A group of passionate Dorchester artists reeling from a break-in have a message for the burglars who shattered their front door but not their goodwill: We would have helped you out.
“If someone came in and needed help we’d give it to them,” said Jenny Bergman, a designer and photographer who discovered the break-in at the Dorchester Art Project when she arrived at her studio Wednesday morning.
Boston Police are looking for two suspects who smashed DAP’s front door with concrete rocks before ransacking the fridge and stealing a computer tablet and clothing. Luckily, none of the beautiful artwork was stolen or damaged.
DAP is a hidden gem in Dorchester’s Fields Corner, a community-driven, 5,000-square-foot art space in the historic Howard Building. About 20 working artists of all ages and backgrounds, most of them from Dorchester, have set up shop here, creating everything from paintings to wigs to music.
Fourteen studios line the winding corridor and beautiful artwork is on display throughout. DAP is run by volunteers like Sam Potrykus, who pays the bills by working as a furniture mover but whose heart is in the arts.
Potrykus, director of DAP and Brain Arts Org, a volunteer-run nonprofit that helps fringe artistic communities, spent six hours replacing the shattered glass door and dealing with the break-in’s aftermath.
“I really feel bad for anyone in a position where this is what they resort to,” Potrykus, 31, told me Thursday. “I hope they can get the help they really need.”
Potrykus doesn’t want a handout, and although a more secure door and better locks would be nice, he’d rather have people support local artists by buying their work, volunteering at DAP or attending fundraisers, like this Saturday’s “Artini” event hosted by Fields Corner Main Street.
“The world is tough out there,” Potrykus said, “and artists need support.”
Dennis Dahill, a 69-year-old retiree, is among the artists living out their dreams at DAP.
“I always wanted to have a studio but I never had the chance to do it because my corporate job took up so much of my time,” Dahill said.
The break-in left Dahill feeling disappointed.
“I really want to see Fields Corner improve, to achieve all its potential, and something like this, art studios and an art gallery, is perfect, so I don’t want to see anything tarnish that opportunity,” Dahill said.
Bergman, a mother of three, teared up talking about the break-in.
“The neighborhood has really had a shift, a lot of troubled people,” Bergman said.
Potrykus is grateful no one was hurt and the artwork was spared. He couldn’t find the iPad and was worried that was stolen, too.
“They need it,” he said, “more than us.”
