A painting was stolen from outside the men’s bathroom next to Brennan’s in the Davis Center Oct. 9 at 12:59 p.m, according to the police services crime log.

The artwork belonged to UVM staff member Peggy Powell, who is a library support assistant in the Bailey/Howe Library.

“I haven’t had anything of value stolen for a long time and I just know they do that, you know, we all have temptations to do things we wish we didn’t do but it just seems like they’re stealing something valuable that’s quite personal to me,” she said.

The artwork is titled “Red Frenzy” and is an abstract of her living room, Powell said.

“It’s just hard on the person whose art is stolen,” Powell said. “It was like my child got stolen when the art got stolen.”

Building Manager Kim Surwilo, a sophomore, said thefts like this do not happen often.

“This is the first time that I’m hearing of this artwork being stolen,” she said. “We have shift reports that everyone writes at the end of their shift and I had never seen anyone report it in their shift.”

There are security cameras in the building and patrols are done every hour, Surwillo said.

“It’s a lost cause according to police,” Powell said. “They looked at video surveillance and everything.”

Police services say this is an ongoing investigation.