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Chris Roberts
St. Paul, Minn.

Phalen neighborhood rallies around defaced sculpture

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Defaced sculpture
This sculpture, titled "Meditation," was made as part of the Minnesota Rocks! international stone carving symposium in May and June of 2006. The photo was electronically altered to obscure the profanity, yet still show the profile of the art. On the left is the sculpture just after it was completed. On the right is the carving the morning after it was defaced.
MPR file photo

Several groups on St. Paul's east side are holding a ceremony tonight to respond to a hate crime committed in Phalen Park.

In July, a popular sculpture of an Asian woman at the park was defaced by vandals who spray-painted the artwork with "KKK," hate messages and an anti-Asian slur.

The vandalism occurred during the Dragon festival at Lake Phalen, an annual celebration of Asian-Pacific culture.

Christine Podas Larson id president of Public Art St. Paul, which owns the sculpture. Larson said tonight's ceremony is designed to help the community start to heal.

"I think it's important to all of us that we all, in our own way, hope, and if you want to pray, for the healing of the person who did this," Larson said.

The ceremony will also mark the beginning of the sculpture's restoration process, which Podas Larson estimates will take several weeks and cost $10,000 or more.

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Defaced sculpture
This sculpture, titled "Meditation," was made as part of the Minnesota Rocks! international stone carving symposium in May and June of 2006. The photo was electronically altered to obscure the profanity, yet still show the profile of the art. On the left is the sculpture just after it was completed. On the right is the carving the morning after it was defaced.
MPR file photo