"Debaris Tumpkin" by artist Vernia Baxter of Flintstone, Ga., was vandalized sometime over the past few days. (Credit: David Crigger|Bristol Herald Courier)
BRISTOL, Tenn. – City police are investigating the vandalism of a 9-foot steel and aluminum sculpture on wheels that's been a downtown fixture for the past year.
Police Chief Blaine Wade said the department currently has no suspects in the defacing of "Debaris Tumpkin" – a State Street sculpture that has been badly bent and altered from its original design. Created by internationally trained sculptor Vernia Baxter of Flintstone, Ga., the piece has been displayed near the State Street Farmers Market since August 2009, when it was among six selected by the Arts Alliance Mountain Empire to be placed around downtown Bristol.
"We're still actively reviewing and investigating what happened," Wade said Tuesday regarding the damage, which apparently happened over the Labor Day weekend.
In its original design, the blue-toned sculpture had an extended, graceful arch across its top. But a huge section of that arch has been flattened and twisted – apparently from being stomped on or repeatedly hammered.
"We're just so disappointed and upset this happened," said Candy Snodgrass, a Bristol, Va., native and a member of Arts in Public Places, the Arts Alliance committee that helped pick "Debaris Tumpkin" last year – and paid Baxter a $1,000 stipend to display it in downtown Bristol.
"We really work hard to pick pieces of art that we can display for the community to enjoy and appreciate," Snodgrass said. "To see someone destroy it like that is just really hard to understand."
Snodgrass said the damage to the sculpture, which has an estimated value of more than $20,000, is doubly hard to accept because it was only scheduled to remain on State Street until August. But Baxter had agreed to let it remain past its one-year limit without charging an additional fee, Snodgrass said.
"We had just moved it to another spot, behind the Farmers Market, not long ago," she said. "That's what makes this even more upsetting."
Snodgrass said Baxter will return to Bristol shortly to pick up the piece and take it back to her Georgia studio for restoration.
"But when it's restored, it's not going to come back to Bristol," Snodgrass said. "That's definitely not going to happen."
Baxter, who also creates stone artwork and previously studied in Italy, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
