The School of Art has lost students’ work and art supplies – where has it gone?
Students returning to the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies for the new semester claim that their lockers were emptied without warning over the summer, with their belongings now nowhere to be found.
They accuse the school of overseeing an inadequately managed storage system which has resulted in them losing costly art supplies as well as completed artwork.
Jessica Stevens, a Fine Art with History of Art student, says that before leaving for the summer she was given assurances that her belongings would be safe in the lockers located within the school.
The storage space is provided to students on a first come first serve basis in the hallways on most floors of the building.
She says that in order to claim a locker, students are expected to write their name on a label and use a padlock to secure it.
Nathaniel Mercer says he has lost five completed clay sculptures, all of his poems, several printed film photos as well as an extensive list of art supplies.
He discovered his belongings had been moved after coming back to Leeds last month from the summer break.
He claims that he was told before the break that the lockers would be moved to the first floor of the building to create space for the Fine Art final year degree show and open day events which took place in June.
The school sent an email informing students that belongings left in a seminar room due to be used for an open day talk would be removed if not claimed, but Nathaniel and Jessica say their lockers were not in this room.
The school denies that any of its staff removed items from the lockers.
Jessica says she has lost approximately £80 worth of materials including oil pastels, paints, paint brushes and clay.
“It was supplies that I had accumulated over the past few years.”
A lot of it had been gifted to her by family members who bought her supplies before she came to university.
“When I found out I felt let down, to be honest. Art materials are really sentimental to art students as without them we can’t create what we have envisioned, so when these go missing in a place that is meant to support and nurture art it is really disappointing.”
“I’m sad because a lot of things in that locker my dad had brought me before I started my course to help me achieve what I wanted to with my artwork and use throughout my time at Leeds.”
“I didn’t have any finalised pieces in my locker but two of my coursemates had sculptures and paintings that they had stored in them.”
Nathaniel says that he alerted the school three weeks ago about the situation.
“I have reiterated that I don’t have the funds to replace all of my belongings which have been lost.”
He has a meeting with the head of the school this week to discuss potential compensation and to find out what happened but is disappointed at how long it has taken for the school to react.
“This was clearly very poorly organised by the school and I’m disappointed with how they have dealt with the situation. I should have had a meeting with the head of school sooner.”
A spokesperson from the University of Leeds, said: “We have been contacted by one student about missing arts materials from their locker. We are working with them to establish how this happened and how the materials can be replaced.”
13 OCTOBER – UPDATE: School of Art facing renewed questions about students’ missing work and art supplies
