$50,000 Vandalism at the Sheldon
I guess I can post about this now that it has made the news.
The Sheldon Museum of Art suffered about $50K of damage during New Years night. Someone threw bricks into the windows on the east side. Each section of glass is about 9ft x 12ft and they damaged five of them. They did get into the Lied Center for Performing Arts and stole computers, kicked in drywall, and destroyed anything else in sight. The Lied has $30K in damage.
So they called in everyone they could to make sure the art and building was ok and to double-up the security 24 hrs a day. The curatorial staff moved all the major works to the vaults until the glass can be fixed. I spent a couple of extra shifts there this weekend for added security. Just over the hours I was there the glass spidered out and up several feet. I wouldn't be suprised if a pane or two collapse before they can get new glass in.
We're very very lucky that they didn't get inside the building. The modern miracles of safety glass and electronic security stopped them and the police were there in minutes. If they had gotten upstairs I hesitate to think of the damage that would have been done. We had eight Caulders out. We had a Hoffman, three Henri's, an O'Keefe, an Indiana, and god knows what else on the walls. The Hopper (A Room in New York) and the Brancusi (Princess X) were either in storage or in conservation.
Here is the news report:
http://journalstar.com/articles/2009/01/01/news/local/doc495d18357a63b005605426.txt