Artist Cleans Racist Graffiti Off Norman Sculpture

A Norman community sculpture has been given a new facelift. It took just one night for someone to deface Richard McKown’s sculpture of his daughter, Olivia. Racist graffiti covered the sculpture.

Wednesday, April 17th 2019, 5:51 am

By: Ashley Holden

A Norman community sculpture has been given a new facelift.

It took just one night for someone to deface Richard McKown’s sculpture of his daughter, Olivia. Racist graffiti covered the sculpture.

Police have since caught and charged a woman for tagging the sculpture and multiple other OKC metro and Norman buildings.

People in the community asked McKown if they could help clean the sculpture, but the artist said it took hours of research to figure out how to get the spray paint off. McKown told News 9 it took over 20 hours to fully fix.

“I’m kind of the only one that can fix it but it's not mine,” said McKown.

The artist said Olivia has really become the community’s piece. They even left a sign that read “love” and other gifts near the sculpture.

“Community response has been very reassuring,” said McKown.

Now, after all the hours it took to restore Olivia, the Norman artist said he's looking forward to moving forward.

“Ideas will process over the next year,” said McKown. “I wouldn't be surprised if there's not another public piece that comes out of this.”

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