the work of student artists in the sculpture, architecture and painting studios of Clement Hall, as well as the Hopkins Center's print-making shop and the new AREA gallery space at the Top of the Hop.
The person or persons responsible appeared to systematically target studio art interns and senior majors, using yellow spray and oil paint to deface most works in sight.
The graffiti on individual pieces was often slight, but care was taken to hit every piece. Only projects and objects used by the artists were targeted; the facilities themselves were not damaged.
Other paintings were taken out of their portfolios and ripped in half; in one studio, a framed piece lay smashed atop torn paintings. Many other works were stolen.
"Some places it's clean," Professor Brenda Garand said of parts of the studios. "That's because everything is missing."
The Hanover Police Department closed off the building midday Saturday to dust for fingerprints and take photographs and measurements. Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone reported no suspects on Saturday, and no arrests had been made as of yesterday night.
One window to the Clement Hall facilities was broken. When asked whether the window was broken from the inside, Giaccone said that it "appears that it might have been."
If a perpetrator did break the window from inside Clement Hall, that may suggest that he or she entered the facilities by using the combination codes to the building and broke the window to divert investigators' attention. Giaccone declined to comment on that possibility.
The sculpture, painting and printmaking studios all have separate entry codes, according to studio art major Sam Dahl '02. However, a person can gain entry to both the sculpture and painting studios through either coded door.
"What strikes me is that whoever did this would have to know at least two of these codes," Dahl said, referring to the printmaking studio's door and the entrance to either the painting or sculpture studio.
The codes are not, however, a tightly guarded secret. Dahl noted that any student who takes an art class is given the appropriate studio's code, and art students commonly share the codes with their friends and anyone interested in visiting.
In what Dahl speculated might be a culprit's "calling card," an orderly string of very small clay sculptures, roughly oval in shape and bearing specks of yellow paint, led from the sink in the tool room to several feet past the door into the main studio.
The studio art department forbids students to construct artwork in the tool area, partially because it is a very high-traffic area.
Giaccone declined to comment on this aspect of the crime scene.
College Proctor Bob McEwen and officials at Safety and Security, which reported the vandalism to Hanover Police on Saturday morning, declined to comment on any details of the crime.
In Clement Hall, every item involved in the artistic process -- from completed works to spare pieces of wood, tools and bulletin board messages, as well as clocks, light switches and a paper towel dispenser -- bore a yellow mark.
The walls in all areas, however, remained largely untouched.
"Nothing of material value was taken," studio art intern Dan Battle '01 said, noting that his CD player and CDs remained in his studio undamaged.
Work from introductory classes also took "sporadic damage," according to Battle. Department Chair Colleen Randall noted that the artists behind many of the damaged works have not yet been identified.
An atmosphere of shock pervaded Clement Hall yesterday, as students and faculty members undertook the slow process of cleaning up.
The careful organization of the crime left many students in a state of disbelief. Adam Williams '02 struggled to "reconcile that somebody could do something so cruel and hateful and yet have it so well-thought out."
"People have just been concerned and baffled by this," Jordan Benke '02 said.
Few students seemed ready to search for blame; Williams noted that he felt "hesitant to take the next step."
"We're reluctant to point fingers," Dahl said, noting that he and many other senior studio art majors felt a "foreboding sense" that someone "very familiar" with the department had committed the crime.
Battle expressed feelings of "anger mixed with feeling sorry for whoever did this;" Sarah Norsworthy '02 described herself as "shocked and sort of traumatized."
For some students, such as photographer and intern Colleen Corcoran '01, the losses were total. All Corcoran's negatives and photos, which she needs for graduate school applications, were either stolen or ripped.
Garand described the students' missing and destroyed work as "at the heart and soul of the artist."
In a department with only 27 senior majors, between 15 and 20 students dropped by yesterday to help clean. Others did not come because, according to Garand, they still felt too traumatized to face the scene.
College President James Wright and wife Susan visited the site to lend support to students and professors.
At this point, Garand stressed that the primary goal for students and faculty is to come together as a community, both within the department and on a broader scale, and rebuild trust. Williams noted that a group of senior majors sought support from each other by getting together to celebrate the birthday of one student Saturday night.
"As you see," Garand said of students cleaning and painting yesterday in Clement Hall, "they are in here, taking it back."
