A CHURCH minister has condemned vandals who trashed an art installation just hours after it had been completed by a local artist.

James Grote, minister at John Bunyan Baptist Church in Crowell Road, Cowley, said he was shocked by the actions of vandals who uprooted and damaged 14, 4ft wooden posts promoting the Ark T Centre, based at the church.

The centre is a creative arts project with a recording studio for young musicians, rehearsal space for theatre and dance, a performance and concert area, art exhibitions, studio spaces and a café.

It opened almost a decade ago and now attracts aout 900 users each week.

Mr Grote said: "We have had a few break-ins over the years and we have considered getting CCTV installed, but you have to weigh up whether it's worth making that investment, or spend the money on community projects.

"If equipment is taken or damaged, you can claim on the insurance and recover from that quite quickly, but what hurts here is that people have decided to attack public art.

"Our artist Paul Davies put a great deal of effort into brightening up this installation - it took him all week, so you could say several hundred pounds worth of his work has been damaged.

"What makes matters worse is that local people saw what Paul was doing and said how much they liked it."

Mr Davies, 52, said: "I worked on this all week and when I came down on the Saturday and saw all the damage I felt very sad and bitter about it - I didn't feel like doing any more painting.

"There is real malice in the way my work has been smashed up - it must have been adults who pulled out these pieces of wood.

"The Ark T Centre is an incredible place and does a lot of great work for the community, so it is sickening that something like this should happen."

The centre employs six staff, has four resident artists and a team of sessional workers and volunteers.

Centre staff work with agencies who make referrals to its programmes, including the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Team, Oxford Pupil Referral Units, Connexions, social services, the police and hospitals.

A large space in the centre has been transformed into a café/gallery, which houses exhibitions by professional artists, local people and community groups. Resident artists use the centre to develop workshops, exhibitions and performance in which people can learn new skills, explore the arts, and be creative.

The centre celebrates its tenth anniversary in October.