Missing Pieces

[PRankin]

Much of my work and all of my firing occurs at my local community college studio. There are about 100+ college students and about 30-40 seniors like myself that take classes and benefit from the ceramics club open studio time. Since I help instruct the college students in many of the classes they allow me to use the studio a lot more.

 

Here's my problem: I had 14 pieces that were fired in the last two kiln loads of the semester and when I went to pick them up today I discovered that four were missing. I searched every nook and cranny in the studio today for over and hour but couldn't find them. The studio manager remembers seeing two of my candle holders when the kiln was unloaded and when they were placed on the finished work shelves but that was two days ago. This has happened before to me and others in our club where people might take something that they didn't make themselves. We are working on a solution for future semesters where the club members' work will be placed in a more secure area but I'm so pissed right now as they were very labor intensive pieces.

 

Has anyone else had any similar situations in public studios and what was done about it?

 

Paul

[oldlady]

how awful!  hope you find your work.  how could someone steal your things?  

 

i am so sorry this happened to you.   i had things stolen from a gallery display many years ago and still cannot think why anyone would do such a thing.

[LeeU]

That is such a violation. When I was a bad girl back in the wild wild west that was the lower east side of NYC, long ago, I was a thief-an accomplished one at that-among my other undesirable talents. I felt no compunction whatsoever at lifting other people's stuff. Thieves have no guilt, and the only anxiety that some might have is that generated by the fear of getting caught. I am in a vastly different place today, and I no longer steal, but it was only after going through the necessary changes that I came to appreciate the depth and breadth of the personal violations that I was committing and assaulting other people with (to say nothing of my own dysfunctional soul). Such a shameful act!  

 

PS..."Why"?

 

'cus they can and 'cus they want to and 'cuz people let 'em off the hook if they do get caught. Given that the objects stolen are works of art, it is likely due to someone coveting them (vs. just ripping off loot to sell for the next fix or money for groceries). Coveting may be a lesser sin than shear raw theft, I dunno, but it is not worth 2-cents as a back-handed "complement".  Show 'em no mercy if you catch 'em.

[Joseph Fireborn]

Good luck. I hope someone realizes they picked them up on accident and returns them. = (

[alabama]

Hey,

I have all my stuff glaze fired at a community college 2 hours

north, and the same kind of theft occurs there. It mostly happens

in the fall semester when students need Christmas presents.

I've lost some but not that many, just one here and there...

never 4 at once. That's plain tragic.

There are times I drop off 60 to 80 vessels so if one or two are missing

I wouldn't know it, unless the missing piece was an unusual one and I was

expecting to see it.

About the only way to prevent it would be to have a lock placed on the kiln

and be present when the kiln is opened. If pieces sit around very long, they

seem to grow legs and walk away. If I were you, I'd keep in contact with the

instructor to see just when the kiln will be opened. And if by chance there is

something special, ask the instructor to place it in their office til you can

get there. Since everyone knows things are disappearing they will be more careful.

Good luck,

See ya,

Alabama

[ChenowethArts]

Paul,

I certainly hope this is a one-time, isolated experience and NOT a pattern...the perpetrator is likely to have no concept of what you personally invested (time, energy, resources) in these pieces or simply doesn't care.  I also hope you are able to recover the work somehow...post a plea to have them returned, perhaps?

 

For the first time that I can remember in all the years at the university's studio, we had a theft last semester...but it wasn't finished work. The clay supply/storage area functions on an honor system and someone took advantage of that system and walked away with about 1,000 pounds of mixed/pugged clay.  That hurt more than a few of us who were disappointed in the actual theft but even more disappointed that it happened in an environment where honor and trust are key principles.  Sadly, we have installed a couple of motion activated webcams to monitor the after-hours activity in the studio (as well as the back door & dock area where the materials made their exit).

 

So sorry that this is even part of our discussion,

-Paul

[Denice]

Years ago when I attended college theft was rampant, it started out small and got out of control, professors  critiqued the students work before it was glazed towards the end of the semester.  The studio was open 24 hours, they finally decided to lock the doors at night and that ended the problem.  There was also a guy wandering through the building stealing anything he could get his hands on.  One of the students got a look at him and drew a portrait of him, she made copies of it and posted it all over campus.  The college sets in the middle of a low income area.       Denice

[S. Dean]

That bites.  At one of the community studios where I work, everyone is assigned a studio number which must be put on your pots.  Bisque and glaze items are unloaded directly to shelves located in a non-public area of the studio behind a centralized desk. Bisque is stored together in one area and glazed pieces in another area of shelves.  The shelves have number ranges which correspond to the studio numbers, so all your work is put in the same place and it is easy to see when your items are out of the kiln.  

 

The upside is nobody can walk in and take your stuff.  The downside is that it requires an on-duty attendant and having the studio number on your piece is a bit aggravating/clutters up the bottom of your pots  However, it greatly reduces the opportunities to take things which are not yours.  Perhaps something along these line might work for you.  

 

Good luck.

 

-SD

[neilestrick]

Unfortunately, it's pretty common in college studios for pieces to disappear. If possible, try to be there when the kiln is unloaded, or as you said, keep the seniors' work separated from the others.

[Mark C.]

That sucks but I'm not surprized.

Mark

[Benzine]

Luckily, that never happened to me, in my college studio... Well, not my college Ceramic studio.  I did have a painting that disappeared, from a Painting/ Drawing studio.  Not happy about it obviously.

 

In my classroom, theft of projects, usually isn't an issue.  The biggest problem we have, is when students forget to label projects.  For wheel thrown wares, and beginning students, a lot of the work looks the same.  And since they have to have X amount of work, students scramble to find all their projects.  So, if they can't remember what their's looked like, they'll grab any unsigned ware they find.  That's why I tell the students, I won't load projects, or even grade them, without a signature.  Sometimes the policy doesn't play out, as I intend, and I'll load things, just to fill the kiln.

 

The biggest "Theft" we have, is generally coils and/ or slabs.  Once again, this is many times accidental as they all look roughly the same.

[PRankin]

The students' work is, well, student quality work and the teachers know my stuff so if anyone tries to submit it as their own they would get caught, and besides, my name is on the bottom of each piece. The club work is separated after the kilns are unloaded and the glazed students' work is usually in another locked room. Our work is placed on open shelves in the kiln area but there is a lot of unsupervised student and club traffic in that area. We are addressing that now for next semester.

 

The students have to label the bottom of each piece with their name or initials and a teacher's symbol so they know where to find their bisqued pieces on the corresponding shelves. Many of them forget to do that so they go on a reject shelf.

 

I have always tried to be present and even help when the kilns are unloaded but I was busy for two days and couldn't get into the studio. Anyone could have taken them including other club members for whatever reasons they have. I have had a few pieces become missing over the last few years but nothing like this.

 

Paul

[drmyrtle]

At my community studio, we are in the midst of a theft ramp up. Clearly someone has a key, and enters in the night when no one is there and selectively steals. Tools, wet boxes, items in process, and finished pieces--sometimes less than twelve hours out of the glaze kiln and well hidden behind storage boxes--gone by early the next am. Gone.

 

The sense of mistrust is nearly overwhelming, and as the thefts range now have affected a wide number of members (as opposed to a few), no one feels like anything they make is safe. Security cameras have been deployed, but are not only expensive, and have been thus far unrewarding. I've degenerated to making odd, noncommercial things, like porcelain rabbits doing yoga asanas that so far this person(s) hasn't had an eye for. Speculation becomes the focus, rather than ceramic technique.

 

Changing the locks might help, unless it is indeed one of us. We're pretty sure it's someone who actively works in clay, or the selective choices of tool theft wouldn't make sense. Dye-bombs only work if you're there to see the stain, and poison, tempting but illegal, seems cosmically retributional. Sure, some of us have major lockup systems, but that doesn't help a whit for work in process.

 

Ceramics is an art that is so much better accomplished in a communal setting, not just in sharing resources, but in the advice and commradery of studio participation. Sure, I can make my way to a different studio (although every, every studio I've been to has some major issue to deal with), or I can become a lonely sot mucking about in my basement. It's easy, particularly when living in a state where entire educational systems are under attack and arts are becoming defunded, irrelevant programs, to give up and go watch TV eating twinkies. If this were my business, I'd change the locks, or invest in comprehensive security lock and camera systems. But I'm not the owner and currently have other businesses to attend to.

 

Some people suck, and either one anticipates the problems and strategizes accordingly, or studios collapse because of opportunistic individuals. Perhaps this is an opportunity to practice less attachment and more production. At the least, it makes you have to commit more forcefully to the reason(s) you're making art in the first place.

[TwinRocks]

I wasn't too attached to the work I was doing in school, I know a lot of my work was taken but I also gave away the majority of finished pieces, so I didn't let it bother me. It seems like a lot of students have sticky fingers, I'd put my name on every single tool I had and put them in my case if I had to walk away from my desk or my pen, sponge, ruler, or what ever else would likely be gone in under 5 minutes. The sunglasses I set on a shelf while unloading a kiln where literally gone by the time I was done, as well as my jacket off my chair! Some people just don't respect others. I don't know if these items where stolen for their own sake or if this was a form of bullying (taking things to bother me, without desire for the objects).

 

The only advice I could give is save important pieces til you can pick them up right away. Also, track your losses in your books, let the studio know what's missing but otherwise, you kind of have to let it go. Its really easy to focus on negative events, but focusing on the loss steals your energy and focus. Unless you have an alternative place to fire or the studio has a budget for added security, you have to assume it is an unfortunate part of the process. Picture yourself dropping those candlesticks and having them shatter in a million pieces. Time to make more!