Humboldt Arts Council Press Release:

Morris, or affectionately known as Morrie, the ceramic banana slug created for the 2024 Eureka Street Art Festival by local artists Shannon Sullivan and Jessica Swan, was brazenly stolen from the Melvin Schuler Sculpture Garden at the Morris Graves Art Museum on the night on November 2nd. following Living Arts.

After welcoming more than 800 community members to the city’s monthly arts celebration and art walk, Humboldt Arts Council staff closed and bid Morris goodnight. Sometime between 9 pm and 11 am on Sunday morning, the thieves cut the padlock and chain securing the Sculpture Garden gate and removed Morris from his post where he greeted passersby on the side of the street. MGMA Seventh Street.

“We are devastated by the theft of our beloved Morris the Slug. Art is meant to connect the community and bring us together. In such a divided time, it is art that can unite us, and that is what Morris intended to do.” Says Jemima Harr, executive director and curator of the Humboldt Arts Council.

HAC staff are working closely with the Eureka Police Department and are asking for the public’s help to be vigilant and on the lookout for any known clues as to where Morris the Slug might be or who might have escaped with him.

Next week, the MGMA planned to welcome local students on a field trip to see Morris, and it would be very unfortunate to tell the young artists that Morris has disappeared. “Public art should be freely accessible to everyone, and it’s so disheartening that someone would intentionally take it away from the community,” Harr says.