Part of sculpture for South City art project taken in car theft

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis artist says her car and a piece of a sculpture created for a South City art project were stolen outside her Midtown home.

Suzy Hendrix’s SUV was taken from Tutwiler late Sunday night or early Monday morning. The vehicle was recovered on Tuesday, but the glass artwork that was inside is still missing.

“It’s a smaller component of a larger sculpture,” Hendrix said. “I’ve only completed two of those components, and the first one is gone.”

The Urban Arts Commission and Accelerate Memphis commissioned Hendrix to build six sculptures for the public art project near Booker T. Washington High School. Hendrix is one of several artists taking part.

“I was teamed with another artist, Khara Woods, and she designed a mural that’s going to go on a train overpass, and she also did an asphalt design,” Hendrix said.

Hendrix has created similar sculptures that have been exhibited across the country and are on display in her garden. She said the stolen piece took weeks to design and complete but is worthless on the streets.

“It’s really only valuable to me. You can’t take the metal and sell it for scrap because it’s adhered with resin to the rest of it,” Hendrix said. “You can’t sell it. So, it’s not really of any value to us.”

Hendrix said the South City art project is slated for completion in September or October. She is asking anyone who has seen the stolen art to contact her or Memphis police.

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