Pie and Coffee has more on this here

By the way, again, they catch the people that did this, they should take them down in an alley and beat the shit out of them.

That (very nice) sculpture is hopefully sitting in a frat-room somewhere and someone will eventually grow a conscience and return it/report something, etc. If it got snagged by some park-creeping lowlifes then it's gone forever. It's not the fault of the City, the security, the police or the arts company that brought the display to Worcester. It's solely the fault of the skidbags who stole it. Good Lord, Times Square (the cesspool of the East Coast) was cleaned up by rigorous enforcement, and we can't handle Elm Park? There are plenty of cruds out there who need to be arrested, and the resultant drop in crimes (even "non-violent" ones like this) will shock the misguided enabling establishment.
The citizens (or not...) of Worcester can't even handle the responsibility of a polyester sculpture? What a joke.

Sure hope it wasn't retaliation from a hot dog cart vendor....

duh duh duh duuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh............

I kid. This certainly sucks.

I just think of the time in Baltimore and I think to myself, there are 5 urban neighborhoods in Baltimore that are safe as safe can be in one of the most crime ridden cities in America.

Federal Hill- Baltimore's showplace of urban renewal
The Inner Harbor- Tourist attraction central
Fell's Point- Center of B-more's night life
Little Italy- Dining district
Mount Vernon- The Cultural District

There are other good neighborhoods but these five neighborhoods are safe as safe can be. Aside from maybe an occasional bar fight in Fell's none of the violence you associate with Baltimore ever ever ever happens in these neighborhoods. I have to think that more happens when you do something major in one of these neighborhoods then cuffs and a night in lock up. I am sure that the career criminals and low lifes of Baltimore steer clear because of this. Something we should think about is all.

If I were to dress up like a junkie and take a nice stroll down Salisbury I wonder how soon the cops would come and ask me what I was up to. Any takers?

Score some blow from a rich bitch?

Salisbury Street ='s "nicest bus stop" in the city. =o)

Actually Joebro...it's a fun BBgun target.

Eliminate guns to eliminate polar bear shootage.

Well it looks like it could be bronze right? I'm guessing whoever stole this piece isn't smart enough to realize that it wasn't anything they could get a couple bucks for at a scrap yard.

Right Duncan, that's my feeling too. I can't believe there weren't more measures in place to prevent this from happening.

See now if that happened I would somehow marvel at it and hope that it resides in someones house. As a matter of fact I would buy a small table top nick nack turtle boy replica in a second.

According to this:

http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!295663!0#focus

Turtle Boy was stolen once but returned later.

I will go out right now and see what kind of luck I would have if I wanted to steal the egg sculpture. Be right back.

That's just recent then right? There is something out next to the library. Everytime I walk by it I think to myself, hey, there's some actual public art.

"this thread is a little crazy. It's like people are complaining that art gets stolen in Worcester only and that art displayed in the open is subject to some other different law. Like it's Worcester fault that they didn't have 24 hour security at the park."

Stolen art work is a huge international underground business. resulting in tens of thousands of pieces stolen each year more than half of which are stolen out of private homes. Trade in stolen cultural property grosses a projected 6 billion dollars annually. A very small percentage of artwork is stolen to be reused as scrap but it does happen.
I remember hearing a long time ago that someone stealing some of the "Make way for Ducklings" and melted 4 of them down for scrap.

I'm not claiming international conspiracy over the Massai sculpture being lifted from Elm Park, only that its more likely someone stole it for the thrill of it or because they wanted it and not for scrap metal. "Thugs" stealing sewer covers or pieces of cell phone towers know what they are stealing so i think its unlikely that they thought they were stealing bronze once they dislodged and carried that sculpture away. come on, the whole thing only weighed 20 lbs.

A city like Boston has a lot of public art that goes un-vandalized every day, but even in a more publicly cultural city like Boston or Philadelphia people will still touch it climb on it write on it or try to steal it. I think that because Worcester has less public art it is more noticeable when these things happen. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a more vandalized public work than the one entitled "Where Secrets Lie" at Elm park. It has notes scribbled in pencil all over it. and that really is a shame. why does that happen? does the title of the art work encourage people to share little secrets inside of it? Is it because Worcester's average Elm Park goer is so unused to seeing a public cultural exhibit that they don't realize that its not ok? Do they just not care?

I believe that the more people are surrounded by public art the more they will tend to leave it be and see it as a part of enhancing everyday life. Vandalism will still happen but I believe the ratio of it will go down.
Boston has plenty of public art but is also the home of one of the worlds most famous art heists.
Worcester has been touched with a problem that happens all the time all over the world and in that sense we join the ranks of cultural city's such as Boston, Philadelphia, Moscow, and Paris. Our attitudes toward this problem should be to move forward and continue with projects such as this instead of falling back on the " This is Worcester what do you expect, I told you so, I knew this would happen, Worcester sucks why do we bother trying, " attitudes because that will get us no where.

I am accepting of the fact that this type of thing happens all the time and do not see it as a problem that happens only in Worcester. Also I feel that increasing public awareness will help decrease the crime in this situation which is the reason threads like this are good. People can hear about the problem get thinking about it and develop there own opinions or even solutions. Complacency would be to do nothing and not care. The reason I started this post is because I do care and want to hear solutions to the problem, hear what Worcesterite's think about having public cultural exhibits in the city; along with the good and the bad impacts it may have. Not discussing these things is an act of complacency and at least there is a message here that says people noticed and cared because ultimately why would the city do anything if they think the public doesn't care?

Also, it is my opinion that the most successful public installations are the ones that deal with public interaction. Something you can touch, move, feel and hear. Only two of the 16 pieces at Elm park are interactive in this way and from what I've seen neither of them have been permanently damaged in any way.

whoa. wait a minute. Gabe, you live in that cool building downtown, across from city hall?

"Also, it is my opinion that the most successful public installations are the ones that deal with public interaction. Something you can touch, move, feel and hear."

I went to see the art today in Elm Park, and I had my three-year old twins and six-year old with me.

First off, I thought the stuff was great. Each piece seemed to me well-executed and thought-provoking. I really commend the city for supporting this, and the artists for what they put together.

BUT

In line with the quote above, I think next time they need to take more into account the setting. The middle of Elm Park is a playground that attracts little kids like mine. Those kids run around and play on the structure, and then I take them for a walk to see the sculptures, and all of a sudden it's no touching. That's a very hard thing to ask of a three-year old, and doesn't make sense to them. If you put art around a playground, and it's art that's big enough to climb on, I think it would make more sense to commission or require pieces that were capable of--and even invited--people to touch and interact with them.

Maybe that means different artists participate, or the artists have to think about this differently--or it might cost more money--but I think it would have been worth it. I saw at least three other adults with small children who were doing the same thing--trying to enjoy the pieces while having to cajole and threaten our kids at every turn to keep their hands off.

why cant you touch the art? It's outside getting hit by branches falling from all the massive storms everyday.. Or were you afraid that your kids were going to get hurt from it? Or wsa it just based out of respect for the artist? (I havent seen it yet, so dont know what I'm talking about)

=========================
One cool sculpture that I really think is neat at the DeCordova is the pipes all at differnt heights to give off different note pitches.. there should be one of them at Elm Park. (if anyone's been, you know what I mean)

Well, one of my twins is a boy (see picture). "Touching" for a three-year old boy is a euphemism for slightly more violent and aggressive forms of interaction, like smacking and trying to climb on. Some of the pieces seemed capable of withstanding that kind of wear and tear, and some did not. So I just erred on the side of caution and said keep your hands off (you little turd).

Oh... also... did anyone notice the wooden house sculpture... its was written all over the inside with graffiti, pen and pencil... kids stuff "The Jonas Brothers Rock" (written a few times) and I love so and so etc etc....

Of course my 8 and 10 year old daughters thought that the Jonas Brothers part was a part of the sculpture ...