A Charleston artist whose paintings were badly damaged while ondisplay for a local theater group said she will think carefullybefore ever exhibiting again.
Mary Russell said she loaned six original oil and acrylicpaintings to Kanawha Players in May to hang at their building at Leeand Beauregard Streets. But while hanging inside the East Endfacility, the artwork was vandalized.
Worse, Russell said she believes the vandalism was done byKanawha Players members or supporters who were upset over tensionsthat were causing serious rifts in the group.
"We were excited about getting invited to exhibit," said Russell,adding that other artists were also represented in the display. "Iwas told how safe it was going to be, how they would be locked up.
"I didn't understand the extent of the friction that was goingon," Russell said. "I was told the vandalism happened from insidewhile those doors were locked.
"There was a big civil war between the board and the president,"she said. "I think they assumed I was on one side or the other. Itwas just a malicious act against me."
Russell said she was told by the theater group that they couldnot compensate her for the paintings' estimated worth - $2,395 - soshe filed a lawsuit in Kanawha Magistrate Court.
This week Russell learned Kanawha Players has hired an attorneyto represent them and opted to move the case to Kanawha CircuitCourt.
"I was willing to have a hearing and let a magistrate decide,"she said. "Now they've made it into this whole big thing."
Russell said, "At the time it happened, the police were notifiedand I was told I would be paid for the paintings. They were forsale.
"But later I was told their insurance company would not coverit," she said.
Russell is also asking for court costs and $1,000 in punitivedamages.
In June, Frank Guthrie took over the presidency of the KanawhaPlayers after a short term by John Halstead. The group has beenplagued by recent problems, including a $64,000 lawsuit filedagainst them by the construction company that worked on theirremodeled church home.
Guthrie said he could not comment on the lawsuit.
"They can never get back to the original," Russell said of theholes, tears and scratches made to her artwork. "I could sand outthe scratches, but then I would have to repaint. To match paint isalmost impossible.
"The holes - I know of no way but to cut them out," she said."And then I've lost part of the picture. It just breaks my heart.Those people don't even know me."
The artist said she hasn't had the desire to try to paint thoseparticular pictures again. Some were inspired by a trip to Africa,she said.
"I just have a funny feeling about them now," Russell said. "Ihave a hard time even looking at the paintings."
"One was a two by three foot painting of a leopard," shedescribed. "I did it when I came back from Africa and it took sixmonths to paint it."
Three of the paintings are of lions, also inspired by her Africanjourney. The others are a painting of an old lantern and of theMission at Carmel in California.
Russell said she has displayed locally before with no problems,including at the Pro-Art store, the University of Charleston and ArtEmporium. She paints a variety of topics - portraits, flowers,buildings, coal miners - and is currently painting a series ofCharleston churches.
Last year she was awarded a first-place prize in the RhododendronArts and Crafts Festival. Recently, she sold a painting of the P.A.Denny on the Kanawha River for $1,500.
"Everyone who knows about this is just shocked," Russell said."My artist friends say they are all going to be very cautious nowabout putting paintings out anywhere.
"It's almost sacrilegious to destroy art," she said. "They areone of a kind."
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