Two defendants plan to give public apologies Saturday for their theft of Indigenous artwork from KU’s campus last year. For two others accused of vandalizing the artwork, their criminal cases have just begun.
Photos courtesy of KU Endowment
Chalmers Hall on the KU campus is now home to a brand-new gallery dedicated to Indigenous excellence in the visual arts.
Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne, Arapaho), the artist who created the five-panel “Native Hosts” installation at the University of Kansas’ Spencer Museum of Art, will give a virtual lecture next week.
Ryan Waggoner
The KU Office of Public Safety has identified two suspects believed to have vandalized Native American artwork on campus, Deputy Chief James Druen says.
Musician Ron Brave paid respects with drum and flute to ancestors who lived on land that became Kansas for the ceremony Thursday marking return to public display of artist Edgar Heap of Birds’ five panels recognizing tribes that resided in the region.
Ryan Waggoner, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas
After vandalism damaged four of its panels and the fifth was stolen, the “Native Hosts” Common Work of Art has been reinstalled at the Spencer Museum of Art on the University of Kansas campus.
Lucie Krisman / The Lawrence Times
Protesters from the University of Kansas First Nations Student Association and the KU community stuck out the thunderstorm Thursday afternoon to share thoughts, songs and support during a gathering outside of the Spencer Museum of Art, where four panels of Indigenous art installation “Native Hosts” had been vandalized and one was stolen.
Ryan Waggoner
Updated at 5:18 p.m. Thursday: A part of the “Native Hosts” art installation reported stolen on the KU campus has been recovered, relatively undamaged. Police say there’s “no indication that the person took the panel because of its content.”
Ryan Waggoner
The remaining panel of the University of Kansas’ Common Work of Art, “Native Hosts,” has been stolen, less than a month after the other four panels were vandalized.
Ryan Waggoner
Leaders of the University of Kansas First Nations Student Association were reeling Friday night, nearly a week after multiple pieces of the KU Common Work of Art were vandalized — not only because of the destruction of the Native exhibit, but because they feel the situation hasn’t garnered enough attention from KU administrators.
