Ice sculpture carved for Boston’s ‘No Kings’ rally destroyed by vandals, organizers say

Local News

“I designed the sculpture so that if it was vandalized, it would still be the same message, because the vandalizers would literally be ending ICE,” the artist said.

An ice sculpture that read “End ICE” was tipped over on Boston Common. Courtesy of Stephanie Schoen

A 24-foot long “END ICE” ice sculpture carved on the Boston Common for Saturday’s “No Kings” protest was destroyed by vandals hours after the protest, organizers said.

“I designed the sculpture so that, if it was vandalized, it would still be the same message, because the vandalizers would literally be ending ICE,” Kat Dressler, the Connecticut-based chainsaw artist who carved the large sculpture Saturday morning, told Boston.com Monday.

Dressler, an army veteran, said a bystander first emailed her to tell her that a high school-aged kid knocked over the letters spelling “ICE.” A few hours later, on Sunday evening, someone destroyed the remaining letters.

“Art has a lot of impacts on people, and it’s a very emotional message and cause,” Dressler said. “People feel divided on the ICE issue, and it creates a lot of emotion.”

Before the sculpture was completely destroyed, someone knocked over the letters “ICE.” *Courtesy of Stephanie Schoen.*

Boston police told Boston.com that officers were dispatched to the scene, but no police report was created. Stephanie Schoen, an organizer in Brookline with Speak Out Seniors, said she tried to contact police after she heard about the vandalism, but was told she needed to be at the site to file a report.

While it was unclear if the vandalism was political, Schoen said a nearby sign promoting the progressive group Activist Evenings, part of Indivisible, was also destroyed.

“The ‘ICE’ part was knocked down first, so who knows, maybe it’s someone who is against ICE,” Schoen said, “but then when the other part was taken down and the sign was trampled on, we felt otherwise.”

Dressler, who launched an online fundraiser to fund the project, said while studying ice carving in Alaska, the killing of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis inspired her to create the large-scale ice sculpture.

“I felt like I was compelled to make this ice sculpture happen, whether I could afford to do it or not, whether I was allowed to do it or not,” Dressler said. “It felt like something I absolutely had to do.”

Dressler carving the sculpture Saturday morning. *Courtesy of Stephanie Schoen.*

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.

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