Four climate change protesters who glued themselves to a frame at an art gallery were fined a total of £2,000 today.
Hannah Bright, 23, Alex Dekoning, 26, Emma Brown, 34, and Carmen Lean, 29, carried out the act at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum on June 29 2022.
The Just Stop Oil activists attached themselves on to the frame of a 19th-century landscape painting by Horatio McCulloch worth £3,000 by using adhesive. They activists then went on to spray paint the walls and floor.
A court heard that the cost of the overall damage to the frame of the painting was £3,000.
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The ‘My Heart’s In The Highlands’ painting itself was not damaged. The protesters spray painted an orange ‘Just Stop Oil’ stencil beside the painting.
They stated that they wanted “for the government to end new oil and gas [extraction] and for art institutions to join them in civil resistance.”
The museum closed down as a result but re-opened the next day.
Glasgow School of Art student Bright and art graduate Brown pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to malicious conduct.
PHD student Dekoning and social enterprise worker Lean also admitted the same charge.
Ryan Sloan, defending Bright, told the court: “This was an activity to raise awareness of a particular issue. It was an environmental protest.
“She has engaged in this type of conduct before. She gets into her activism knowing there will be consequences for her.
“It is fair to say that she was well intentioned which is as far as I can say for motivation. No serious harm was caused.”
It was revealed that hospitality worker Bright, of Glasgow city centre, has a previous conviction for protesting at a block of flats that were due for demolition. She was fined £600.
Clare Ryan, defending Brown, told the sentencing: “She is a committed environmental activist and she was part of this Just Stop Oil protest.
“She felt it important to highlight environmental issues that she is aware of.
“She said she will now protest in a different manner and there have been no further matters since.”
Miss Ryan added that her client, of the city’s Govan, was also involved in the flats protest.
Dekoning, of Newcastle, who represented himself, told the sentencing that he does not intend to commit further offences.
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Lean, who also represented herself, stated her goal in life was to “attack climate change.”
Sheriff Gerard Bonnar fined each of the protesters £500.
He said: “I appreciate there was a background and concern as the painting was worth £3,000.
“I appreciate that the motivation of the protests was genuine and I take that into account but I have to deal with the breach of law.”
