THE festive season was dampened for a local small business owner in Penola last month when a unique art piece was stolen from the store.
The glass made South Australian Desert Pea, valued at $220, was taken from Local Images Art Gallery, just days after Christmas.
“It felt like a personal assault,” Local Images gallery owner Cate Bell said.
“To steal from anyone is awful, but to steal from a small business and artist is that more hurtful as I work hard and have put many long hours in.”
It was the first time a piece of artwork had been stolen at the gallery during Ms Bell’s time there.
Following the theft, Ms Bell called police and took to Facebook to share her frustration and looked to the community to share information.
“The response from the online community was phenomenal,” she said.
“The post reached around 34,000 people and was shared up to 300 times.”
Ms Bell also called creator Kathryn Chaston who was obviously disappointed, but understanding.
“Kathryn was very understanding and saw the silver lining in the situation which was the response the robbery gained on Facebook,” Ms Bell said.
“I had been asking her to make the sculpture for over a year and she delivered it to the gallery only a week before Christmas.”
