Miscommunication on missing sculpture Îamazesâ woman; missing art recovered

By Jesse Stephenson
The Metropolitan

Metro student Sky Walker had an unpleasant surprise the morning of Nov. 3 when she learned that a sculpture she arranged to have taped to a wall  in a Tivoli lounge  was ãstolen.ä

But there was another surprise in store for Walker.

Four days later when she called the Tivoli conference service office, an employee there told her the sculpture had been in his office all along.

ãIt fell off the wall and was in danger of being destroyed,ä said John Zamparelli, an employee of conference services. Zamparelli said a student found the sculpture, a life-sized figure of a woman made of styrofoam, on the ground and brought it to the office.

Zamparelli said  office employees tried to get a hold of Walker by calling Metroâs Art department.  Walker put up the art collection that included the sculpture to plug a storytelling event sponsored by Metroâs Art department.

ãThe people in the Art Department didnât seem to know who Sky was,ä Zamparelli said. ãSo  we just set it in my office and tried to call whoever.ä

Whoever, however, did not include campus security.

Walker notified campus police that the sculpture was missing Nov. 3 but did not file a report. Auraria police policy does not allow people to file reports of stolen property unless they own that property.

Lt. Gary Kasson of the campus police said the department does not investigate incidents unless a report is filed.
Walker said she is not interested in pointing fingers but thinks the incident involved some serious miscommunication.

ãThis caused me as much grief as it did the artist,ä she said. ãI was amazed at the lack of communication between reservations and security.ä

Walker said the whole ordeal could have been eliminated if someone had left a note where the sculpture was hung.
ãCommon sense says, Îletâs just put  a note up here to say we have the artwork,ââ Walker said.