If, in a possibly sugar-induced coma-like daze, you happened to watch the Channel 2 10 o’clock news on Monday night, you will have seen a story about the return of a stolen painting.
Utah artist Stewart Anstead’s lost a painting two years ago when someone took it of the wall it was hanging on in the office building where Anstead’s studio is located. An innocent patron later saw the painting hanging in an office building, was taken by the piece and purchased it.
When the patron was preparing to move this month he decided the painting was too large for his new home and decided to research the artist on the internet and see if he couldn’t trade for a smaller piece. What he discovered on the web was that the piece he owned was stolen. He contacted the artist and returned the painting valued at $5000, and in return Anstead gave him a smaller piece for his new home.
What the Channel 2 report failed to mention is that the site where the patron discovered the criminal background of the painting was . . . that’s right Artists of Utah!
We reported on the stolen painting in November of 2003 and it was in an archived edition of 15 Bytes that the patron discovered what had happened.
Anstead was delighted to have the painting back and good enough to thank us for our part (read his letter in our Letters 2 the editor). We, of course, were thrilled and it was only with the greatest measure of self-restraint that we kept ourselves from running down the street yelling “Are we cool or what?!!!”
A sense of decorum kept us from expressing the full extent of our pride, but we hope this little reminder of how effective we can be when we come together as a community will encourage you to don your 15 Bytes T-Shirt with pride.
Don’t own a T-Shirt? Well, they are available to members of the community who make a $30 contribution to 15 Bytes. For a list of recent contributors to 15 Bytes and information on how you can support this ezine, visit our Fall Fundraiser page.
15 Bytes: Do You Get It T-shirts are available in:
downtown Salt Lake at Utah Artist Hands
Sugarhouse at Tanner Frames
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Categories: Artists of Utah News
