Montana woman arrested after controversial print shredded in Loveland Museum

By Tom Hacker
Loveland Reporter-Herald
A woman wielding a crowbar smashed a display case Wednesday at the
Loveland Museum/Gallery, ripped out a piece of artwork that has been the
center of growing controversy and shredded it into small pieces,
witnesses said.

Kathleen Folden, 56, of Kalispell, Mont., was arrested shortly after the
4 p.m. incident and charged with felony criminal mischief.

A Longmont man who was among six people in the gallery pulled Folden
away from the display, but not before she had smashed through a
Plexiglas cover protecting the artwork and torn out a foot-long section,
he said.

She then retreated to a corner of the gallery, where she ripped the work
by San Francisco artist Enrique Chagoya to tiny shreds.

“She was saying, ‘How can you desecrate my Lord?’” said Mark Michels,
the man who grabbed Folden. “She wanted to wreck the print, and that was
it. After that, she was totally passive.”

The artwork, titled “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals,” was
contained in an 82-piece art collection compiled by Lyons printer Bud
Shark, and some viewers say it depicts Jesus Christ engaged in oral sex.

Chagoya, a Mexican-American artist who is a professor in the art
department at Stanford University, said he was dismayed by the attack.

‘Can’t Believe It’

“I’m still in shock,” he said Wednesday evening from his San Francisco
home. “I can’t believe it. If someone doesn’t agree with me, that is
their right. But to disagree violently takes us back to an era when free
expression was not the rule.”

Loveland Cultural Services director Susan Ison said her first reaction
to the news was relief that no one had been injured.

“I’m appalled at the violence,” Ison said. “And, I’m angry at all the
emotions that are running so high, and at people not thinking about the
consequences of what they do. It’s shocking.”

Shaken museum employees initially reported in a 911 call that shots had
been fired at the museum, after hearing a series of loud bangs from the
gallery followed by screams and shouts.

“We heard the bangs, and then people were screaming,” museum worker
Michelle Standiford said.

“It was very loud,” said Kathy Leonard of Loveland, who was touring the
exhibit with her husband. “She was lifting the crowbar over her head,
and smashing it down, yelling ‘Filth! Filth! Filth!’”

Leonard said she picked up the crowbar after Folden dropped it.

“I didn’t want her to come back for it, and perhaps hurt someone,” she said.

Mayor: Let Calm Prevail

Mayor Cecil Gutierrez, who was outside the museum Wednesday evening,
appealed for calm in the wake of the incident.

“This is a very unfortunate and isolated incident,” Gutierrez said.

“Cooler heads need to prevail now. We’ve always had the ability in our
community to discuss issues in a cool, calm and collected manner, and I
expect that to continue.”

Ison said the museum would open as usual today.

“We will open, but without that part of the exhibit,” she said. “That
piece has been destroyed.”

The printer who assembled the art collection titled “The Legend of Bud
Shark and His Indelible Ink” said his first concern was for the museum
staff.

“Fortunately no person was injured,” Shark said.

“I just don’t know what to expect and how this is going to play out now.
The people who support the exhibition and support the museum are the
ones who aren’t very vocal. It might be a call to attention for them.”

The piece that was destroyed
was among 30 prints of Chagoya’s work, each valued at $3,400, Shark said.

Police will be present at the museum when it opens today, as they have
been since protesters began picketing the exhibit Friday.

Upholding Rights

“The intention has been to ensure that the rights of everyone here, the
protesters and the museum visitors, are protected,” Loveland Police
Chief Luke Hecker said.

“That’s why we’ve been here all week. We were certainly concerned all
week about the potential for some violent eruption. If there’s a golden
lining here, it’s that we’re not dealing with a death or serious injury.”

Folden was wearing a T-shirt printed with the Christian slogan, “My
Savior Is Tougher Than Nails.”

Loveland resident Larry Jones, who was in the gallery during the attack,
said someone shouted “call the police” as Folden was completing her act.

“Then the woman said, ‘Yes, call the police. I’m ready,’” he said.

Leonard said that as the police arrived, Folden “lay down on the floor
next to the exhibit and spread her arms outward, like she had been
crucified.”

Police Sgt. Jan Burreson said Folden was taken to the Larimer County
Detention Center in Fort Collins after being treated for a superficial
wound on her hand at the Loveland Police Department.

Burreson said Folden works as an over-the-road truck driver, but he did
not know why she was in the Loveland area.

‘This Is Sad’

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Deacon Ed Armijo, who concluded
his sixth day of picketing on Wednesday, said he was unaware of the
attack that happened just after the protesters had dispersed.

“We don’t condone that. We don’t want that,” he said.

“This is sad. It’s despicable for someone to do that. It’s taking the
law into their own hands. I feel we owe the community of Loveland
something better.”

Chagoya said Folden’s attack was alarming for a broader community.

“It’s certainly very scary, not just for me, but for our culture as a
whole,” he said. “This affects everybody’s rights.”

He said he was particularly surprised by the reaction because the piece
had been displayed in so many other places without objection.

“I’ve been getting hate mail,” he said. “I don’t open it anymore.
Locally, the school (Stanford) is providing security for me. But I’ve
also been getting support from many friends and artists.”
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