Tacoma gallery planned an opening for jeweler. Thanks to thieves half the art is gone.

Jewelry maker Anita Latch had a gallery opening Thursday at 253 Collective, but the exhibit is half complete.

Someone broke into the gallery on University of Washington Tacoma’s campus, taking her beaded jewelry sometime overnight on July 22.

Latch said she was devastated to learn the display case was in shambles and her art was gone.

“I put a lot of myself into my work,” she said. “It’s very affirming when somebody wants to buy it, but to steal it kind of makes me feel like they took a part of me rather than just a material thing.”

But the show must go on, Latch decided.

Latch showed her beaded jewelry at the gallery opening Thursday at 1901 S. Jefferson St. Her art will be on display for the remainder of the month. The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Because half of her art is missing, Latch will hang some of her work and photographs of what was stolen at the gallery, in the hopes it doesn’t leave her vulnerable again, she said.

Latch said the thieves found rocks in the landscape and broke 253 Collective’s window where Latch had a small display case with her work in it. They smashed the display case and took everything in it. They also broke the lock into the other display case — a piece of furniture with doors. They took only her work, she said, and left a wooden sculpture, a poured brass sculpture and all the paintings on the wall.

Latch found out her art was gone the next morning.

A police report was made and Latch made a thorough inventory of what was missing. She said she has not been contacted by the Tacoma Police Department. The News Tribune requested the police report through a public record request, but has not received a response.

Latch said it’s ironic the thieves only took her work. Some have commented she should consider it a compliment, but it’s hard to take that position, she said.

“Some of my friends and family have wanted to give me money, and that’s nice to hear but it’s not really the point,” Latch said. “Yeah, I have lost a possibility of income, but it’s so much more than that.”

She did not have business insurance, and her personal insurance doesn’t cover the loss.

Latch does a variety of beaded jewelry. One of her larger pieces is like a collar with four to five stones, about 13 shells and numerous beads of different sizes and colors woven to allow focus on particular stones, she described. That piece took weeks of day-long labor. She also has simpler jewelry with two stones set in beadwork.

Latch said she has been very deliberate in not appropriating cultural traditions that don’t belong to her.

“I’m not native and a lot of beaders are native,” she said. “I don’t use those styles. I’m very individualistic and that’s not just happenstance. It’s quite a deliberate conscious effort on my part.”

Latch said it’s surprising that her items were stolen, because she doesn’t know where they would be able to resell them.

Latch began making jewelry when she was 16, starting with stamping copper, then on to silver stamping and making bracelets, rings and pendants with cabochons and silver. Latch stopped making jewelry after college to focus on raising her two children. Four years ago, she decided to take up silversmithing again. Latch took her first beading class shortly before the Covid-19 lockdown.

Beading became a way to sustain her sanity during the first year of the lockdown. She would bead while watching Netflix, anything but slapstick comedy or shows with subtitles. She was also unable to access her tools to create other forms of art, but could do beading at home, she said.

“I really felt confined, but I needed a way to express myself and a way to keep busy,” Latch said.

Losing her art was hard for Latch but the decision to continue with the gallery opening has allowed her to get back into her art.

“It did lay me low pretty well for a week or so,” Latch said. “Deciding to go ahead with the show was helpful.”