Art heist!

Submitted by Anne H. Oman
Reporter-at-Large
May 7, 2014 5:39 p.m.

Thieves kicked in a back door of the Island Art Association Gallery sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning and stole five pieces of art with a total value of between $2,500 and $3,000, according to association president Jim McKinney.

“When I came in Tuesday morning about 10:20 to open the gallery, the door between the two buildings was open,” said Mr. McKinney, who immediately reported the theft to the Fernandina Beach Police Department.

Lifted off the gallery walls were two oil seascapes by Susan Sellner, a large acrylic painting of the marsh by Georgianna Mullis, a 20-inch glass platter by Denise Murphy, and a glass sculpture by Pam Bennett. All are popular local artists and exhibiting members of the Island Art Association. The Fernandina Beach Police have photographs of all of the stolen artwork.

The thefts are not covered by insurance.

“They tried to pry the lock with a crowbar, and when they didn’t work, they busted down the door – it’s an old building,” said Mr. McKinney, adding that this is the first theft in the association’s thirty hear history.

In an e-mail blast to members today, the association said it would henceforth lock the security gates in the courtyard at night. In addition, according to President McKinney, the busted-in wooden door will be replaced by a steel door. The association’s board will meet tomorrow to discuss whether additional security measures are needed.

“This is a curious robbery,” said Mr. McKinney, noting that “the thieves were very selective.”

He pointed to artwork in the same section of the gallery – many with higher price tags than the pieces taken—and hypothesized that the thieves had visited the gallery earlier and selected the pieces they wanted.

Susan Sellner, who lost two paintings to the thieves, said she was “not that hopeful of getting her paintings back.”

“It’s a double whammy,” she added. “One of the paintings had been sold and was waiting to be picked up, but it won’t stop me from painting.”

In addition to seascapes, Ms. Sellner paints portraits of dogs and “a lot of paintings go to help animal rescue,” she said.

Likewise, Georgianna Mullis, whose large acrylic painting of the marsh was taken, said: “I doubt that I’ll ever see it again – I’m sure it’s gone from here…. It’s kind of emotional, like you’ve been violated. The artwork is part of us.”

Ms. Mullis, a long-time member of the association, said she had never had any artwork stolen before.

“But what do you do?,” she added philosophically. “I can paint another one – that’s what I’m doing right now.”

Denise Murphy, whose kiln-formed glass platter, was stolen was also philosophical: “The good thing is that nobody was hurt – nobody came in brandishing a gun,” she said. “There was no vandalism – they shopped and left. For us, it’s a labor of love, but, in the end, it’s just stuff.”

Pam Bennett, also a glass artist, lost a glass sculpture of a woman in a bathing suit made of leaves in the heist.

“It’s a delicate piece,” she said, expressing pessimism about the work’s recovery. “Anybody who could kick in a door will probably break it… We’re a non-profit. We support the arts in Nassau County. We give money to art teachers. It’s sad that somebody would attack us.”

Although this art heist is a first for Fernandina, there have been several high-profiles thefts around the world in recent years. Paintings by Picasso, Monet, Gaughin, Matisse, Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh, Dali, Munch, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Renoir and others have been stolen from galleries and homes in Boston, Rotterdam, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Scotland, Oslo, Amsterdam and Stockholm. Closer to home, News4Jax reported that two sculptures, with a value of $4,400, were stolen from a downtown Jacksonville gallery Sunday morning.