I now have a complex AutoShape that looks quite like the outline of
Washington State, USA (thank you, John Wilson!).  I need to use a section of
it separately.  Looking for a way to cut a piece out of the perimeter, I've
explored "delete segment" and "open path" in the Edit Points function, but
both grey out after one operation.  There is no obvious way to cut out a
section of an existing AutoShape.  So:

Is there a way to cut a piece off an existing AutoShape object?
Alternately, is there a way to divide an AutoShape object into two or more
parts, so each could be treated separately?  A typical example might be a
property boundary, with a dividing line showing two phases of acquisition.  
Would want to fill each phase with a different color, for instance.

For the first question, I know I could use Edit Points to delete points not
needed until the shape was reduced to the chunk I want, but that would be
extremely tedious for this application.

Thank you,