A second “Spirit of the Forest” sculpture was vandalized on the Boardman Lake Loop of the TART Trail, local authorities confirmed Friday.
The first sculpture had been sawn off from its concrete base sometime Tuesday, Traverse City Police said, causing $12,000 in damage.
That, and the second figure that was vandalized later this week, were among the four statues installed there.
The exhibit, as originally displayed, included the four sculptures of tall, blue men with deer heads instead of human ones. This week, pictures shared on social media show two of the figures cut off at the ankles to separate them from their concrete base.
Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Harry Burkholder said finding out that the statues had been damaged was “saddening.”
“It’s so sad and disappointing that someone would go to that degree to vandalize a piece of art brought in by the community,” Burkholder said.
The exhibit was installed in May of this year, and was planned to be there for two years, part of the Traverse City Arts Commission’s rotating exhibit along the trail. The remaining statues are going to stay where they are, but the ones that were disconnected from their bases have been collected.
While he said he is not concerned about the remaining sculptures, Burkholder said he and the rest of the Traverse City Arts Commission will be vigilant about their protection.
Oryana Marketing Director Kirsten Harris said the co-op has been a supporter of the Traverse Area Recreation Trails since the Boardman Lake Trail was first developed. Now it extends its support through donations to the “Art on the TART” initiative.
According to the TART website, the original intent of the exhibit was to explore the relationship between humanity and nature and challenge belief systems by referencing ancient deities and mythology.
“Oryana, as a co-op, is part of the community, and owned by our members,” Harris said. “We are always going to contribute to parts of the community that our members care about.”
While they didn’t contribute directly to the selection of the “Spirit of the Forest” exhibit, Harris said Oryana employees fielded a lot of questions about it as people saw it nearby.
“To have opinions about art is one thing, but to destroy it, to take it to that level, is a bit much,” she said. “We hope this is the end of it.”
On the other side of Boardman Lake from Oryana, Katheryn Carrier, who works at the library, said her main questions are about the motivation of whoever damaged them.
“I’d have to do some research about the whole figure and if it represented someone’s mythology or religion and what that might mean to someone, whether they would be offended by it – or they would be pleased,” Carrier said. “But this, I don’t get it.
“Hopefully, they (the police) find whoever did it and can get answers.”
