A ceramic piece from James Snyder `26’s “Amidst Rurality” exhibition was damaged and removed from the Edith Renfrow Smith `37 Gallery this week.
Snyder discovered one of five ceramic note cards from his piece “A Moment in Time” was missing the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 9 around 3:30 p.m., approximately 24 hours after his opening reception. The piece appeared to have been broken from its support, with no fragments found in the gallery space or nearby trash receptacles.
The ceramic pieces were created using note cards from family members, which Snyder dipped in clay slip and fired in a kiln. While the ceramic form was damaged, he retains the original handwritten notes.
“I went in there and just checked everything out. It all looked good,” Snyder said about his visit to the gallery during lunchtime. “And then I came back after my afternoon class, around 3:30, and I was walking through the JRC [Joe Rosenfield Center `25] to get to the [Charles Benson Bear `39] for practice. I just peeked my head in, and one of the ceramic note cards in a piece called ‘A Moment in Time’ was no longer there.”
Snyder reported the incident to Campus Safety and filed a police report. Campus Safety indicated they would check available cameras, though no camera currently monitors the gallery space itself.
The incident follows a similar case last spring when artwork was stolen from the gallery, which was later returned damaged. Professor Andrew Kaufman, chair and professor of the studio art department, has contacted Ruth Feingold, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, to discuss security concerns in the space.
“We need that space to be functional for our students,” Kaufman said. “The co-curricular importance of that is really profound. We don’t have another space with that visibility.”
Kaufman expressed uncertainty about whether Snyder’s piece was stolen or fell due to equipment failure, such as melting wax, which can happen under the gallery’s older lighting system. However, Snyder stated that the ceramic piece was held up by glue, not wax.
“The glue did not fail; it is, in fact, still attached to all of the ceramic it was glued to,” Snyder wrote in an email to The S&B. “This signals that it wasn’t an equipment or display failure, but instead broke due to an outside force.”
The department has already updated agreements for students who will exhibit work to make them aware of potential security issues. Kaufman said his preferred solution would be restoring the staffing in the JRC before 2020, when a staff member was stationed at the help desk with visibility into the gallery space.
“That staff member was really important because they could see the gallery. They would open the gallery space, turn on the lights, prop it open and at night they would close it and lock it all up,” Kaufman said.
He expressed opposition to video surveillance as a solution, citing student privacy concerns in the intimate gallery setting.
Snyder said Campus Safety told him they have additional cameras available for installation and were surprised the incident occurred during normal daytime hours.
Despite the incident, Snyder said it has not diminished his achievement of exhibiting in the gallery. He expressed willingness to forgive whoever was responsible if they came forward.
“This is a forgivable accident,” Snyder said. “I would have loved if the person had admitted to it and left the broken piece and a note there.”
This article has been updated to correct a misspelling of James Snyder’s name, and to indicate that the ceramic piece was held up by glue, not wax. Updated on 9/22/2025.
