A female torso from Bethany Kramer’s art installation “Seeds of Time,” which was reported stolen Nov. 17 around noon, was recovered late Nov. 18.

“The torso was found in a breezeway outside Norse Hall,” Chief of Police Harold Todd said. “It’s not a place where there are a lot of people, so we don’t have much to go on right now.”

Gallery Director David Knight was the first to find out the torso had been stolen. He arrived on campus Nov. 17 to take down the first round of senior exhibitions and to discover that one of the seven torsos from the show was missing.

“It upset me a great deal that someone would be so disrespectful to an artist’s work,” Knight said. “This is her senior project, which she has worked extremely hard on.”

“Seeds of Time” was the first student Artwork to take place completely outside.

“We’ve had installations that have been partially outside, but this is the first work to be entirely so,” Knight said.

Kramer, a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts major, had planned to put the piece outside from the beginning, but she recognized that something like this could happen.

“I knew the risk I had in putting the installation outside, but I figured the risk was worth it if I could get some of my message out,” Kramer said. “I was mentally prepared for the seeds to be taken because they are small, but not for a torso.”

“Seeds of Time” was installed on the grassy area between the Fine Arts and University centers and was designed to represent that all humans enter the world the same way and are, therefore, equal.

“I don’t think people understand the amount of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears that goes into an art piece,” Kramer said. “It’s sad to think of the disrespect some people have.”

Although the torso has been recovered and only suffered a small break, campus police are going to keep the case open.

“We are treating this crime like any other theft,” Todd said. “If it was stolen to make some sort of point, why would they just take one piece?”

Todd added that they have not found any leads, but are currently talking to Norse Hall residents and hoping those with any information will come forward.