An unnamed suspect stole two paintings that had hung in Fain College of Fine Arts for over a decade over the weekend. Campus police investigating the matter identified a subject who admitted to stealing the paintings then throwing them away. According to campus police, a witness said the suspect stole the paintings to give as a gift to a friend, then disposed of the paintings in a dumpster behind Sunwatcher after the friend refused the gift. That dumpster has been emptied, leading campus police and Fain Dean Leah Gose to believe the paintings are gone permanently. 

In an email statement, Gose said the paintings are a difficult loss for the university.

“The loss of these paintings is very personal to the art department and the college.  It’s heartbreaking and difficult to understand the desire to steal artwork for personal gain as the purpose of our collection is to be shared with the community and to showcase artworks created by our alumni and visiting artists.  The college is exploring additional security measures to ensure that this doesn’t happen in the future,” Gose said in the statement.

Gose added that charges will be pressed, and campus Police Chief Steven Callarman confirmed that the investigator in the case will file charges for burglary. The suspect is a non-student who was visiting friends on campus.

Catherine Prose, professor of art, said the whole ordeal raises security concerns.

“Some sort of monies need to be identified in order to make Fain more secure, not only for the artwork but also for the students. And that’s something as faculty that we’ve talked about through the years. And I don’t know that we need cameras in every studio area, that would be helpful, but certainly at least in the hallways, you know just to keep everybody kind of monitored and safe and that sort of thing,” Prose said.

The artworks stolen were Alice, painted by Katey LaForge, and State of Soul II, painted by Robert Horvath. Both were original pieces, and campus police valued the paintings at $500 apiece. 

Prose said departments where students frequently work after hours in particular need increased security for the sake of the students.

“This also speaks to a larger security issue, not just with theft, but also just the safety of our students. That we need the university to invest in cameras in the hallways. Especially for those colleges where students are working after hours,” Prose said

Prose said she was disappointed by the theft and subsequent believed disposal of the paintings because both works had strong themes.

“Artwork is not just about beauty. In those particular artworks, it was about, one of the paintings was about representation. And it was a beautifully-painted representation of a black woman. It was a family member that the student had painted. So they’re memorializing, they’re also giving kind of prominence and representation in a world of painting, Western world of painting, that usually isn’t there. And then Robert’s piece was about, well it was about emotional struggles and that sort of thing. So they’re also artworks that other students look to for encouragement and inspiration. So it’s so disappointing,” Prose said.

Prose said it was just the third theft from the department she could remember in her nearly two decades at MSU, but that she still believes it’s important to address any potential security weak points so that students and alumni can be confident their work is secure.

“We want our students to feel great about the artwork that they’re doing, and we want to celebrate them and we want to display that. We want that legacy, and we want alumni and their parents and their family to feel proud that those works are here,” Prose said.