A massive ice sculpture bearing the slogan “End ICE” that drew notice at Saturday’s “No Kings” rally on Boston Common was knocked over by a vandal, the artist said Tuesday.
“The sculpture was vandalized on two separate occasions, the first being during the daytime when the word ‘I.c.e.’ was knocked over,” Kat Dressler, a Connecticut-based artist who carved the sculpture, said in a statement. “I know this because I received an email from a witness (who was unable to get a photograph or video in time). The word End was knocked over several hours later.”
A Boston police spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The vandalism was first reported by Boston.com.
“A police report was attempted to be made, but after calling the police we were told a report had to be made on-site in person,” Dressler said. “We sent someone to the scene, and they not only drove there but waited 45 minutes to make a report, and the police did not show while our person was there.”
She said she’ll try to file a police report when she returns to Boston on Wednesday for other reasons.
Dressler said it’s not just her sculpture that’s been targeted by vandals at the various “No Kings” rallies around the country. Throngs of demonstrators have attended the rallies to decry the Trump administration’s abuses.
“I have seen another similar ice sculpture be vandalized, one that read ‘prosecute I.c.e.,’” Dressler said. She said the perpetrator “vandalized the sculpture to say ‘pro ice,’ so I intentionally designed mine that no matter how it was vandalized, the message would still be ‘END ICE,’ because the perpetrator would be literally ‘ending i.c.e.’” by damaging the sculpture.
The “END ICE” sculpture after vandals knocked it over on the Common.Kat Dressler/HANDOUT
Dressler said she’s glad her work apparently touched a nerve.
“I am grateful the sculpture was able to be seen and enjoyed by 100k+ people at the protest before its vandalism,” Dressler said. “And I’m grateful in knowing that the sculpture’s message was so powerful that it bothered someone enough to ‘interact’ with it that way. I’m especially grateful for the additional publicity the vandalism has given the sculpture and the message.”
The vandalism itself, she said, doesn’t hit that hard.
“The sculpture was scheduled to be taken down the next morning anyways, so it’s really not much of a bother to me— it had its time,” Dressler said.
But she remains focused on identifying those responsible.
“To discourage future vandalism to activist art in the future, I will be attempting to seek camera footage from the park to identify the perpetrators,” Dressler said.
Material from previous Globe coverage was used in this report. This breaking news story will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.